Prairie Chapel Ranch
Encyclopedia
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(6.4 km²) ranch
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
in unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
McLennan County
McLennan County, Texas
McLennan County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. In 2000, its population was 213,517; in 2008 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated its population to be 230,213. Its seat is Waco. The county is named for Neil McLennan, an early settler....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, located seven miles (10 km) northwest of Crawford
Crawford, Texas
Crawford is a town located in western McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is best known as the home of former President of the United States George W. Bush. He currently resides at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, which is located just outside Crawford, Texas....
. The property was acquired by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in 1999 and was known as the Western White House
Western White House
The Western White House is a term applied to additional residencies of the President of the United States. It was used for the Crawford, Texas ranch of George W. Bush, known as Prairie Chapel Ranch, and has also been used by other chief executives for their homes, including Presidents Lyndon B....
during his Presidency.
Bush spends vacation time at the house where he has also entertained dignitaries from around the world.
The ranch gets its name from the Prairie Chapel School which was built nearby on land donated by mid-19th century German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
immigrant Heinrich Engelbrecht from Oppenwehe
Stemwede
Stemwede is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Division of the town:The municipality of Stemwede is divided into 3 districts :-External links:*...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, who owned the land that now comprises the Bush ranch. Engelbrecht also donated land for the nearby Canaan Baptist Church (the "Prairie Chapel").
History
In 1999, a year before he became President, shortly after earning a $14.3 million profit from the sale of the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
, former Texas Governor Bush bought the land for an estimated $1.3 million from the Engelbrecht family. Assisting Bush in arrangements for the purchase was the then Texas Secretary of State Elton Bomer
Elton Bomer
Elton L. Bomer is an insurance executive and a retired American politician from Montalba near Palestine, the seat of Anderson County in eastern Texas.-Political life:...
.
Bush removed five large hog barns on Mill Road leading into the compound in order to construct a new house, guest house, and garage.
On May 10, 2008, the ranch played host to the wedding of Jenna Bush and Henry Hager. The ceremony was relatively simple and was attended by some two hundred friends and family members.
House
David HeymannDavid Heymann
David Heymann is an American architect who was commissioned by President George W. Bush to design an environmentally friendly house for the Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, Texas....
, then an associate professor of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, designed the four-bedroom, 4,000 ft² (372 m²) honey-colored native limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
single-level home with painted white galvanized tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
roof on the site. Heymann said the house was built from the less sought after portion of the local "Lueders limestone." The middle portions of the blocks of stone is a cream colored while the edges are multicolored. "We bought all this throwaway stone. It's fabulous. It's got great color and it is relatively inexpensive," Heymann said.
In addition there is an open 10 foot (3 m) wide limestone porch that encircles the house. The house was built by members of a religious community from nearby Elm Mott, Texas
Elm Mott, Texas
Elm Mott is an unincorporated community in McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is located near the intersection of Interstate 35 and Farm to Market Road 308, eight miles north of Waco.Elm Mott is part of the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, and wasn't completed until after Bush's inauguration because of needed accommodations for security, meeting space, etc.
Laura Bush said they decided to keep a single level ranch design because "We wanted our older parents to feel comfortable here... We also want to grow old here ourselves."
The passive-solar house is positioned to absorb winter sunlight, warming the interior walkways and walls of the residence. Geothermal
Geothermal power
Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of minerals...
heat pump
Heat pump
A heat pump is a machine or device that effectively "moves" thermal energy from one location called the "source," which is at a lower temperature, to another location called the "sink" or "heat sink", which is at a higher temperature. An air conditioner is a particular type of heat pump, but the...
s circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet (100 m) deep in the ground. A 25,000 US gallon (151 m³) underground cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
collects rainwater gathered from roof urns; wastewater from sinks, toilets, and showers cascades into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is then used to irrigate the landscaping around the home.
Other structures
In addition to the house there is a guest house and a garage in separate buildings to the southwest of the main house.The facility includes a helicopter hangar which has been used as an auditorium on the rare occasions the former president held a press conference at the ranch.
In 2002, the ranch was wired for what Bush described in a 2003 tour of the ranch as "real time, secure videoconferencing" to be used for his briefings from the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and other secured communications.
