Maddux family continuing 136-year ranching business

    Maddux Cattle Company is one of the longest running businesses in Chase County.
    It’s also the Imperial Chamber of Commerce’s October Business of the Month.
    John Maddux represents the family’s fourth generation involved in the ranch, and he and wife Julia’s two sons, Taylor and Tomas, are the fifth.
    In June 2020, Maddux Cattle Company opened an office on Imperial’s main street at 512 Broadway and the business joined the Chamber of Commerce shortly after.
    The Maddux family first arrived in southwest Nebraska in the early 1880s from Iowa, and after a short stint in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area.
    Taylor Maddux, a horseman by nature, operated his first business in McCook as a proprietor of a livery stable.
    In 1886, he and wife Clara homesteaded in this area, 11 miles north of Wauneta on the Stinking Water Creek, but he continued to operate the livery barn in McCook for 10 years, returning on weekends on horseback to see his family.
    Clara and two children lived in the family’s sod house and “proved up” on the homestead while Taylor continued to manage his McCook business.
    In 1896, Taylor sold his livery business, purchased additional Angus cows and moved permanently to the family homestead in Chase County.
    By then, the family included four children—Helen, Glen, Wilfred and Cecil.
    Glen took over the Maddux homestead when Taylor died in 1916, the same year he and Wilfred formed Maddux Brothers Co. At the time, they were pioneer cattle feeders in the area.
    The brothers continued to expand their ranchland in the 1930s with the purchase of property in the sandy country on Spring Creek to the west of the home place, allowing the operation to grow its herd.
    Wilfred died in 1945 and Glen continued to run his share of the ranching operation until his death in 1958.
    Glen’s son, Jack, took over management of the operation after his father’s death, and along with Gene, formed Maddux Cattle Company in 1962. More land purchases were added to the ranch property.
    In 1998, Jack and Carol Maddux’s son, John, joined the operation’s management after working 12 years on Wall Street. When he returned home, John purchased the 2S Ranch from Basic Bentz, north of Imperial, which is run in conjunction now with Maddux Cattle Company.
    Carol Maddux acknowledged the dedication of so many long-time ranch employees, many of whom spent decades with the operation.
    Robert Brosius is the present ranch manager.