The Groppe Barn . . . . located on the Groppe Farm just south of West, Texas, in McLennan County, the Groppe Barn is a fine example of late 19^th century agrarian architecture.  Built in 1886, it served several generations as a functional and utilitarian structure central to the farm’s daily operations.  Over 100 years later a major restoration project was undertaken to restore the barn to its original condition, preserving a significant example of early Texas agricultural vernacular.  Subsequently, the Groppe family sought recognition of the structure by the Texas Historical Commission because of its representation of a significant span of Texas agricultural history and the people who persevered in making a successful living by farming the rich black lands of central Texas and creating and nurturing thriving community businesses.

The following document was developed and submitted to the Texas Historical Commission in 1990 by Mae Groppe Popp, granddaughter of August Groppe who established a farming operation on the property after emigrating from Germany.  In the process it provides some brief but concise historical facts about the Groppe Farm and early family history:

The Groppe Barn

1886-1990

            The land on which this structure is situated was originally a part of what was designated as University Lands¹ in an act authorizing the disposition and sale of these lands.

            August Groppe, Sr. purchased the land on which he and his wife Eilizabeth built their home and barn from James Magness on January 1, 1883^2.  Mr. Magness had been issued a letter patent number 806 for the purchase of this land on May 18, 1876 from the state of Texas³.  The home of Mr. and Mrs. August Groppe, Sr. no longer exists but the barn has remained and has been in continuous use since it was built in 1886.

            August Groppe, Sr. and his brother-in-law Dietrich Blume, were the first German settlers to arrive in the West area and founded the German community there.

August Groppe, Sr. was born in the small village of Verliehausen, Germany on December 11, 184.  He came to America in 1867 landing in New York.  He made his way to St. Louis where he lived for five years working for the Buck and Wright Stove Company.  In 1872 he made a brief visit to Germany.  Upon his return to America he headed south and reached Waco, Texas.  There he made inquiries regarding work and was told that a Doctor McGregor, founder of the town of that name west of Waco, needed a driver for his horse drawn buggy.  He worked for the doctor for two years.  It was during this time that he learned of the availability of University Lands in McLennan County.  IN 1874 he purchased 160 acres, being granted an original letter patent number 234, for the purchase of these 160 acres of University Lands⁴.  He was so successful in growing wheat and marketing it for a good price that he was able to buy more land.  His next land purchase was for an adjoining tract of 80 acres which he bought in 1881 from W. S. Wood for $400.00.  In 1883 he paid the above mentioned James Magness $800.00 for a second 80 acre tract which also joined his original holdings and on which their home and barn were built.  He purchased a third 80 acre adjoining tract from J. W. Rice in 1886 for $500.00.  In 1894 August Groppe bought his final tract of land for $2,250.00, his total land holdings were now 480 acres of adjoining farmland.  The original farm three miles south of West is still owned by an August Groppe, Sr. descendant and has been farmed by the Groppe family for 116 years.

            In 1984 this farm on which the barn is situated was honored by the Texas Department of Agriculture and was included in the Texas Family Land Heritage Program for having been in continuous agricultural production at the hands of one family for one hundred years or more.

            In 1874, the same year that August Groppe made his first land purchase, he married Elizabeth Blume.  He and his wife began their life together in a log cabin.  Their children, William, Annie, August,Jr. Margaret, Lucy and Henry were born in this log cabin.  In 1886 August and Elizabeth built a two story frame home and a barn on the tract of land bought from James Magness.  August Groppe became a prosperous cotton farmer, a stockholder and member of the Board of Directors of the West Cotton Mill, a stockholder in the West Water Company, a school trustee, and the owner of several business properties in West⁵.  One of the properties, still belonging to his descendants, was the first brick business building in town and is the oldest business structure in West.  This building which August Groppe constructed in 1892 was restored and in 1983 it was awarded an official Texas Historical Marker by the Texas Historical Commission.

