Talk:Gruene, New Braunfels, Texas

Status a sparsly populated ghost town.

Gruene was once an autonomous community with its own stable economy. As it was bypassed by transportation in the mid twentieth century, almost all of its citizens moved away leaving an abandoned town with no commerce and it was subsequently absorbed by New Braunfels. It was not until many years later that life returned to the area, driven by tourism and the community's proximity to popular river tubing camps.

These circumstances, coupled with the fact that there are very few people living in the immediate area (the few citizens in the community are legal residents of the City of New Braunfels) as well as lack of a sustainable economy (nearly all area commerce is fed by tourism), allow Gruene to fit the criteria of a tourist ghost town, much like Oatman and Jerome, Arizona. Gruene is mentioned as a "ghost town" in print; if it would please all whom it may concern, I can gather ISDN numbers for the literature which contains such notations.

Also, the presence of businesses (or even permanent residents, for that matter) does not exclude a community from ghost town status. If this were so, Jerome, AZ and its 343 residents would not fit the critera, even though the town is widely known as one of Arizona's most celebrated ghost towns.

Lothar the Terrible 15:58, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

More information.

Taken from The Handbook of Texas Online (which is a digital portal of the Texas State Historical Agency):

In 1900 Gruene was the banking, ginning, and shipping center for area cotton growers. Its dance hall and saloon became the focus of social activities. By the early 1900s the town was served by the Goodwin post office and by passenger and freight depots for both the International-Great Northern and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroads. Gruene began a decline with the boll weevilqv blight of the 1920s. It is reported that late in that decade the Gruene family's 8,000-acre holdings failed to produce a single bale of cotton. The mercantile store and rail depots were closed with the onset of the Great Depression.qv As post-World War IIqv highway construction bypassed the community, its decline was completed. An estimated population of seventy-five in the 1930s had dispersed by 1950, leaving the once thriving community a ghost town.

Taken from Texas Monthly Magazines:

IF YOU’RE IN NEED OF A BARGAIN GETAWAY, come along some weekend to the Texas ghost town that was saved by a beer joint.

Taken from Texas Escapes:

Gruene was thriving as the 20th Century arrived and provided ginning, banking and shipping for Comal County's cotton farmers. The town had depots for both the Katy and I&GN railroads. But nothing lasts forever and the boll weevil hit Gruene hard in the 1920s. The store and depots had already closed even before the Great Depression rolled around. Fast becoming a ghost town, the last nail was driven in the town's casket when it was bypassed by the highway after WWII.

As you can see, I didn't just pull this out of thin air. As a former resident of New Braunfels, I'm well aware of the history of the community of Gruene. If you really would like me to stop undoing your edits, you should inform these other publications that they are incorrect as well. As soon as they cease to refer to Gruene as a ghost town, then so will I.

Lothar the Terrible 00:06, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

wow you are sooo smart i love you. it WAS a ghost town. not anymore my friend. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kas0809 (talk • contribs) 00:25, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Gruene isn't a Ghost Town anymore and based upon this article itsself it hasn't been since the seventies so I do not believe this needs to be classified as a Ghost Town. Also Gruene is not apart of New Braunfels, it is it's own town with it's own population. Much like many other cities surrounding the Austin area, Kyle, Cedar Park, Jonestown, Leander, Georgetown, Roundrock... just because they are right next to each other and you can't tell where one starts and the other stops other than a sign does not mean they are absorbed. We were looking to move to Gruene, why would there be jobs there and property for sale if it is currently a ghost town? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.174.226.30 (talk) 19:20, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

References

Pronunciation

I think I'm being trolled by another editor, but I'll lay out a few more references just in case there is genuine confusion.

• San Antonio Express
• National Geographic
• LA Times
• Huff Po
• Washington Post
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There only pronunciation that matters is what the official one used by locals is. Again, if you are confused by this, please start a conversation here. Repeated removing sourced material is not helpful. Kuru (talk) 11:31, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

With no response for three days, I have no idea what the counter-position is and have restored the material. I've swapped out the reference with a more recent one just in case that was the perceived problem. Kuru (talk) 11:50, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

I did not realize this was the same long-term irrational and disruptive editor from Bexar County. I've semi-protected the page. I'm sure he'll pop up at La Jolla, California next. Kuru (talk) 13:20, 4 September 2016 (UTC)