Texas Real Estate & Relocation Guide

Gruene, Texas

Population: 20

Located in Comal County

Gruene is located in Comal County with a population of about 20. Gruene is the German word for "Green" and that is how the local people pronounce the name of the town, "Green". Gruene has been designated a Historic Town by the State of Texas.

In 1872 the Gruene family purchased 6,000 acres north of the Guadalupe River, and in 1878 Henry D. Gruene built a mercantile store to serve the several dozen families sharecropping his family's land. The community of Gruene was once a prosperous commercial and supply center for blackland cotton farmers of eastern Comal County. German farmers settled the area in the 1850s, and the town took shape in subsequent years under the name Goodwin Community.

Death came to H.D. Gruene in 1920 and marked an end to the period of Gruene's development. In 1925 and 1929, economic disaster stuck with the coming of the boll weevil and the Depression. The Gruene family kept the mercantile store open and continued extending credit to the area farmers. Eventually even this became impossible. The mercantile store closed, and Gruene became virtually a ghost town.

Life once again came to Gruene during the winter of 1974-75 when much of the Gruene estate was sold. The new owners, West-Leach and Associates, realizing the value of the historic structures, found purchasers for these old buildings. Businesses were established as unique as the town and all of Gruene was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today Gruene is once again a thriving community and the entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places. Since redevelopment the resident population is estimated at twenty.