The 663-acre ranch was created in 1946 by near-legendary Palm Springs Mayor Frank Bogert. He had 22 cabins, 40 horse stalls, and a clubhouse.
It was a great idea in a beautiful, pristine piece of the desert. It just happened to be in the wrong decade. In the 1920s and ‘30s, the Palm Springs area had firmly hitched its wagon to the cowboy ideal, a little bit of the Pecos just below the San Jacinto Mountains. Bogert spent his early youth learning to ride and rope on a Colorado ranch. He was a prime promoter of that fantasy during his long tenure in the Valley. Trail rides, chuckwagon breakfasts, jumping horses into swimming pools, and riding horses in full cowboy drag were integral parts of the Palm Springs experience.
But, that began to change during the post-war years. Celebrities and tourists came for the waters in Desert Hot Springs and the tennis in Palm Springs. They also desperately wanted golf. There’s no doubt that Bogert was a visionary, but he didn’t quite see that one coming. The Thunderbird Ranch lasted from 1946 to 1950. Then, it became the site of the first 18-hole golf course in the Valley.
