Gruene Hall- Gruene, TX

Gruene Hall looks like a movie set. Is is everything you would imagine Texas’ oldest dance hall to be, and more. It is absolutely imperfectly perfect. 

Few things live up to my sweet imagination, but Gruene Hall is one of them. The wood framed screen doors open to reveal a battered bar. The wood plank floors are warped, and protest when you walk on them. The walls are lined with water damaged and time kissed photographs of country music legends. True legends like George Straight, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, not what passes for legends these days.

While there are a handful of tables in the front room, what you are looking for is in the rear of the building. A dance hall deliciously frozen in time, offering a peek into the past. The walls are lined with advertisements from the 30s and 40s. The ceiling is open, revealing a tangle of wires, ancient soundproofing material, and a lot of dust. The original stage looks ready for a production of Oklahoma!, in 1943.

The hall is essentially open air on the sides, but thankfully there are wood flaps that can be closed in the winter. The main stage, reserved for ticketed performances is found along the rear wall, while free day shows are preformed up front, on the opposite side of the bar’s back wall. Yep, that’s right. There is music day and night, and a shocking amount of that music is free.

Neon lights form a backdrop for the bands playing upfront; honky-tonk mood lighting. Heavily carved communal tables provide seating and an opportunity to meet others gathered to listen to the band. This sense of community captures the spirit of the hall’s early days, when it was the center of the community of Gruene, providing a venue for not only drinking and dancing, but high school graduation ceremonies and political elections.

Gruene Hall was built by Heinrich D. Gruene in 1872, who also built the town’s first mercantile, cotton gin, bank and lumberyard. The early hall offered “the best beer” in town, “dime-a-shot whiskey,” as well as polka bands and square dancing. It was a welcome diversion for the hard working German farmers of the area. By the early twentieth century, the hall became known for its legendary Saturday evening dances, which started early, and lasted till dawn, with a break at midnight for coffee and sandwiches.

Gruene’s good times did not last however; trouble started in 1925 with a boll weevil infestation, and continued through the Great Depression, when a decline in cotton prices practically delivered the final blow to the small town. Fortunately, people like to drink when times get tough, and Gruene Hall survived.

By the 1970s the town was barely limping along, and developers were eyeing the area for a housing development. Fortunately, following a historical survey, Gruene was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and the world was spared another neighborhood of brown split levels. Gruene Hall was renovated around this time, but very few structural changes were made, and the vintage signs, dance floor, stage, and 48 star United States flag remained untouched.

Following the renovations, Gruene became the place for live country music. George Straight, or King George as he is known in some circles, played regularly throughout the 70s and 80s. Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Lyle Lovett are just a few of the legends who have played this venue. It is an authentic venue which attracts a wide variety of entertainers to this day. One of the fun things about Gruene is you never quite know who will show up, and play a song or two.

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