DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's the authority here, and I'm just the one putting it into words — this is the story of Groos National Bank, straight from the official Texas Historical Commission inscription. Now, if you want to talk about a family that built something from the ground up — and I mean that almost literally — pull up a chair, because the Groos family did not ease into Texas. It starts with Frederick Groos, born in 1827, a graduate engineer and architect who came to Texas from Germany in 1848.
That's not a man arriving with nothing; that's a man arriving with skills. But what he put those skills toward first might surprise you. In 1849, while Fort Duncan was going up near Eagle Pass, Frederick had himself a U.S.
Government contract for freighting into that remote stretch of the frontier. Now picture what that looked like: one hundred and forty high-wheel carts. Two hundred and eighty oxen.
His drivers pushing through country where the danger from Indians was, as the marker puts it, constant. Not occasional. Constant.
And yet — the business was successful. Frederickwasn't a man who stopped at one thing. He had branch houses in New Braunfels, San Antonio, and all the way down to Matamoros, Mexico.
And then in 1854, his brothers Carl — born in 1830 — and Gustav — born in 1832 — came and joined him. Together they formed a mercantile partnership: F. Groos and Co.
Here's where the story gets interesting in that quiet, almost accidental way that the biggest institutions sometimes begin. On the frontier, any general store worth its salt had to dabble in banking. It was a necessary side line — that's the phrase on the marker, and I love it, because there is nothing glamorous about where the money was kept.
We're talking packing boxes. And when you needed to move money safely down a dangerous road? You hid it in cotton bales, or you plugged it into holes bored into cart axles.
That's not a vault. That's ingenuity under pressure. Bank clients in northern Mexico trusted the Groos name for generations.
That kind of loyalty doesn't happen by accident. The firm moved from Eagle Pass to San Antonio in 1866. And thirteen years later, in 1879, they did something nobody in San Antonio had done before — they built a structure on Commerce Street expressly designed to be a bank.
The first one in the city built for that sole purpose. That building went up right across the street from where this marker stands. Then in 1912 — the same year Frederick Groos, that German engineer who arrived in 1848 with ambitions and an ox team, left this world — the firm obtained a national charter.
And the descendants of the Groos brothers? The marker says it plainly: they are active in San Antonio today, represented in both the management and ownership of the bank. Some families leave a name on a building.
The Groos family left a name on a city's entire banking history — and they're still there to prove it.
What the marker says
Founded by family that was first in San Antonio to engage solely in banking. Outgrowth of business begun by Frederick Groos (1827-1912), a graduate engineer and architect who came to Texas from Germany in 1848. During building of Fort Duncan in 1849, Groos had U.S. Government contract for freighting into Eagle Pass. His drivers--with 140 high-wheel carts and 280 oxen--braved constant danger from Indians, but the business was successful. Groos had branch houses in New Braunfels, San Antonio, and Matamoros, Mexico. His brothers, Carl (1830-1893) and Gustav (1832-1895), joined him in 1854, in merchantile partnership, F. Groos and Co. Primitive banking was a necessary side line of any frontier store; money was kept in packing boxes, or, for safety on the road, hidden in cotton bales or plugged holes in card axles. Bank clients in northern Mexico continued with Groos for generations. Firm moved from Eagle Pass to San Antonio in 1866. In 1879 it expanded by building on Commerce Street (across street from this site) the first structure in San Antonio expressly for a bank. Obtained a national charter in 1912. Descendants of the Groos brothers are active in the city today, and are represented in the management and ownership of the bank. (1968)