The Gruene watertower stands guard over the town on a bluff above the Guadalupe River

Gruene (pronounced /ˈgriːn/, like the color "green") is a ghost town in Comal County, Texas. A ghost town is a Town or City that has been abandoned usually because the economic activity that supported it has failed or due to natural or human-caused Comal County is a County located in the US state of Texas. In 2000 its population was 78021 Once a significant cotton-producing community along the Guadalupe River, it now is animated primarily by tourism. Cotton is a soft staple Fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant ( Gossypium sp The Guadalupe River runs from Kerr County, Texas, to the San Antonio River near the Gulf of Mexico. Tourism is Travel for Recreational or Leisure purposes The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel Gruene lies entirely within the city limits of New Braunfels. New Braunfels ( is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U

History

Establishment and Rise to Prominence

Gruene's history begins in 1872 when German farmer Heinrich (Henry) D. Gruene purchased 6,000 acres (24 km²) of farmland three miles (5 km) north of New Braunfels along the Guadalupe River. In 1878 Gruene opened a mercantile store to serve the several dozen or so families sharecropping on his land. Sharecropping is a system of agriculture or agricultural production in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land (e Benefited by its location along the stagecoach route between Austin and San Antonio, the store thrived for many years and stimulated local commercial growth. For other meanings see Stagecoach (disambiguation. A stagecoach (also called diligence) is a type of four-wheeled enclosed Gruene Hall opened in 1878, and the Thorn Hill School and three large cotton gins soon followed. Gruene Hall, built in 1878 in the (then town of Gruene Texas (now a part of New Braunfels) bills itself as "the oldest dance hall in Texas By the time the International-Great Northern Railroad was built across Comal County in the 1880s the small community was bustling with commercial and farming activity, and officially took the name Gruene after its founding father and most prominent citizen. The International-Great Northern Railroad (I&GN was a railroad that operated in the US State of Texas.

Decline and Abandonment

By 1900, Gruene was a prominent banking, ginning, and shipping center for area cotton farming. Though it never had a post office of its own, the community did possess 2 freight rail stations by the 1910s. Gruene was decimated, however, by the boll weevil blight of the 1920s, and further doomed by the effects of the Great Depression. The boll weevil ( Anthonomus grandis) is a Beetle measuring an average length of six Millimeters which feeds on Cotton buds and flowers By 1930 the population had fallen to 75, and post World War II highway construction bypassed the town. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including By 1950 Gruene was essentially abandoned and had become a ghost town.

Gruene Hall

Revival and Renaissance

As a result of the restoration of area structures, such as the Gruene Hall and old mercantile store, Gruene began a re-birth of sorts in the early 1970s. Redevelopment and restoration of the area continued throughout the 1970s and 1980's and today, and though no longer an autonomous community (it was absorbed by New Braunfels several years ago) Gruene maintains a thriving tourist business. Many original structures from the town's heyday still exist, including the Gruene Family Home, a Victorian-style built in 1872 which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and today operates as the Gruene Mansion Inn. The Gruene Family Home, is a Victorian -style built house that was constructed in 1872. The term Victorian architecture can refer to one of a number of Architectural styles predominantly employed during the Victorian era. The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of A historic water tower rises above Gruene Hall, and other buildings at the heart of the district have been renovated into shops and restaurants. There is also a wine-tasting room.

References

• Gruene, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online

External links

• Official Gruene, Texas, web site
• Official Gruene Hall web site
• Gruene Mansion Inn
• USGS GNIS: Gruene, Texas