The Junior Historian, Volume 28, Number 1, September 1967 Page: 1
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Texas Historian and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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SCHLARAFFENLAND:
GRUENE,
TEXAS
by JOE HAMMER
Thomas Jefferson High School, San AntonioLISTED with a population of twenty
persons in the 1960 census, Gruene,
Texas, probably would have been
a larger and a better-known community
today had it not been for several his-
torical factors which many persons might
call "fate." The settlement, situated in
Comal County, is about two miles north-
east of New Braunfels on the Guadalupe
River.
The picturesque town of Gruene
(which is pronounced "Green") has ex-
traordinarily deep roots in European soil.
The parents of its founder, Ernst and
Antoinette Griine, were natives of Ger-
many, who, like so many immigrants,
came to America with great dreams of
the good life they hoped to find. They
were but two of the several thousand that
were to settle in Comal County. This
German colonization project, which took
place in the 1840's, has been regarded
as one of the most important to the his-
tory of Texas.
Europe in the 1840's was in a state
of political upheaval. The revolts in
Europe at this period, along with the
ideas they embodied, had caused heavy
repression of liberal thought in Germany.
The middle-class liberalists were left in
a highly inflammable situation. Strict
censorship of the schools, of the press,
and of public gatherings-particularlymeetings-added fire to the already high
spirits.
When Texas won its independence in
1836, a great deluge of books on Texas
was turned loose in Germany during the
years immediately afterward. At least
four books of importance were published
at that time, picturing the self-sufficiency
and tranquility of the Texas frontier. In
Germany, such books "created a mania"
of interest in the Texas Republic which
influenced people in all stations of life.
Each class wanted to take advantage
of the opportunities Texas offered. A
council of German princes and noble-
men was called at Biebrich, Germany,
in April, 1842, the result of which was
the forming of a company to purchase
the lands in Texas to be colonized. At
Mainz, almost two years later, another
gathering of similar purposes called the
League of Nobility was held. (It was
called this because only members of
high rank could become members.) At
this second meeting, a society for the pro-
tection of German immigrants to Texas
called the Adelsverein was formed and
Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels appoint-
ed its commissioner. The League had
small capital with which to buy lands for
settlement, and after several unfortunate
encounters with land speculators, the
Adelsverein finally procured its lands.The second mercantile store faces the original Gruene store and lumberyard
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 28, Number 1, September 1967, periodical, September 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391552/m1/3/?q=%22People+-+Ethnic+groups+-+Germans%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.