We, the Gibson/Belding family would like to share with you just a little of the history of this beautiful location on Possum Kingdom Lake.

Gaines Bend Development is on the original Belding Ranch, founded in 1859. Henry Belding was the first white child born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. As a very young child he lost his father, grandfather, and grandmother to malaria and was raised by his mother on that wilderness frontier. He loved to hunt in the woods and provided much of the meat for their table and by the time he was an older teen he was managing their farm. Like Henry, the community of Hot Springs grew and came of age in the beautiful mountains of Arkansas until, when Henry married a local beauty, there was an ice cream parlor down town and bath houses grouped along the springs where there were weekly cotillions But Henry had developed malaria and was spending more and more time incapacitated with it, so he decided to try his hand at ranching on the new frontier and hopefully find better health along the way.

In early January 1859, Henry and Elizabeth came to the newly formed county of Palo Pinto and exchanged the mountains of Arkansas for the equally beautiful canyons and draws of the Brazos River country. Unfortunately, just weeks before their arrival some men from Erath County had massacred Choctaw Tom’s family. This friendly Indian family was camped outside Palo Pinto waiting to go on a bear hunt with the men of the town when the strangers came hunting trouble. This started a 14 year long Indian war which war in which many died on both sides.

When Texas seceded from the Union and joined with the Confederate states in the Civil War, Palo Pinto County men were called to the court house to draw lots deciding whether they were to go east and fight the north or stay here and fight the Indians. Henry drew the lot to stay here and join the rangering forces protecting the home front from Indian attack.

It was not until February 12, 1873, that the last white man died in Palo Pinto County at the hands of the Indians. That day there was a skirmish in Garland Bend, just east of the present bridge over the river, and Jesse Veale was killed. After that the Indian war wound down and moved further west and folks here were left in peace to put their lives back together.

By that time Henry’s son, Will, was a child growing up on the ranch. He chose to live his entire life here and raise his family in the life that he so loved. As his boys grew, they took on more and more of the practical work of the ranch. By the time they were in their teens the ranch had been expanded to include leases on the SET Ranch and the Watson Ranch which meant they were ranching land from Bluff Creek on the west to Farm Road 4 on the east. It also meant they were working from daylight to dark and beyond every day except Sunday. They battled drought, screwworm outbreaks, tick fever, cold, heat, and any other problem that came their way. But it was their choice and they loved it. They loved the land, and the work and would have exchanged it for no other.

As they grew into manhood, each had his own ranch to care for so the extra leased land was let go. But each one still helped with the home ranch as well as keeping his own ranch going. It was not until after Will’s death in 1965 that any of the ranch land has been sold out of the family. Today much of the Cliffs and Sportsman’s World as well as Gaines Bend are carved from the original Belding Ranch.

Although the ranch was divided among Will’s children and some of the land has been sold, many of Henry’s great, great-great, and great-great-great grandchildren still live on the parts of the ranch that remain in family ownership.

Will’s son, Frank, inherited the ranch headquarters and the Gaines Bend peninsula and began to implement his dream of an up-scale lake development before his death. Today Barbara (4th generation) and her husband, Cy Gibson, along with Shawn (5th generation) and his wife Peggy, own and operate Gaines Bend Development and Gaines Bend Ranch and Shawn & Peggy’s children, Hilary and Taylor (6th generation), are growing up on the land just waiting for their turn.

This has been just a thumbnail sketch of some of the rich history involved with our ranch. It has been stated that this part of Texas has some of the most beautiful scenery and richest history of anywhere in the United States. If you want to read more of the history of Palo Pinto County and the Belding Ranch, you need a copy of Painted Pole, by Barbara Belding Gibson.

Gaines Bend Property
Owners Association

Board of Directors

© 2004, Gaines Bend Development. All rights reserved. - Site Design JSB Designs