A historic ranch in Patagonia that was a childhood home to late congressman Jim Kolbe is for sale.

With an asking price of nearly $30 million, it is the most expensive residence listed for sale in Southern Arizona in at least 30 years.

The Rail X Ranch sits on 1700 acres with three homes and a private lake. The ranch in Patagonia that is the most expensive home for sale in Southern Arizona in the last 30 years, with a price tag of $30 million.

Rail X Ranch, built in 1937, has two barns, three apartments, a casita, three standalone homes and a private lake.

Listed by associate broker Gary Brasher, of Russ Lyon Sothebyโ€™s International Realty, the multilevel estate is on 1,739 acres at 2671 Arizona 82 in Santa Cruz County.

The Rail X Ranch sits on 1700 acres with three homes and a private lake. The ranch in Patagonia that is the most expensive home for sale in Southern Arizona in the last 30 years, with a price tag of $30 million.

โ€œJim lived there as a child,โ€ Brasher said. โ€œHis parents operated it as a guest ranch.โ€

Kolbeโ€™s parents, โ€œan independent-minded Arizona cattle rancher and an elegant candy heiress from Chicago,โ€ according to the obituary his family wrote when he died last year, bought the ranch when he was 5. He worked there as a farmhand as a boy. Kolbe was first elected to the U.S. House in 1984 and went on to serve 11 terms representing Southern Arizona.

The main house has a floor-to-ceiling library and there is artwork throughout the house.

All the living quarters total 17,856 square feet of space with 15 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms and four half-bathrooms.

The dining room at the Rail X Ranch sits on 1700 acres with three homes and a private lake. The ranch in Patagonia that is the most expensive home for sale in Southern Arizona in the last 30 years, with a price tag of $30 million.

โ€œEvery once in a great while a part of Arizonaโ€™s history comes available on the market โ€” a signature property that is unique and breathtaking in its beauty and as diverse as the Arizona landscape,โ€ Brasher said. โ€œThe Rail X Ranch is such a property.โ€

Among the features of Rail X Ranch are a private lake and an artesian well, which flows without mechanical intervention. The property retains all its mineral rights.

The current owners are Countess Anita Von Galen, a German aristocrat, and her son, Ferdinand Von Galen. They have owned the ranch since 1973.

A potential buyer could be anyone from a celebrity looking for a private getaway to a developer because the site can have 36-acre homesites built there, Brasher said.

For more information or to set up a private tour of the estate and its grounds, contact gary.brasher@russlyon.com.

A library room at the Rail X Ranch sits on 1700 acres with three homes and a private lake. The ranch in Patagonia that is the most expensive home for sale in Southern Arizona in the last 30 years, with a price tag of $30 million.


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Contact reporter Gabriela Rico at grico@tucson.com