Overnight visitors stay in the main house, its associated guest house, the original Englebrecht farmhouse, or in a five-bedroom three-bath mobile home
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
.
News reporters stayed in hotels in Waco. Press conferences that didn't involve the President were conducted in the gymnasium of Crawford Middle School, ten miles (16 km) away from the ranch. The barn often seen behind TV correspondents during their live reports was actually on private property behind the school.
Grounds
Bosque River
The Bosque River is a long river in Central Texas fed by four primary branches. The longest branch, the North Bosque, forms near Stephenville, and flows toward Waco through Hamilton, Bosque and McLennan counties. It is subsequently joined by the East Bosque in Bosque County and the Middle and...
. In August 2001 while touring the canyons with reporters Bush noted that the cedars in the canyons would be a good nesting ground for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler
Golden-cheeked Warbler
The Golden-cheeked Warbler Dendroica chrysoparia is an endangered species of bird that breeds in Central Texas, from Palo Pinto County southwestward along the eastern and southern edge of the Edwards Plateau to Kinney County...
although the warblers have not actually been seen on the compound.
Bush added an 11 acres (4.5 ha) man-made pond that he stocked with 600 largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
and 30,000 bait fish. There are also bluegill
Bluegill
The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...
and red ear sunfish. The pond has a maximum depth of 17 feet (5.2 m). In May 2006, when asked to name the best moment in his administration, Bush jokingly said: "I would say the best moment was when I caught a 7½-pound largemouth bass on my lake."
At the urging of his daughters, Bush also built a swimming pool over the objections of Heymann who thought it would interrupt the stark views. Bush referred to it as "the whining pool" — whine long enough and you get it. It offers a respite from the hot Texas summers, and is heated by the same geothermal system as the house is during the winter.
Activities
A prized souvenir from the ranch is a gray Under Armour athletic shirt emblazoned with a Texas star encircled by the words The President's 100-Degree Club. In order to qualify a visitor must run 3 miles (4.8 km), or bike for 10, when the thermometer hits triple digits.When he was president, Bush used the ranch for vacations, meetings, and entertaining foreign dignitaries. In the less formal setting, dress code for meetings called for an open collar and no tie. Guests were typically treated to meals of Southwestern cuisine
Cuisine of the Southwestern United States
The Cuisine of the Southwestern United States is food styled after the rustic cooking of the Southwestern United States. It is also known to be very popular in the west coast state of California...
. When not holding meetings or briefings, Bush spent his time mountain biking, jogging, fishing, bird hunting, and clearing brush.
Bush made clear his preference for spending some time away from his official residence at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in Washington, DC. In 2001, he said, "I think it is so important for a president to spend some time away from Washington, in the heartland of America."
Visits from foreign dignitaries
- Russian President Vladimir PutinVladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
, November 2001 - British Prime Minister Tony BlairTony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, April 2002 - Saudi King AbdullahAbdullah of Saudi ArabiaAbdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
, April 2002, April 2005 - Saudi Prince Bandar bin SultanBandar bin SultanBandar bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is a prince of the Saudi royal family and was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. He was appointed Secretary-General of the National Security Council by King Abdullah on 16 October 2005...
, August 2002 - Chinese President Jiāng ZémínJiang ZeminJiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
, October 2002 - Spanish Prime Minister José María AznarJosé María AznarJosé María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
, February 2003 - Australian Prime Minister John HowardJohn HowardJohn Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, May 2003 - Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichirōJunichiro Koizumiis a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended.Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the...
, May 2003 - Italian Prime Minister Silvio BerlusconiSilvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, July 2003 - Mexican President Vicente FoxVicente FoxVicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican former politician who served as President of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected...
, March 2004, March 2005 - Egyptian President Hosni MubarakHosni MubarakMuhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
, April 2004 - Spanish King Juan CarlosJuan Carlos I of SpainJuan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
and Queen SofíaQueen Sofía of SpainQueen Sofía of Spain is the wife of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.-Early life and family:Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark was born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on 2 November 1938, the eldest child of the King Paul of Greece and his wife, Queen Frederika , a former princess of Hanover...
