DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, friends — my job is just to do it justice. Now, every town has that one house that holds the whole story of the place inside its walls. In Cuero, DeWitt County, that house belongs to Edward Mugge — and the walls have a lot to say.
Edward Mugge was born in Germany in 1839. He stepped off a ship at the port of Indianola — a seaport on the Texas coast, some eighty miles southeast of where that house would one day stand — on August 20, 1854. You won't find Indianola on a map today.
It's gone now, swallowed by history, listed in the marker's own words as now-extinct. But in 1854 it was a door, and Edward Mugge walked right through it. What followed was two decades of hard work and resourcefulness — those are the marker's words, and they earn their keep.
Because by the end of those two decades, Edward Mugge had climbed to partnership in the pioneer banking firm of H. Runge and Company. That is not a small thing.
That is the kind of eminence that changes a county. And he didn't hoard it. In his diverse enterprises, he brought other young men in — particularly those of similar Teutonic-American heritage — and gave them chances to invest their work and skill in building up this part of south Texas.
The marker calls him a key man in the activities and ideology that gave Cuero its economic leadership role in late nineteenth-century south Texas. Key man. That phrase is doing a lot of quiet heavy lifting.
Now, sometime in the 1870s, Edward Mugge started building a house. He began modest enough — seven rooms, which was a comfortable home for the region. Three of those rooms were milled up in Saint Louis and assembled right here.
Think about that for a moment. Prefabricated rooms, shipped down and put together on Texas soil. The man had reach.
But here is where the story gets warm in a way the banking ledgers never could. Over the ensuing years, Edward Mugge kept adding to that house — and he did it as surprise gifts. To his wife, Pauline, née Blumenthal, and to their six children: Edward, Lilly, Anna, Henry, Oscar, and Fred.
A new room. A new hall. A porch.
Surprises, all of them. That house grew and grew — seven rooms became fifteen rooms, five halls, three porches. Out on the grounds stood a summerhouse, a greenhouse, a bathhouse, a wash house, a smokehouse, and a huge cistern that, the marker notes, is still existent.
And then there were the stables — which, in time, became a garage for some of the first automobiles in Cuero. The century turned, and that old stable turned right along with it. Edward Mugge died in 1897.
The house he built — started as a comfortable home, grown room by room into something grander, each addition a gift to the people he loved — that house is still standing in Cuero. The marker says it illustrates the history of its builder and his period. And it does.
But there's something else it illustrates too: a man who kept finding ways to give things to the people around him, long after he had anything left to prove.
What the marker says
Built in 1870s by a key man in the activities and ideology that gave the town of Cuero its economic leadership role in late 19th century south Texas. Edward Mugge (1839-97), a native of Germany, arrived in the now-extinct seaport of Indianola (80 miles southeast) on Aug. 20, 1854. Seizing opportunities to rise through hard work and resourcefulness, he attained in two decades the eminence of partnership in the pioneer banking firm of H. Runge and Company. In his diverse enterprises he offered many other young men -- particularly those of similar Teutonic - American heritage -- chances to invest work and skill in development of this area. Beginning this house as a typical comfortable home of the region, he originally built seven rooms -- three of these milled in Saint Louis and assembled here. Over ensuing years he made additions as surprise gifts to his wife (Nee Pauline Blumenthal) and six children: Edward, Lilly, Anna, Henry, Oscar, and Fred. The house grew to 15 rooms, five halls, three porches. On grounds were a summerhouse, greenhouse, bath house, wash house, smokehouse, huge cistern (still existent), and stables (which later became a garage for some of the first automobiles in Cuero). The Mugge house illustrates the history of its builder and period. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971