Driving east from Greenville you will see the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum. Also visible is the Ende-Gaillard home built 160 years ago. If you have spent much time in New Orleans and south Louisiana, you will recognize the Creole Cottage architecture of the early 19th century definitely in the Ende Home.
Charles Frederick von Ende (late known as Fred Ende) arrived in New Orleans from Hesse, Kassel, Germany in the late 1840s. That was a time of great immigration from Europe to the United States. New Orleans was a major port and entry point. Many German families settled east of the Mississippi near the Gulf Coast. However, it was not unusual for young German men to go traipsing through the Mississippi Valley, marveling at their new homeland. Fred Ende was such a young man.
He decided that Texas should be his home. When he arrived in the young town of Greenville in at the age of twenty-five, he knew this was where he wanted to spend the rest of his life. He also knew he would open a mercantile business. He also knew he was going to marry a young lady, Emilie Amelia Reinecker, he met in New Orleans. All of his plans came to fruition.
Ende’s store was located on the southeast corner of courthouse square in a red brick building with his name on the top. Not only did he open the store, but he went into partnership with Dr. S. J. Cooper in the Cooper and Ende Drug Store. In the back room of the Ende Mercantile Store Fred organized an IOOF Lodge in 1858. IOOF stands for International Order of Odd Fellows, still active in the second decade of the 21st century.
Before he married Emilie, he bought a lot north of the courthouse. There he built the Creole Style home. Construction took two years to bring materials and labor to Greenville. Ende wanted something substantial for a home.
Times were tough for the Ende family, like all families throughout the South, during the Civil War. But they survived intact. The store gained a good reputation. Fred Ende became known as a man of integrity, an outstanding pioneer community builder. For the next twenty-five years Ende’s progressive and public spirit led the town.
Fred Ende was a banker, a member of the city council, president of the school board, and owner of the first brick hotel after the first railroad arrived in 1880. Two years later Mr. and Mrs. Ende sold the Creole Cottage to their oldest daughter Louise and her husband Dr. David L. Gaillard. Louise Gaillard lived in the home all her life.
When she died in the 1945 her heirs donated the house to the Hunt County Historical Society (now defunct). The house was later moved to Graham Park in north Greenville before arriving at its final resting place on the grounds of the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum. It is truly a gem in Greenville history.