1856
Francis Morris purchased 23,640 acres sight unseen for $9,000. Two years later, upon his first visit to the ranch, he is awed by the beauty and productiveness of the land. It is then he decides to build Morris Ranch into a horse ranch.
1929
Although the Twenties saw an expansion of wealth and prosperity throughout the nation, the Prohibition Movement was in full swing. Horses became unprofitable and the ranch shuttered operations until they sold fields to tenant farmers and the remaining 10,000 acres to a group of four ranchers. Morris Ranch officially ends leaving behind the community of ranchers and farmers who worked the ranch who continue to use the name of the former ranch to designate their community.
1977
Frances Heard Billups purchases the Morris Ranch Schoolhouse from the School Board. She spends the next several years restoring the building and turning the property into the center of her ranching operations throughout Morris Ranch and the greater Hill Country.
1893
As the ranch continued to grow and develop, it was determined that more facilities needed to be built. The ranch engaged British-American architect Alfred Giles. The culmination of the building campaign came with the completion of a 6,000 square-foot schoolhouse.
1963
With annual enrollments over 100 students and needed improvements, Fredericksburg ISD consolidates the students of Morris Ranch to town. The Morris Ranch Schoolhouse shuts down and continues to be used as a community center.
2023
Morris Ranch is re-envisioned and later reincorporated with the mission to preserve the remaining buildings of the ranch and to combat the land fragmentation and degradation throughout the Hill Country.