The Von Rosenberg Store on Travis Street
In a previous Footprints article about a La Grange appearance by Buster Brown, C. J. von Rosen- berg's store on Travis Street was mentioned. Although the businesses have been gone for many years, the von Rosenberg buildings continue to make a major impact on the south side of the courthouse square.
C. J. von Rosenberg purchased the two-story, stone building at 245 West Travis on July 31, 1890, soon after moving to La Grange from Ellinger, where he had also been a merchant. He renovated the building and opened Rosenberg & Co. General Merchandise. The store was remodeled in 1897 and again in early 1903, when carpenters and masons cut openings both upstairs and down, joining C. J. von Rosenberg’s store and the two-story brick building to its west, where his older brother, Fritz, had run a saloon. This west building housed the expanded store’s clothing department. We believe 1903 was also when the elaborate façade was created that included a sec- ond-floor gallery across the exteri or of both buildings.
The January 15, 1903, issue of The Journal announced that the newly enlarged Rosenberg & Co. had consolidated with August Heintze's Cash Department Store to form the Von Rosenberg-Heintze Mercantile Company. As mentioned in a previous article, the company was capitalized with $50,000, the original stockholders being Heintze, C. J. and Dora (Meyer) von Rosenberg, Alex E. von Rosenberg, W. L. Shaw, Armand Halff, Walter Longin, Edward von Rosenberg, O. E. Hagemann, Alfred Heintze, Julius Meyenberg and R. F. Torn. For the convenience of its customers, the new store had both a wagon yard behind it and a nice, large toilet room for their use.
In 1906, the old Pratka Sa loon building at 239 West Travis, a one-story wood-frame building, was purchased by C. J. von Rosenberg because it sat next to the dry goods department of the von Rosenberg-Heintze Compa- ny. The Pratka Saloon had been in the old Thomas C. Gregory drug store building, which was one of the oldest buildings in La Grange at the time. During its demolition, workers discovered the high-water mark left on its inner walls from the 1869 flood of the Colorado River. To mark that event, the Von Rosenberg-Heintze Company placed a marble slab in front of their new one-story brick building that memorialized the “high water mark, July 9, 1869.” It remains there today. The grocery, crockery, and glass departments moved into this modern store that featured tall ceilings and roller ladders.
In 1910, August Heintze severed his connection with the company and opened the Hein- tze-Speckels store at 130 and 124 North Washington Street. Mean while, the Von Rosenberg Company, Inc. was established under a new charter. The officers and board members were President C. J. von Rosenberg, Vice-President, W.
L. Shaw, Secretary and Treasur er, Alex E. von Rosenberg, O. E. Hagemann and Martin Pastusek.
In 1922, C. J. von Rosenberg modernized the appearance of his store. He tore down the old brick building that made up the west side of his store and replaced it with a wider new building with 16-foot ceilings and modern shelving. Its façade featured double-door entrances with marble casings and plate glass windows. The grocery department was at 239 West Travis, 245 West Travis was the fancy and dry goods department, and 253 West Travis was the gentlemen’s clothing and shoe department.
In 1930, C. J. von Rosenberg retired and moved to Austin, although he was still associated with the store when he died in 1934. Management changed several times in the ensuing years.
In 1947, all three buildings making up the Von Rosenberg Co., Inc. were given the modern facade we see today. The front façade of the grocery department at 239 West Travis was raised to the same height as the men’s clothing department at 253 West Travis. The buildings were unified with stucco exterior walls and peach-colored glass tile accents, large show windows, and dropped awnings of the same height. It was no longer obvious they were built at different times. The two-story building at 245 West Travis was erected some time before 1880. As mentioned earlier, the one-story building to its east at 239 West Travis was erected in 1906, while the one-story building to its west was built in 1922.
The Von Rosenberg Company’s presence on the square declined over a period of three years. In 1953, the Von Rosenberg Company’s grocery department that occupied 239 West Travis was sold to Clinton von Minden and reopened as Von’s Foot Market, soon to be replaced by Koopmann’s Food Store. In early 1954, the men's and shoe departments were closed, and in October 1954, Prause’s Meat Market moved from Colora- do Street into the building at 253 West Travis Street. Finally, in May 1955, the Kansas City Auction Co. bought out the remaining stock of the Von Rosenberg Company and launched a “complete sell-out” sale. In 1956, Matocha’s Paint and Hardware occupied the remaining part of the Von Rosenberg Company’s buildings at 245 West Travis.
Since that time, numerous businesses have occupied the buildings at those three addresses. Recently, the building at 253 West Travis made the news when it was announced as the new home of the Fayette County Community Theatre.
The Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives have photographs of these sites on West Travis displayed in their interactive exhibit in the downtown La Grange area.
However, they are hoping to find more, especially for the period between 1914 and 1950, when the building facades were changing.
Sources: Various issues of the La Grange Journal at The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory. unt.edu
