Greenvine, Texas, Washington County. (original) (raw)

Cemetery
TE Photo, December 2009

History in a Pecan Shell

Settled in the 1860s, the first German Baptist Church in Texas was organized here in 1861. A nearby community named Vinegrove was declining as Greenvine�s star was ascending and since Greenvine was forsighted enough to apply for a post office, residents of Vinegrove moved to Greenvine.

In 1879 William Seidel, a farmer, discovered natural gas on his property and was the first person in Texas to use it as fuel. A historic marker in Greenvine attests to that event. Greenvine�s economy was based on cotton. The population reached 300 by the early 1880s. By the mid 1880s Greenvine had a school and a justice of the peace.

Emmanuel Lutheran Church was organized in 1884 but by 1890 the population had declined by half. It did recover somewhat, however with the arrival of the Great Depression, it was lowered to 100.

The school merged with Burton�s in 1943 and by the end of that decade only a gin and store were in operation. In 2010, the community is marked by two cemeteries, two churches and one defunct restaurant/ store.

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