John Reichle General Merchandise (Welcome Store)

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Out here in Austin County, there's a little store that's been standing longer than most people can remember, and it carries a name as friendly as the county road that runs past it: the Welcome Store. But before it was the Welcome Store, it was the John Reichle General Merchandise, and that story starts around 1890.

That's when the John Reichle family opened the place, a proper two-story building, the kind that meant business. And for a while, it did exactly that. Then, somewhere around 1900, a storm came through and had other ideas.

Now the marker doesn't say the storm was sorry about what it did, and storms never are. The damage was done, and the building had to change. The two stories came down to one, and what rose in their place had a character all its own: asymmetrical front gables, a full-width porch, and exterior walls that mix horizontal siding with vertical board and batten.

It's the kind of look you get when a building has a story to tell and isn't trying to hide it. The Reichle family kept things going, and the store kept serving. Then in 1964, the Clemons S.

Faist family acquired the business and gave it a new name. The Welcome Store. Simple, warm, and exactly right.

That name has a way of making you feel like you were expected. Which, out here in Austin County, maybe you were.

What the marker says

Originally operated by the John Reichle Family, this store opened about 1890. Damaged by a storm about 1900, the original 2-story building was changed to its current 1-story configuration with asymmetrical front gables, a full-width porch, and exterior walls that are a combination of horizontal siding and vertical board and batten siding. The business was acquired by the Clemons S. Faist family in 1964, and renamed Welcome Store. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1992