            In 1882-1883 August Groppe and his brother-in-law Dietrich Blume founded and organized the St. Peters Evangelical Church located about two miles south of West⁶.  The church building is no longer there but the site is now a recorded Texas Landmark.

            In 1886 August Groppe retained the services of Joseph Huber⁷, a skilled carpenter in the area, to building a barn on his property, now referred to as the Groppe Barn.  Joe Huber was born in Kenberg, Bavaria on December 29, 1853.  He came to America in 1884 and arrived in Tours, Texas the same year.  Tours is a small community about three miles southeast of West and not far from the Groppe farm.  Mr. Huber, being a bachelor at the time, lived with the Groppe family while he built their barn.   The barn was built using large beams with hand cut triple notched joints and wooden pegs throughout⁸.  Square cut nails were used where necessary.  Small heart shaped cutouts were used on doors, typical of German artisans⁹.

            This barn has been in continuous use for August Grope and his descendants for 104 years.  Mr. Huber died March 23, 1935.

            On January 6, 1917¹⁰, prior to August Groppe’s death on December 3, 1919 and his wife Elizabeth’s death on February 14, 1922, August and Elizabeth deeded the 80 acre tract on which their home and barn is situated, to their youngest child, Henry and his wife Anna.  Henry Groppe and his wife Anna later purchased 100 acres from Henry’s brother, which was part of the original land holdings of August and Elizabeth, giving Henry and his wife Anna a total of 180 acres of the original land holdings of August Groppe, Jr.

            Henry Groppe, Sr. and his wife Anna had four children: Violet (Mrs. J. B. Park), Ruby Mae (Mrs. Ben J. Popp), Henry and Ocee.  Since the death of Anna Groppe on February 17, 1967 and death of Henry Groppe, Sr. on January 7, 1970, the property passed on to their four children who are all still living.

            On March 24, 1970¹¹ Henry Groppe, Jr. and his wife Carol bought the undivided interests in this property from the remaining two sisters and brother and it remains the property of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Groppe, Jr. to this day.  The barn was built and owned by August Groppe, Sr., then owned by his son Henry Groppe, Sr. and is now owned by his grandson, Henry Groppe, Jr.

            The Groppe Barn is rectangular, measuring thirty-two feet by fifty-five feet  The ground floor of the barn has two cribs and a granary.  A wagonway runs through the center between the two cribs, one a six hundred bushel crib, the other four hundred bushel capacity.  The wagonway or hall has a large door on the north or back end of the barn.  The south or front end is open. In front of one crib and the granary are horse feeding stalls.  The upper part of the barn consists of a large loft for the storage of hay extending the full width and length of the structure.  A fence-board corral extends outward from the south side of the barn.

            On the west side of the corral is a brick lined cistern which stores water gathered by gutters from the barn roof.  Water was drawn from this cistern by means of a bucket, rope and pulley for the livestock sheltered in the barn.

            Restoration of the Groppe barn was begun July 11, 1990.  Lewis Polly of L.P. Construction, Irene, Texas, experienced in restoration work, was retained to restore the old barn.  A combination of manure, hay, and soil which had accumulated over a period of many, many years had to be removed from within the barn, and from underneath the cribs and granary¹².  This also exposed the chiseled stones supporting the main vertical supports on the south or front side.  Temporary supports were used while the barn was pulled together and leveled.  Only one of the original stones supporting the vertical beams on the south side remained unbroken.  These stones had been chiseled into a pyramid shape with a flat top and a cavity had been cut in the top into which the support beams were fitted^13.  The decision was made to duplicate the stones out of concrete.  These duplicated pyramid concrete supports had to be increased in height so that the bottom rotted portion of the wooden vertical supports could be cut to good timber.  These were doweled on the bottom and tar applied prior to installation to prevent future rot.  Northside footings on foundations were redug and formed, concrete was poured and the horizontal beam doweled to the concrete.

