In 1883, Alfred M. Britton and S.W. Lomax founded the Espuela (Spur) Cattle Company. That same year, they purchased 242,000 acres of land from the New York and Texas Land Company, in four blocks of railroad lands which were located in the counties of Kent, Dickens, Garza, and Crosby. The ranch was fenced in and covered 569,000 acres. In 1884, the company reorganized under Texas corporation laws as the Espuela Land and Cattle Company of Fort Worth. Aware of Scottish and English interest in American cattle and land, Britton traveled to London, England to try persuading a financial group into investing in the ranch.

The group agreed, and organized as the Espuela Land and Cattle Company. They bought the land and it's livestock on April 9th 1885. Market problems caused the company to sell the ranch at $5 an acre, which included horses, cattle, equipment, and improvements. The ranch was purchased by E.P. Swenson of the New York based S.M. Swenson Firm, as well as a syndicate which included James Sill-man, Sigmund Newstadt, John J. Emery, and B.F. Yoakum. They became the Spur Syndicate, but never incorporated. The Syndicate took over the ranch in 1907 when Charles A. Jones assumed management of the Spur Ranch.

In 1913, Charles was succeeded by his son Clifford B. Jones as manager. Clifford held the position for the next 25 years. A.C. Swenson would take the headquarters and additional acreage for personal use, which created the Spur Headquarters Ranch. The last group of cattle bearing the original spur brand were moved off the ranch in hopes of colonizing the land. 231,147 acres were sold in parcels by the syndicate in 1928. Jones became the president of Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in 1938. The land was divided among partners and the Syndicate dissolved. In 2006, Swenson's descendants sold the Spur Headquarters Ranch, ending nearly 100 years of ownership.