Grapevine Cotton Exchange

Grapevine Cotton Exchange. . , "Blackland area cotton was then regarded most highly by spinners of England." Texas Historical Marker, Greenville (TX) Cotton Compress, In 1858, George Emanuel Bushong built and operated the first cotton gin in the Grapevine area. In 2000, Kenneth R. Davis was the last farmer to commercially grow cotton on the Grape Vine Prairie. He farmed Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport land that had belonged to his great-grandfather, Tom Biggers., Over the years, Grapevine had three cotton gins in town and other small communities around Grapevine also had gins. Cotton gins removed the seeds from the cotton. Cotton was then formed into bales that weighed about 500 pounds each., Grapevine farmers sold their bales to cotton buyers who shipped the cotton away to mills in distant towns. The 500-pound bales were loaded onto the Cotton Belt Railroad and sent to Greenville, Texas, to the world's largest in-land cotton compressor. There, the bales of cotton were pressed down to less than half their former size. Then the compressed cotton was stacked back in railcars and shipped to mill towns on the east coast or to Galveston for export to England to be made into cloth., Today, the Cotton Exchange represents Grapevine's bankers, investment companies and other business interests. Just as Grapevine's cotton once touched the world, today the world touches Grapevine. What once were cotton fields are now water parks, attractions and resorts which people from around the world enjoy., This façade of this building has cast metal pilasters on the first floor and spandrel beam containing storefronts which feature wood and glass doors and tall windows and sets of four-light transoms above. The heavy, two-foot thick rubble coursed field stone wall of the second floor features large quoins (stones) accentuating its corners. Pierced tin wall sconces with cotton boll design adorn each doorway., Between the doorways and below the sconces are embedded stones from Grapevine's sister cities of Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila Mexico; Krems on the Danube, Austria and West Lothian, Scotland as well as natural treasures from the Grape Vine Prairie including petrified wood, fossils and other artifacts. Above the balcony, five X braces mark the structural bays of the building. The ornamental zinc parapet contains swags, tassels and pairs of projecting supporting brackets with frieze which crown the building. The ceilings of the balconies are painted sky blue to deter insects and birds from building nests., This building commemorates the agricultural era of growing cotton on the Grape Vine Prairie. , Dedicated May 18, 2012