            When built, the barn had a wood shingled roof.  In the early 1920s when the wooden shingles had begun to deteriorate, Henry Groppe, Sr. had a galvanized tin roof applied on top of the original shingle roof except for the gable on the south side¹⁴.  In the early 1970s a new galvanized tin roof was installed on the entire south front, including the gable.  This part of the roof is in very good condition at the present time.  During restoration the old galvanized tin roof on the north or back of the barn was removed, laths were renailed and tightened to the rafters and new tin installed.

            The original flat field stones which supported the cribs, granary and some of the partitions within the barn were placed in the same locations.  However, prior to placement holes were dug and filled with concrete and a steel rod was installed vertically in the center.  Holes were drilled in the center of the original flat field stones; these stones were placed on the steel dowel with concrete between each stone.  The dowel continues through the horizontal beam.  Doweling was for non separation of concrete, stones and beam timber.

            After the above work was completed the horse feeding troughs were rebuilt, missing crib slats were replaced, doors and openings were repaired and rotted timber was replaced.  A fence board corral with a wooden gate was installed in the front of the old barn as it had been originally.

            The cistern was repaired, gutters installed, the original pulley located and one of the original well buckets recovered from the bottom of the cistern with a grappling hook.  Livestock can now be watered again from the cistern.

            It would seem appropriate that an official Texas Historical Marker be awarded by the Texas Historical Commission for the restored Groppe Barn, built one hundred and four years ago by August Groppe, Sr., the founder of the German Community and one of the town’s pioneer business and farming leaders, and then owned by first his son and now his grandson.

                                                                                                                        Mae Popp

                                                                                                                        Willis, Texas

References:

¹An act appropriating certain lands for the establishment of a General System ofEducation approved January 26, 1839, by the order of the President.  Recorded in McLennan Surveyors Records, Vol B, p.48.

²Recorded in McLennan County Deed Records, Vol 39, p.1237

³McLennan County Land Map, published by General Land Office, State of Texas

⁴McLennan County Land Map, published by General Land Office, State of Texas, showing original Letter Paten Number 234 granted to August Groppe.  Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, titled “Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World” (Chicago; Lewis Publishing Co. 1893) Biography August Groppe, pp.510-511.

⁵The West Times, July 17, 1906,Second Section, p.1

⁶“The First One Hundred Years of the Blume Family – Beginning 1853,” by Irwin Blume.  Copies filed with the following:  (a) The Texas State Genealogy Library, Austin, Texas,  (b) The Texas Archives in University of Texas-Austin,  (c) Natinal Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.,  (d) Clayton Library for Genealogical Research, Houston, Texas.

⁷Sister Mary Elizabeth Jupe, “Tours, Texas,” pp 7, 415, 416, 586-588.  Interview August 1, 1990 with Lawrence Huber, youngest child of Joe Huber.  Lawrence lives in his father’s home in Tours, Texas.  Lawrence was born September 21, 1910.  Tape recorded conversation Henry Groppe, Jr. had with his father, Henry Groppe, Sr. in 1968.  This conversation was about the building of the Groppe Barn and Joseph Huber who built it.  This tape and transcription in the possession of Henry Groppe, Jr.

⁸See picture showing notched beams

⁹See picture showing heart cutout

¹⁰Recorded in McLennan County Deeds Record recorded December 26, 1919.

¹¹Recorded in McLennan County Deeds Record.  Recorded April, 1970.

¹²See picture showing exposed original field stone supports.

¹³See picture showing original chiseled support stone.

¹⁴See picture showing gable on front of barn.  (The building on the left of the photo was added to the barn by Henry Groppe, Sr. but remained only a few years.  After being damaged by a wind storm, it was removed.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties – “Pen Pictures of the Garden of the World,” (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co. 1893)

Jupe, Sister Mary Elizabeth, Tours Texas, San Antonio, Texas, 1988

The West Times, West, Texas, July 17, 1906, Second Section

St. Peters Church, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of St. Peters United Church of Christ, West, Texas

McLennan County Deeds Records

Sloane, Eric, An Age of Barns, Funk and Wagnalls, Henry Holt and Co., New York, New York

August Groppe (1840-1919) & Elizabeth Blume Groppe (1844-1922)