Tascosa died when the railroad failed to come through and the fenced ranches cut it off from commerce. By 1939, when Cal Farley started his famous Boys Ranch, Tascosa had only one resident, Mrs. Frenchy McCormick. Boys Ranch located 25 miles north of Vega on US Highway 385. Local rancher Julian Bivins helped Mr. Farley realize his dream by donating 120 acres of land and the Old Tascosa courthouse, now the Julian Bivins Museum. Today, Boys Ranch is a modern campus and Christ-centered community where more than 250 boys and girls live and are educated in a nurturing, structured environment.
Visitors are welcome at Boys Ranch.
Join the children for a meal and tour Boot Hill Cemetery, the Julian Bivins Museum and the Boys Ranch community. The railroad ran 22 miles south of Tascosa through the Oldham County communities of Adrian, Landergin, Ontario, Vega and Wildorado. Adrian began in 1900 when the Rock Island Railroad survey marked the site as a future station and shipping point. Settlement of the area was slow until the railroad was completed into town in 1908. The railroad ran along the Ozark Trail, which later became Route 66.