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When you go to Independence, you must stop at the Independence General Store where you can get something to eat and drink, and meet some of the local folks. Without a doubt, this is the social center, the hub, of the community.
According to Lueckemeyer’s niece, Lynn Lueckemeyer Hollaway,
her Uncle Walter had his own style and
“from the beginning…made the store a social gathering place offering slot machines and bootlegged whiskey. Seats resurrected from old airplanes were around the pot-bellied stove in the center….His hunting dogs wandered in and out of the store along with the customers.”
Lynn Lueckemeyer Hollaway
2002
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| Now and Then: The false-front store building was photographed shortly before Walter Lueckemeyer replaced it with the present stone façade in 1939. |
Most businesses in early Independence were built on blocks that faced the Town Square. This block (Block 2 in the town plan) was originally residential but a commercial use was added in the early 1900s. When Washington County native Walter C. Lueckemeyer bought the property in 1926, it already included a “store building, all improvements, and the fixtures.” In 1939, Lueckemeyer replaced a false-front building with the present stone structure, fashioning the façade after the most famous architectural icon in Texas history—the Alamo.
The store remained a Lueckemeyer family business until 1977 when Melvin and Christine Bentke, also natives of the area, bought the property and expanded the grocery trade. Carrying on the tradition of this family-owned and operated business, Mike and Brenda Bentke Meadows acquired the property in spring 2000. The Meadows added a grill and enlarged the back room to accommodate both local folks and visitors. Everybody is welcome!
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Lueckemeyer General Store
9400 Lueckemeyer Road, Independence
979-836-4211
facebook.com/indygeneralstore/ |
Walter Lueckemeyer in front
of his store,
1962-63. |
Find where this site is located on our Independence Map.
Return to TOURING INDEPENDENCE to see other historic sites.
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