From The Original Austin Ghost Tours and Best Texas Tales by Docia Williams
Spring, Texas is a small city a few miles north of Houston on Interstate Highway 45.
The Harris County town was founded by German immigrants in 1840. But it wasn’t until the early 1900s that the little town began to flourish. When the Great Northern Railroad came to town, a real building boom took place. 7 saloons and a number of small hotels sprang up, practically overnight, to accommodate the railroad workers and the travelers the rails would carry on this Galveston Houston Palestine line.
Jane and Carl Wunsche were children of some of the German immigrants who first settled in spring. Two of their sons, Charlie and Del, who were former railroadmen, acquired a piece of property near the railroad depot and what today is called Old Town Spring. Along with another brother, William, or Willie as he was called, they constructed a 2 storied frame structure on the property. It was the very first two story building in spring.
The new establishment, which opened for business in 1902., was named the Wunsche Brothers Saloon and Hotel. The main purpose of the new business was to accommodate railroad employees on overnight stopovers
The town prospered, and so did the. Wunsche Brothers, until 1923, when the Houston and Great Northern moved the spring railyard to Houston. By 1926 most of the little towns wooden buildings had been torn down, the lumber, salvage, salvage for barn construction and firewood. Somehow the WUNSCHE establishment survived. The saloon was the last one to close close in Harris County when probation hit.
In 1949, a lady named Viola Burke leased the building, renaming its Spring Cafe. She was known for her delicious homemade hamburgers, which the railroad workers passing through town delighted in delighted in ordering. In fact, word of her wonderful burgers spread far and. Wide. Soon the cafe had the reputation of being the best hamburgers anywhere in the country. When she died in 1976,, her daughter, Irma Ansley inherited the business and continued making the famous hamburgers.
In fact, the entire shopping village of Old Town Spring traces its origins back to the famous hamburgers. Back in the 1970s,, just getting one of the burgers required a long wait, because all were made to order. Sensing a good opportunity, An enterprising couple opened a gift shop for cafe customers to shop and browse while they waited for their table. Slowly, more and more houses and buildings were converted into shops, until quite a variety of gifts, crafts, antiques and works of art were made available to the cafe patrons.
As Old Town began to flourish, the little cafe that helped to bring about its birth, was going downhill.
Finally, The building, now quite dilapidated, was sold in 1982 to an enterprising couple. The old building was carefully restored. Today, the building, which bears a Texas Historic Landmark plaque, is a popular restaurant. Staying in tune with its Pioneer heritage, The people who bought it called the place the Wunsche Brothers Cafe and Saloon. From the looks of the menu and a delightful cook book entitled The WUNSCHE Brothers Cafe Cookbook written by the owners. And offered for sale at the cafe, there are plenty of good. Vibes available. And the famous maid to order hamburgers are still there.
Apparently the building is haunted. One Ghost is believed to be one of the original brothers. When the cook who used to work there. Went to the linen closet to get a hand towel. She heard the unmistakable sound of a man’s voice, it was short of mumbling, “I couldn’t understand the words, but I definitely did hear a voice”. She was so startled that she shut the door. and scurried to the kitchen to tell everyone about what she had just heard.
Other unexplained experiences were when another employee and she were in the habit of having a cup of coffee early every morning.
The tables in the cafe had candles on them that were lit each evening for the dinner hour. They were always extinguished when the last person left. But on Saturday mornings, they would find one of the candles was lit when they opened the restaurant in the morning. When the candle was first found lit, it was far away from where they would have their coffee. But slowly but surely, as they opened the door every Saturday morning, the lit candle got closer and closer to where they would customarily have their morning coffee. When the candle finally arrived one Saturday morning and was glowing on their table. It never was seen again.
The ghost does not like change.
When things are changed or moved or were different, there came the sound of rattling and chiming. One time someone had just made a fresh pot of coffee and was carrying it down the hallway. She saw an elderly men sitting at a table, he had his back to her, she could see longish white hair falling over the collar. He had on a tall crowned Black Hat and a black suit. He was sitting sort of hunched over at the table. She said she felt a feeling of great sadness suddenly come over her as she looked at him. She thought a cup of coffee might be just what’s needed. So, she asked, “would you like a hot cup of coffee”? As she spoke, she said a gust of wind hit her with a tremendous whoosh. And as the at the same instance the man literally vanished in front of her eyes.
Several waitresses reported that salt and pepper shakers and sugar packets used to be scattered round the tables and on the floor when they would open up in the mornings. Pictures on the walls, often members of the. Wunsche family would often be crooked, as if intentionally rearranged. No other pictures in the building were ever touched.
