DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back before anybody called it Gruene, this little patch of Comal County went by the name Goodwin. German immigrant farmers were the first settlers out here, working the land the way they knew how, the way they'd brought with them from across the ocean.
Then along came Henry D. Gruene. Now there's a man who showed up with a plan.
In the 1870s, Henry D. Gruene established a large cotton farming operation right here, and he didn't stop there. He built a mercantile, a cotton gin, and a dance hall.
Let that sink in for a second — a mercantile to outfit you, a cotton gin to process your crop, and a dance hall, because what good is a hard week's work without a little music on Saturday night? He also conveyed land for a school. The man was building a town whether the town knew it yet or not.
And sure enough, by 1903, the place had taken his name. Gruene. By 1903, it was official.
Now here's where the story takes a turn, the kind of turn that reminds you the land always has the last word. In 1925, a boll weevil infestation destroyed the cotton crop. One small insect, and just like that, the thing the whole town was built around was gone.
The decline set in the way these things do — quietly at first, then all at once. For decades, Gruene was a town that time had mostly walked on past. But here's the part worth stickin' around for.
Come the 1970s, restoration efforts began, and folks started remembering what was here and decided it was worth saving. In 1975, the town was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. A dance hall Henry D.
Gruene built back when cotton was king — still standing, still telling the story. Some things, if they can just survive long enough, get to become something even better than what they were.
What the marker says
German immigrant farmers were the first settlers of this area, which was orignally called Goodwin. Henry D. Gruene established a large cotton farming operation here in the 1870s. He built a mercantile, cotton gin and dance hall, and conveyed land for school, the town became know as Gruene in 1903, a boll weevil infestation destroyed the cotton crop in 1925 and signaled the decline of the town. Restoration effort begun in the 1970s revitalized the area, the town was listed in the Natonal Register of Historic Places in 1975. (1988)