Dallas Southfork

The fictional story of Southfork Ranch

Aaron Southworth inherited Southfork ranch from his father Enoch. Aaron had two children, first Garrison and then a daughter, Eleanor. Garrison did not cut it as a rancher and it eventually was his younger sister, Ellie, who inherited Southfork. Miss Ellie remembers her father trying to protect Texan ranches from being consumed by the oil craze that was sweeping the Lone-Star state in the early 20^th century. During the Great Depression, cattle prices fell dramatically and ranch hands left in droves to the better-paying oil fields. More problems came in 1930 when Texas was crippled by a severe drought. Southfork became bankrupt and Garrison fled from the decaying ranch where he grew up. In the nick of time the man who was courting Miss Ellie, one Jock Ewing, used his oil money to rescue Southfork ranch from financial ruin

The real Southfork Ranch

The first ranch to be used in the 1978 filming of Dallas was Box Ranch, Frisco, Texas. When the owner of Box Ranch did not permit further filming after the first season, the second Southfork location was the 200 acre Duncan Acres ranch, 3700 Hogg Drive, Plano, Texas. This is the Southfork that we love, with its four rounded column portico. The ranch mansion house was built in 1970 and measured 4769 square feet. The Dallas Southfork’s interior shots were filmed at an MGM soundstage.

When the Duncans’ first rented their property to Lorimar they never envisaged the tourist and neighbor problems that soon arose. Because of the film crew activities, neighbor John Barber tried to get an injunction to stop the filming, saying that the commotion next door was a safety threat to their children, but the court turned his request down.

The Duncans continued living in the Southfork ranch house while the Dallas exterior shots were filmed outside. During the summer shooting, they allowed the show’s stars to rest in the air conditioned house between shots. Despite some entrepreneurial attempts, like selling lemonade and souvenir land deeds to sightseers, the Duncans sold Southfork in 1984 to a property developer, Terry Trippit, who cleverly marketed Southfork around the TV series. He turned it into a convention center and it is now owned by Forever Resorts. Today tours of Southfork still operate for Dallas fans. In 1989 Dallas production moved to California, but the two Dallas reunion films, War of the Ewings and J.R. Returns were shot at the Plano property.