RANCH HISTORY
Experience the Old West at Kay El Bar Guest Ranch, one of the first dude ranches in the state of Arizona; the ranch welcomed its first guests in 1926. Kay El Bar is listed on the National and Arizona Registers of Historic Places.
Today's guests can experience the same western ambiance as the early visitors, sleeping in adobe-walled buildings, walking among mature stately trees, and riding the same trails as those first guests from almost 100 years ago. Learn about the history of the Kay El Bar below:
1909
Eighteen-year-old Romaine Lowdermilk purchased 160 acres of Arizona ranchland from the U.S. Land Office for $1.25 an acre. The working cattle ranch was named KL Bar, in honor of his mother Katherine Lowdermilk. The KL Bar brand was registered this year and the ranch eventually grew to 640 acres.
1914
The first adobe building, the current Homestead House guest casita, was built as the ranch headquarters and a bunk house for the cattle wranglers. A number of adobe brick building were built over the years by the Maricopa Tribe who lived on the nearby reservation. The adobe bricks are 12 to 18 inches thick.
1918
Just nine years after Lowdermilk started the ranch, the first paying guests arrived. Kay El Bar was still a working cattle ranch then, but an enthusiastic newspaperman who had visited the ranch spread the word about the "authentic western experience" and soon paying guests started arriving.
1925
Lowdermilk took a partner, Henry Warbasse, with the goal of developing a full-time dude ranch. The first structure they built was the large adobe lodge, which is still used to house guests. The rafters of the main lodge were taken from the old El Dorado gold mine 16 miles away and brought by horses to the ranch.
1926
Kay El Bar became a full-time guest ranch. Most guests arrived by train at the Wickenburg station, where they were transported by Touring Packard to the ranch.
1970
Romaine Lowdermilk, founder of Kay El Bar Ranch, dies at age 80. He became known as the "Father of the Arizona Dude Ranch,” first establishing Kay El Bar as a guest ranch and later starting other Arizona ranches. He had a second career as one of the first cowboy entertainers.
1975
In recognition of its contribution to the State of Arizona, and for its historical significance, Kay El Bar Ranch was placed on the State Register of Historic Places in 1975.
1979
Kay El Bar was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1979.
2012
After many years as a guest ranch, Kay El Bar was converted back to a private ranch.
2018
On the 100th anniversary of welcoming the first paying guests, Kay El Bar resumes operation as a guest ranch.
The dining hall (left) and Casa Grande (right) were built with adobe walls for the new dude ranch, and remain intact more than 90 years later.
The living room of the main lodge is beamed with the original telegraph poles that ran between Wickenburg and Phoenix. The cross ties from those poles were used to make the living room hanging chandeliers.
By 1931 the ranch was hosting some very high-powered guests, who usually arrived by train at the Santa Fe station in Wickenburg. They were picked up in the ranch's Packard Touring Car by ranch owner Henry Warbasse.