History

1930s

American Liberty Oil Company is founded by Clint Murchison. Murchison chooses the name to protest federal regulations limiting the production and export of oil. American Liberty distributes oil throughout Texas under the brand name AMLICO.
Purchases Matagorda Island on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

American Liberty is acquired by Murchison’s attorney and business partner, Toddie Lee Wynne. Members of the Wynne family continue to own and operate American Liberty to this day.
American Liberty converts the King Family Mansion on Turtle Creek into its Dallas headquarters. Today, the Mansion on Turtle Creek is one of the premiere hotels and restaurants in Dallas.
American Liberty begins refining its own oil at Texas City and throughout the state.
Toddie Lee Wynne and his nephew Angus G. Wynne, Jr. develop the planned residential community of Wynnewood in Dallas. Wynnewood is the first such project in the South and contemporaneous with Levittown in New York.

American Liberty sells its AMLICO distribution system to American Petrofina, today Total Energy.
With his nephew Angus G. Wynne, Jr., and other partners, Toddie Lee Wynne purchases the Waggoner 3D Ranch in Arlington and develops the Great Southwest Industrial District, one of the largest master-planned industrial parks in America at the time.
Toddie Lee Wynne transfers his wife’s Texas Revolution land-grant 8,500 acre ranch, Star Brand Ranch, in Kaufman County into American Liberty ownership.

Toddie Lee Wynne and his son Toddie Lee Wynne Jr become founding minority owners of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
Toddie Lee Wynne also is a founding investor in Six Flags Over Texas, the dream of Angus G. Wynne Jr. to build a Disneyland to celebrate the proud history of his home state.
Toddie Lee Wynne and Herb Klein build Tiger Tops Lodge in Nepal. Similar international real estate investments and developments follow with Hilton International and Hyatt Hotels in Hong Kong, Mali, Tanzania, and elsewhere.

American Liberty Hospitality is formed as a subsidiary to own and operate a growing portfolio of domestic hotel properties.
Toddie Lee Wynne Sr and Jr are partners with Clyde Jackson in the development of the Plaza of the Americas office and hotel complex in downtown Dallas.

Space Services Inc. successfully launches the Conestoga 1 from Matagorda Island. The Conestoga 1 was the first private space launch in history. The night before, Toddie Lee Wynne dies en route back to Dallas for medical treatment. As SSI’s primary investor, he had explained, ‘Space is our next horizon.’
At the end of the decade, Matagorda Island is transferred to the Texas Nature Conservancy to become part of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Today it is a critical sanctuary for migratory birds and almost 20 state or federally listed threatened and endangered species.

American Liberty Hospitality is sold to its executive leadership and continues to own and operate hotels throughout Texas.
American Liberty builds Star Brand Ranch Executive Retreat on the historic Wynne family Star Brand Ranch in Kaufman County. SBRER will become one of the premiere boutique retreats in North Texas.

American Liberty spearheads the designation of three planned developments around Kaufman. Part of the first of these would be developed and sold in 2007, with the most recent sale of Five Points in 2022, now being developed by Cope Equities.
The southern 3500 acres of Star Brand Ranch are sold to private buyers so American Liberty can diversify and direct greater resources towards financial investments. American Liberty continues to own the north acreage of Star Brand Ranch and operate Star Brand Cattle Company.