Prairie Chapel Ranch is a 1,583 acre (6.4 km²) estate located seven miles (10 km) northwest of Crawford, Texas. The property was acquired by soon-to-be President George W. Bush in 1999 and was known as the Western White House 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 immigrant Heinrich Engelbrecht from Oppenwehe, Germany, who owned the land that now comprises the Bush compound. Engelbrecht also donated land for the nearby Canaan Baptist Church (the "Prairie Chapel").
History
Engelbrecht and his heirs raised turkeys and hogs. The original Engelbrecht ranch house is about 4,400 feet (1,300 m) from the main house on Rainey Road and is now called the "Governor's House" and is used to house second-tier guests. The Bushes stayed in the house during construction of the new house.
In 1999, a year before he became President, shortly after earning a $14.3 million profit from the sale of the Texas Rangers, Texas Governor Bush bought the land for an estimated $1.3 million from the Engelbrecht family.
Bush was to remove five large hog barns on Mill Road leading into the compound during the construction of a new house, guest house and garage.
On January 8, 2008, according to a released MUFON report, a UFO was observed flying near The Bush Ranch.
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 roughly 200 friends and family members.
House and Grounds
House
David Heymann, then an associate professor of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, designed the four-bedroom (although some reports indicate it is eight-bedrooms), 4,000 ft² (372 m²) honey-colored native limestone single-level home with painted white galvanized tin 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, and wasn't finally completed until after his 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 heat pumps circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet (100 m) deep in the ground. A 25,000 US gallon (151 m³) underground cistern 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 and other secured communications.
Overnight visitors stay in the main house, or its associated guest house, or the original Englebrecht farmhouse, or in a double-wide five-bedroom three-bath mobile home, decorated in an early Pottery Barn motif according to a staffer.
News reporters, including the White House Press Secretary, stay in hotels in Waco. Press conferences that don't involve the president are conducted in the gymnasium of Crawford Middle School, ten miles (16 km) away from the ranch. The ramshackle barn often seen behind TV correspondents during their live reports is actually a shed on private property behind the school.
Grounds
The land includes seven canyons and three miles (5 km) of frontage along Rainey Creek and the Middle Bosque River. 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 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 and 30,000 bait fish. There are also bluegill and red ear sunfish. The pond has a maximum depth of 17 feet (5.2 m). In May 2006 in a question to what the best moment in his administration, Bush was quoted: "I would say the best moment was when I caught a 7 ½-pound largemouth bass on my lake."
At the urging of his daughters, Bush also built a large swimming pool over the objections of Heymann who thought it would interrupt the stark views. Bush calls it "the whining pool" — whine long enough and you get it.
Activities
One of the most highly prized souvenirs from the compound is a gray Under Armour athletic shirt (retail $19.99) 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 compound for vacations, meetings, and entertaining foreign dignitaries. In the less formal setting, dress code for meetings calls for an open collar and no tie. Guests are typically treated to meals of Southwestern cuisine. 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 time away from his official residence at the White House 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
Visitors to the ranch have included:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin, November 2001
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, April 2002
- Saudi King Abdullah, April 2002, April 2005
- Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, August 2002
- Chinese President Jiāng Zémín, October 2002
- Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, February 2003
- Australian Prime Minister John Howard, May 2003
- Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichirō, May 2003
- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, July 2003
- Mexican President Vicente Fox, March 2004, March 2005
- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, April 2004
- Spanish King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, November 2004
- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, March 2005
- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, April 2005
- Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, August 2005
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel, November 2007
- Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, February 2008
Security considerations
The Federal Aviation Administration had a permanent three nautical miles (six km) no fly zone around the ranch full during the Bush Presidency (designated Prohibited Area 49). When former president Bush was there, 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 nearby.
Bush normally flew in and out of TSTC Waco Airport (the former Connally Air Force Base that is now owned by Texas State Technical College) on Air Force One, and was shuttled on Marine One to the ranch.
Protests
Protests are frequent outside the compound with one of the most prominent being Cindy Sheehan who spent several months there protesting the Iraq War. She created a peace camp called Camp Casey by pitching a tent on the side of Prairie Chapel Road which lead to the compound in 2005 and was joined at one point by filmmaker M
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