The Grove is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Coryell County, Texas Coryell County ( ) is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 83,093. The county seat is Gatesville. The county is named for James Coryell, a frontiersman and Texas Range ...

, United States. The area is known for its abundance of Texas bluebonnet flowers during the spring. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had a population of 65 in 2000. It is located within the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area.

History

It was founded in 1859 and got its name from the nearby

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

tree grove. The community was formerly known as Morrison Grove. The town featured two general stores, a mill, and a gin by the end of the 1860s. The Grove already had Baptist, Methodist, Disciples, and Presbyterian churches when a group of Wendish immigrants moved there in 1870. When the post office was first established, J. B. Coleman served as postmaster. A 150-person village with three general stores, two grocers, and local farmers shipping

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

, hides, and

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

existed in the mid-1880s. The Grove was one of the county's wealthiest municipalities by 1900. After being bypassed by State Highway 36 in the 1940s, the hamlet started to dwindle. When

Fort Hood Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

was created in the early 1940s, some local farmers were compelled to migrate, and others lost land when the Belton Dam was built in 1953. The development of transportation and the concentration of farmland both led to the downfall of the village. The Grove's population, which was estimated to be 150 in the 1940s, dropped to 140 in the 1950s and 1960s and to 65 by 1970, where it stayed until the year 2000. In the 1980s, the hamlet was identified on county highway maps by a church and several businesses.

Geography

The Grove is located on Farm to Market Road 1114 and

Texas State Highway 36 State Highway 36 (SH 36) runs from Freeport to Abilene. It was designated as the 36th Division Memorial Highway between Cameron and Sealy by the Texas Legislature in 1985. History SH 36 was originally proposed on November 21, 1917, as a rou ...

, southeast of Gatesville, southwest of

Waco Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 population of 146,608, making i ...

, and north of

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

via

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

in eastern Coryell County. It is also a two-hour drive from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Education

In 1904, it had a two-teacher school with 60 students, and in 1908, a Lutheran school was established there. In 1948, The Grove's public school closed, and kids were bused to schools in neighboring towns. Due to a shortage of students, the Lutheran school was forced to close in 1962. Today, the community is served by the

Gatesville Independent School District Gatesville Independent School District is a public school district based in Gatesville, Texas (USA). In addition to Gatesville, the district serves the town of South Mountain, the census-designated places of Flat and Mound, as well as rural ...

Notable people

Ernest Winkler Ernest Winkler (1875-1960) was a historian and librarian at the University of Texas. Early life and family history Ernest Winkler was born on January 21, 1875, the son, and eldest child, of Charles August and Kathrina Louisa Huber Winkler.Utley ...

, historian and librarian from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, was born here. * Albert J. Winkler,

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

professor, was born here. * Bernie Winkler, football player for

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

Gallery

File:Thegrovetexascemetary.jpg, The St. Paul Lutheran Church Cemetery at The Grove has graves from many of the early pioneers of the community. File:thegrovetexas2.jpg, A field of Texas bluebonnets in The Grove

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grove Unincorporated communities in Coryell County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Sorbian-American culture in Texas