New developments reflect old family memories

For the Brautigam family, watching new developments transform the Tomball Historic Depot Plaza—and their family legacy—is bittersweet.

Where Main Street Crossing operates once stood Brautigam's IGA, a general store complete with a butcher's shop, meat locker and various connecting structures now owned by The Hutson Group and dubbed Historic Market Street. Family members operated the store until the early '80s when hard times forced it to close, and the building remained vacant until demolition paved way for the current entertainment venue.

In 1919, G.W. Brautigam and his brother-in-law, Max Froehlich, bought the two-story wooden structure once located at 109 W. Main, and he and his wife, Lilly, continued to farm in Decker Prairie. Although the store proved successful during the Great Depression, hard times caused Froehlich to leave the business, making Brautigam the sole owner.

"It was a store where people came from all over to visit," said Sunny Brautigam, G.W. Brautigam's daughter-in-law. "Mr. G.W. would entertain anyone who would come in with stories. My husband [Victor Brautigam] was the butcher and was really talented at what he did. If a customer came in and then did not come back for two to three years, he could still remember their name."

Personal customer service, complete with G.W.'s frequent story telling, and quality meat from their butcher made the store an area icon. Because Victor cut the meat to order and according to customer specifications, his work drew a heavy stream of out-of-town patrons.

G.W. and Lilly had four children including Victor and his brothers Lonnie and Vernie who have all died. Two of G.W.'s grandchildren still live in Tomball and have a hard time describing what it is like to watch modern businesses replace their family history.

"It was fun growing up here," said Teri Nichols, G.W. Brautigam's granddaughter. "I like how [the new owners] have kept the old look and feel [of the family store]."

The store sold everything from toilet paper to saddle stirrups, Nichols said, and she remembers Lilly, her grandmother, had her own side of the store with a long glass case filled with sewing materials, yarn, paper and other supplies.

When she was younger, Nichols said, she and her cousin, Joan, were sent to the store every day during the summers to help write customer tickets and perform other chores. G.W. and Lilly had a policy allowing customers to pay at the end of the week instead of each shopping trip, so handwritten tickets were given with the balance in good faith that customers would return to pay.

The family also owned a slaughterhouse near the railroad tracks, less than one mile from the store—which is now a sports field—and allowed customers to rent lockers within their meat freezers if they did not have one at home.

While the store was completely demolished and its adjacent buildings have been repurposed, a plaque remains outside Main Street Crossing to educate residents and visitors of the family's iconic store.

Source: "Allied Families" by Margie Walter