Industry Cotton Gin

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Industry Cotton Gin, right there in Austin County, Texas. Pull over if you can, friend, because this one's got layers. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, at the very beginning.

In 1831, two German settlers, Friedrich Ernst and Charles Fordtran, founded Industry, Texas. The settlement was part of the Stephen F. Austin colonial land grant, and it holds a distinction worth saying out loud: it was the first permanent German settlement in Texas.

That's not a small thing. First permanent German settlement in the whole state. Now, you might expect a place called Industry to have cotton in its blood from the start.

But here's the wry little twist the marker offers up: cigar-making dominated the town's early economy. Cigars. Not cotton.

Not cattle. Cigars. It wasn't until the 1850s that cotton became the area's major crop, and when it did, somebody had to gin it.

That somebody turned out to be Ernst Knolle. He had emigrated to Industry from Germany in 1844, and he prospered as a cotton planter. In 1857, he had a gin built on this very location.

Two local German craftsmen, Andreas Buenger and Theodore Daum, helped put it up: a wood frame gin with a shingle roof. Simple by some standards, but consequential. It became one of the first of twelve gins that would be built in the area between 1857 and 1890.

Twelve gins. The land was thirsty for cotton, and the town was ready to work it. But prosperity has a habit of being fragile.

In the 1860s, Knolle ran into financial difficulties and sold the gin to Daum, one of the very craftsmen who had helped build it. And it was during that stretch, under Daum's ownership, that the gin went through its first big transformation: from mule power to steam power. You can almost feel the shift, the town moving from animal muscle to something louder, hotter, and faster.

Then came the Schramms. Three generations of them owned and operated that gin from 1876 all the way to 1963. That is a long run for any family with any enterprise, and the Schramms didn't just hold the place together, they upgraded it.

They converted it to diesel power. They installed a ginning system from the Murray Company, a Texas-based firm. And in 1929, they constructed a galvanized iron structure right next to the original wooden gin.

The old wood frame building from 1857 and the new iron structure standing side by side, one a relic, one a workhorse. In 1963, the gin was sold to a local businessman named Milton Lindemann. And here's where the story folds back on itself in a way that feels almost deliberate.

Helping Lindemann operate the gin was a man named Charles Fordtran, a descendant of the original settler Charles Fordtran, one of the two men who had founded Industry back in 1831. A Fordtran helped build the town. A Fordtran was still there, more than a century later, keeping its gin running.

The gin ran for ten more years. Then Fordtran's health began to fail, and the operation wound down. In 1973, the last bale of cotton in Austin County was ginned right here.

The last one. Not just the last bale at this gin, the last bale in the whole county. That 1973 bale carried the weight of everything that had come before it.

In 1976, Milton Huebner bought the property. The original 1857 gin, the wood frame building that Buenger and Daum had raised by hand, was razed for safety concerns. Nearly a century and a half had taken its toll.

And in 1996, the Huebners donated the historic site to the City of Industry. A founding in 1831. A gin built in 1857.

Twelve gins across the land by 1890. Three generations of Schramms. A Fordtran at the end, same name as the beginning.

And one final bale of cotton in 1973. Industry, Texas didn't just gin cotton. It ginned history, right up until there was none left to process.

What the marker says

GERMAN SETTLERS FRIEDRICH ERNST AND CHARLES FORDTRAN FOUNDED INDUSTRY, TEXAS IN 1831. THE SETTLEMENT WAS PART OF THE STEPHEN F. AUSTIN COLONIAL LAND GRANT AND WAS THE FIRST PERMANENT GERMAN SETTLEMENT IN TEXAS. ALTHOUGH CIGAR-MAKING DOMINATED THE TOWN'S EARLY INDUSTRY, BY THE 1850s COTTON BECAME THE AREA'S MAJOR CROP. ERNST KNOLLE, WHO EMIGRATED TO INDUSTRY FROM GERMANY IN 1844, PROSPERED AS A COTTON PLANTER AND HAD A GIN BUILT ON THIS LOCATION IN 1857. LOCAL GERMAN CRAFTSMEN, ANDREAS BUENGER AND THEODORE DAUM, HELPED CONSTRUCT THE ORIGINAL WOOD FRAME GIN WITH A SHINGLE ROOF. IT WAS ONE OF THE AREA'S FIRST OF TWELVE GINS BUILT BETWEEN 1857 AND 1890. IN THE 1860s, KNOLLE SOLD THE GIN TO DAUM AFTER SUFFERING FROM FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. IT WAS DURING THIS PERIOD THAT THE GIN WAS CONVERTED FROM MULE POWERED TO STEAM POWERED ENERGY. THREE GENERATIONS OF THE SCHRAMM FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED THE GIN FROM 1876 TO 1963. THE SCHRAMMS MADE SIGNIFICANT UPGRADES TO THE GIN INCLUDING CONVERTING IT TO DIESEL POWER, INSTALLING A GINNING SYSTEM FROM THE TEXAS-BASED FIRM MURRAY COMPANY, AND CONSTRUCTING A GALVANIZED IRON STRUCTURE NEXT TO THE ORIGINAL WOODEN GIN IN 1929. THE GIN WAS SOLD TO LOCAL BUSINESSMAN, MILTON LINDEMANN IN 1963 WHO WAS AIDED IN ITS OPERATION BY CHARLES FORDTRAN, A DESCENDANT OF THE ORIGINAL SETTLER CHARLES FORDTRAN. THE GIN RAN FOR TEN YEARS UNTIL FORDTRAN'S HEALTH BEGAN TO FAIL. THE LAST BALE OF COTTON IN AUSTIN COUNTY WAS GINNED HERE IN 1973. IN 1976, MILTON HUEBNER BOUGHT THE PROPERTY AND THE ORIGINAL 1857 GIN WAS RAZED FOR SAFETY CONCERNS. THE HUEBNERS DONATED THE HISTORIC SITE TO THE CITY OF INDUSTRY IN 1996. (2012)