Luckenbach, Texas

Luckenbach is thirteen miles from Fredericksburg, Texas in southeastern Gillespie County, part of the Texas Hill Country. It consists of ten acres (40,000 m²) between South Grape Creek (a tributary of the Pedernales River) and Snail Creek, just south of U.S. Highway 290 on both sides of Ranch Road 1376.

Related Topics:
Fredericksburg, Texas - Gillespie County - Texas Hill Country - Pedernales River - U.S. Highway 290

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Its oldest building is a combination general store and saloon opened in 1849 by Minna Engel, whose father was an itinerant preacher from Germany. The community, first named Grape Creek, was later named after Minna's husband, Carl Albert Luckenbach. Luckenbach was first established as a community trading post and was one of the few that never broke a peace treaty with the Comanche Indians, with whom they bartered and traded.

Related Topics:
General store - Saloon - 1849 - Germany - Comanche

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Its population increased to a high of 492 in 1904, but by the 1960s, Luckenbach was almost a ghost town.

Related Topics:
1904 - 1960s - Ghost town

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An ad in the paper offering "town — pop. 3 — for sale" led Hondo Crouch, rancher and Texas folklorist, to buy Luckenbach for $30,000 in 1970, in partnership with Kathy Morgan and Guich Koock. While modern-day Luckenbach is part of Fredericksburg, Hondo used the town's rights as a municipality to govern the dance hall as he saw fit.

Related Topics:
Hondo Crouch - 1970

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