JA Ranch, historic cattle ranch in Armstrong County, Texas, US

The JA Ranch is a working cattle ranch southeast of Amarillo in the Palo Duro Canyon. Its main ranch house, now a Charles Goodnight museum, sits just south of US Route 287: a two-story building whose oldest part is a log cabin predating the Civil War, with rough stone walls on the ground floor and a wood-framed upper story added from 1879. Nearby stand the 19th-century stables, corral and a bunkhouse for ranch hands.

Charles Goodnight and Irish landowner John George Adair founded the ranch in 1876, with Adair supplying capital and Goodnight managing the herd. At its 1883 peak it covered about 1,335,000 acres across six counties and ran 100,000 cattle. After Adair died in 1885 his widow Cornelia took over the partnership; Goodnight left in 1888–1889, and Adair's descendants still run the ranch.

The museum displays personal belongings and tools that show how ranch workers and their families lived day to day. You can see the objects they used and understand how people shaped this place through generations of work.

The museum buildings are located south of US Route 287 and visitors can explore the main house and other historic structures on foot. Spring and fall offer the most comfortable weather for walking around the property and viewing the buildings.

The "JA" in the name comes from the initials of John Adair, the Irish businessman from County Laois who supplied the capital while Charles Goodnight managed the herd. At its peak in 1883 the ranch covered about 1,335,000 acres across six counties and ran some 100,000 cattle.