Groppe Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight with a little Texas lean on it. Now, when a town gets incorporated, there's always somebody who decides that very moment is the time to do something that lasts. In West, Texas, that somebody was August Groppe, Senior.

Born in 1840, one of the first German settlers in the whole area, and by the time 1892 rolled around, he was already a prominent cotton farmer and businessman with an eye for permanence. And 1892, you want to note, is the same year the town of West was incorporated. Same year.

August Groppe wasn't waiting to see how things shook out. He hired local brickmasons, sourced bricks that were made near West, and had a building constructed right there in the business district. Not a wood-frame affair.

Not something you'd knock over with a strong opinion. Brick. The first brick building in West's business district.

Now that building went on to house a dry goods store, a grocery, a drugstore, and numerous other businesses over the years, carrying commerce through the turn of the century and well beyond. August Groppe, Senior passed in 1919, but that late 19th-century structure he commissioned kept right on standing. Some men plant trees.

August Groppe laid brick, and West has been doing business inside it ever since.

What the marker says

One of the first German settlers in the area, August Groppe, Sr. (1840-1919) had this structure built in 1892, the year the town of West was incorporated. A prominent cotton farmer and businessman. Groppe hired local brickmasons and used bricks that were made near West to construct the first brick building in the town's business district. The late 19th-century structure has housed numerous businesses, including a dry goods store, grocery, and drugstore.