Cotton Industry in Shiner

Duane's take

The official marker in Shiner tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, cotton doesn't become king without a few unlikely allies. In Lavaca County, those allies were barbed wire, a railroad, and a whole lot of Germans and Czechs with a strong desire to own small family farms.

Put those things together, and you've got the makings of an industry that would define a town for the better part of a century. It started in 1892, when August Stephan built the city's first cotton gin right here in Shiner. Four years later, in 1896, the Shiner Oil Mill and Manufacturing Company came along, and the cottonseed oil industry got its footing.

From that point on, cotton ginning, cottonseed oil, and cotton moving out by rail were woven into the very fabric of Shiner's economy. Now, if you want to talk about the peak, you're talking about the nineteen-twenties. Eight cotton gins operating inside the city limits.

Eight. And this very site where that marker stands, this patch of Shiner ground, was home to four of them. The Edward Fertsch Gin and Mill.

The August Heinsohn Gin. The Rogge Gin Company. And the Shiner Farmers Co-Operative Gin and Mill.

Four gins, one site. The air around here must have smelled like work. But here's the thing about kings.

They don't reign forever. One by one, the gins went quiet, until there was just one left standing. The Buske Gin, the longest-operating gin in the city's history, held on longer than all the rest.

And in 1971, it ginned the last bale of cotton in Shiner. From 1892 to 1971, cotton was king in this corner of Texas. The Buske Gin turned out the lights, and that was that.

What the marker says

Barbed wire, the railroad, and Germans and Czechs desiring to own small family farms combined to make cotton king in Lavaca County. From 1892 to 1971, cotton ginning, the cottonseed oil industry, and cotton export by rail were a vital part of Shiner’s economy. August Stephan built the city’s first cotton gin in 1892, and the Shiner Oil Mill & Manufacturing Co. began in 1896. The cotton industry peaked in the 1920s with eight cotton gins within the city limits. This site was home to four gins: Edward Fertsch Gin and Mill, August Heinsohn Gin, Rogge Gin Company and Shiner Farmers Co-Operative Gin and Mill. In 1971, Buske Gin, the city’s longest in operation, ginned the last bale of cotton in Shiner.