Cinco Ranch

Cinco Ranch is a planned community located approximately twenty-five miles west of Houston and ten miles north of Richmond in northern Fort Bend County. Before the development began in the mid-1980s, the Cinco Ranch had been a working cattle ranch and rice farm on Buffalo Bayou which started in the 1930s when five families became partners in an outfit that they named Cinco Ranch. (Cinco means five in Spanish.) In 1984 a conglomerate known as the Cinco Ranch Venture, consisting of U. S. Home, the Mischer Corporation, and American General Corporation, purchased the property and began to develop a community. Eventually American General bought out the other partners. Cinco Ranch is part of a 7,200-acre master plan designed by the developer Newland Communities and includes eight schools in the Katy Independent School District and additional private schools and preschools. The subdivision's recreational facilities include a golf course, athletic centers, and ample greenspace for trails. In 2000 Cinco Ranch had a population of 11,196. Many of the residents commuted to Houston.