Henry D. Gruene

Henry D. Gruene. . On this green bank, by this soft stream, we set today two votive milestones, that memory may their deeds redeem, when like our sires, our grandsons and daughters too are gone!!, Born in New Braunfels, Henry D. Gruene (1850-1920) was the son of Ernst and Antoinette Klopper Gruene, immigrants from Netze, Germany, who came to Texas in 1845 with the Prince Carl of Solms, Braunfels Colonization Movement. In 1870 he participated in the historic longhorn cattle drive to Kansas, Wyoming, and over the Rockies to Utah. Upon his return to Texas in 1871, he married Bertha Simon, settled on the north bank of the Guadalupe River, and founded the town of Gruene in 1872 by establishing his first business, a water wheel gristmill with the millstones at this marker. Later ventures included a cotton gin, mercantile business, saloon and dance hall, blacksmith shop, lumber yard, feed mill, and automobile agency. As a land developer, farmer, and rancher, he owned land from the Red River to the Gulf of Mexico. His cattle brand was HG. This marker is dedicated to our grandparents, Henry D. Gruene and Bertha Gruene in loving memory of their sacrifices, hardships, and vision in the development of the Township of Gruene, Texas., Bessie Hampe Cobb . Ernest K. Gruene . Henry W. Ogletree . Bertha Hampe Marbach . Henry D. Gruene II . James D. Ogletree . Henrietta Gruene Steele . Melita Gruene Hope