History of Carmine General Stores

A piece of Carmine history about grocery and general merchandise stores.

A man named Anders and A. M. Weyand each opened the first general stores in about 1886. By 1889, a general store was owned by W. J. H. Umland and E. W. Hoppe. About 1904, Frank Eichler had a general store and E. F. Hetzle was doing custom slaughtering. A meat market was owned by Adolph Krueger between 1912-1915. E. P. Jacob opened the Humpty Dumpty store in 1930 and it later became Jacob’s Store. In 1941, Mrs. Leila Harzke wrote that there were 4 grocery stores and one meat market. The above was taken from “A History of Carmine” by Tony Buban.

In January of 1946, Kermit and Ora May Renck bought a grocery store from Paul Wolff and called it Renck’s Grocery, located on Hauptstrasse. They sold it to Bilderbach and Koons and in 1983, Jimmy & Marie Loewe bought it and called in Loewe’s Grocery.

Another grocery store was located on Sylvan St., which at that time was Hwy. 290. Different owners were Mr. Stuermer, Hugo Weyand, Willie Lee Hinze, and R. Z. & Alma Afflerbach. R. Z. previously had a store along Centennial St. in the lower part of his house and lived on the second floor. Charlie Werchan’s store and later H&K Store (Harzke and Kieke) was on Thigpen St. where McCaul’s Style is now located. Roland Knebel had a meat market and Otto and Gladys Ullrich owned the Carmine Locker Plant.

Additionally, groceries were sold at A. H. Ullrich Chevrolet, Herbert Weinert and Herbert Kiel, the last two both at the Carmine “Y”.

The only two stores now selling groceries in Carmine are The Village Market and 4-G. The Village Market was built by Larry & Colette Wunderlich and opened in December 2012. It was sold in January, 2020 and it is still a convenience store. 4-G location was built by David Krause and Cindy Krause in the mid 1980’s, located just west of Hauptstrasse along Hwy 290. They called it K & K Meat Market, also selling barbecue and snacks. It then became Eckert’s Outpost in the later 80’s owned first by Ricky Eckert and then Todd Felder. Dwayne and Theresa Garlin bought it on Oct. 28, 2009 and named it 4-G. They sold it March 23, 2017. The current owner is Max Espinoza who bought it in January 2020 and it continues as a convenience store.

RT-C School News

Round Top-Carmine High School Cub Baseball team plays at Iola on March 22 at 6:30 p.m. They host Iola March 25 at 4:30 p.m.

Jr. High Track Team will participate in the Fayetteville Jr. High Invitational meet on March 28.

Carmine VFD

Carmine Volunteer Fire Department regular meeting is March 24 at 7 p.m.

To rent the Firemen’s Annex, contact Jennifer Mohr at (979) 716-1377.

The burn ban remains in effect for Fayette County.

Condolences

Sympathy is extended to the family of A. C. Miller who passed away on March 8. He was a pharmacist in Brenham and a former resident of Carmine.

Carmine Dance Hall

The Carmine Dance Hall Antiques Show begins on March 25 when early buying begins from 5-7 p.m.

On March 26-30 breakfast will be served every day from 7:30 to 10 a.m. March 26-29 times are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On March 30, they will be open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Lunch and desserts will also be available.

MLLC News

The Lent Service for MLLC and Waldeck will be at Carmine Martin Luther Lutheran Church on March 23 at 7 p.m. A meal will be served at 6 p.m. Both the meal and service are in the Fellowship Hall. The theme this year is “The Six Disciplines of Lent.” Rev. Lemae Higgs of Swiss Alp will lead the service this Wednesday on “Repentance.”

Saturday worship with Holy Communion is at 6 p.m.

Sunday School is Sunday at 9 a.m.

Sunday worship with Holy Communion observing the Fourth Sunday in Lent is at 10 a.m. The service will also be on the mllccarmine.com website. The Rev. David Tinker is the pastor.

First Holy Communion class is in the Mission and Ministry Building following worship about 11:15 a.m.

Men in Mission meet Monday at 6 p.m.

Recycle Trailer

The Recycling trailer is at the Carmine Hall on Thursdays from noon until 4 p.m.

Attendants are available to help unload dry newspapers, telephone books, magazines, cardboard, paper, junk mail, clean #1 and #2 food grade plastics (milk cartons should be separated from other plastic), all colors glass, steel food cans, and aluminum cans.

The trailer is in Ledbetter from 8:30-11 a.m., also on Thursdays, behind the Ledbetter Fireman’s Hall.

Carmine Chamber

Carmine Chamber of Commerce Visitors’ Center at the restored Train Depot is open on the second and fourth Fridays and Saturdays of the month from 10 a.m.-2 p.m..

Birthdays

Birthday wishes are extended to Bree Dooley and Ronnie Eckert-March 22; Melissa Smith-26; Barbara Jacob, Ava Goeke, and Emma Goeke-27; and Stacy Eilers, Wade Koehl, and Cassius Oakes-28.

Have News?

If you have news for the Carmine column, email w5ten@ industryinet.com or call (979) 278-3645, or send it to P.O. Box 95, Carmine, TX 78932.