, November 2004 - Canadian Prime Minister Paul MartinPaul MartinPaul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
, March 2005 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel SharonAriel SharonAriel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
, April 2005 - Colombian President Álvaro UribeÁlvaro UribeAlvaro Uribe Vélez was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid....
, August 2005 - German Chancellor Angela MerkelAngela MerkelAngela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
, November 2007 - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh RasmussenAnders Fogh RasmussenAnders Fogh Rasmussen is a Danish politician, and the 12th and current Secretary General of NATO. Rasmussen served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 27 November 2001 to 5 April 2009....
, February 2008
Security considerations
The Federal Aviation AdministrationFederal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
had a full-time three nautical mile
Nautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...
s (six km) no fly zone, designated "Prohibited Area 49", around the ranch during the Bush Presidency. When President Bush was in residence at the ranch, a Temporary Flight Restriction was issued, expanding the radius to 10 nautical miles (19 km), with lesser restrictions extending to 30 nautical miles (56 km), containing some exceptions for Waco Regional Airport
Waco Regional Airport
-History:The airport was built by the United States Army Air Force as a pilot training airfield, and was activated on 2 July 1942. It was initially named China Springs Army Air Field and was also known as Waco Army Air Field No...
nearby.
Bush normally flew in and out of TSTC Waco Airport
TSTC Waco Airport
TSTC Waco Airport is an airport located within city limits, northeast of central Waco, Texas. Before 1968, it was known as James Connally Air Force Base....
(the former Connally Air Force Base that is now owned by Texas State Technical College
Texas State Technical College System
Texas State Technical College System is a system of two-year technical schools in Texas. It is the only state-operated system of two-year colleges in Texas....
) on Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
, and was shuttled on Marine One
Marine One
Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President of the United States. It usually denotes a helicopter operated by the HMX-1 "Nighthawks" squadron, either the large VH-3D Sea King or the newer, smaller VH-60N "WhiteHawk", both due to be replaced by the...
to the ranch.
Protests
Cindy SheehanCindy Sheehan
Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President...
spent several months outside the ranch protesting the Iraq War. She created a peace camp
Peace camp
Peace camps are a form of physical protest camp that is focused on anti-war activity. They are set up outside military bases by members of the peace movement who oppose either the existence of the military bases themselves, the armaments held there, or the politics of those who control the bases...
called Camp Casey
Camp Casey, Crawford, Texas
Camp Casey was the name given to the encampment of anti-war protesters outside the Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas during US President George W...
by pitching a tent on the side of Prairie Chapel Road (which leads to the ranch) in 2005 and was joined at one point by filmmaker Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
. She announced her intention to stay for the five weeks or until she was granted a second meeting with President Bush. She also promised that, were she not granted a second meeting, she would return to Crawford each time Bush visited there in the future. Several cabinet members went out to talk to Sheehan, but she refused stating that she would only talk to the President himself. Supporters of the President set up an alternative "Camp Reality" across Prairie Chapel Road.
Future of the ranch
The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed White House official: "They'll have their place in Crawford. He just loves it."
External links
- July 1999: Locals Hope Bush will create a White House in Texas, from the Abilene Reporter-NewsAbilene Reporter-NewsAbilene Reporter-News is a daily newspaper based in Abilene, Texas, USA. The newspaper started publishing three months after Abilene was founded by C.E. Gilbert, effective June 17, 1881. It is hence the oldest continuous business in the city....
- December 2000: Home on the Range, from TIMETimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine's Person of the YearPerson of the YearPerson of the Year is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."- History :The tradition of selecting a Man of the Year...
story on Bush - March 2001: Prohibited Area P-49 established by the FAAFederal Aviation AdministrationThe Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
over the ranch and enlarged during presidential visits - August 2001: No grocery, $5 haircuts - and the Bush ranch, from the Christian Science Monitor
- August 25, 2001: President Gives Tour of Crawford Ranch, (non-functioning link)
- December 2002: The Bush Ranch, from Cowboys & Indians magazine
- January 2, 2003: President's Remarks on Walking Tour of the Ranch, a White House press release
- July 29, 2005: Bush plans 50th ranch trip in five years, an Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
report published in USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
. - August 18, 2005: Can this bike ride be Bush's tour de force?, A report in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
concerning the visit of Lance ArmstrongLance ArmstrongLance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
to the ranch.