Historic Spring hamburger joint goes up in flames

March 30--Yellow police tape stretched above Beth Vincent's head as she sat on the front steps of the century-old Wunsche Bros. Cafe & Saloon, part of which was gutted by an early Sunday morning blaze.

"This is really traumatic," said Vincent, Wunsche's general manager. "It's home. It's home for a lot of people."

Hands covered in soot, Vincent gathered with employees and customers outside the historic restaurant hours later. They inspected the damage and told stories about the sometimes colorful history of the eatery whose hamburgers are credited with reviving Old Town Spring.

They recalled birthdays celebrated with family, listed the German-inspired country dishes that drew patrons from around the world and named musicians who played concerts there before making it big.

"It's much more than just a restaurant," said Kathleen O'Brien, a longtime server at Wunsche Bros. "It's part of people's hearts."

The restaurant at 103 Midway was found ablaze shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday, according to Spring Fire Department Senior Capt. Dustin Creager. No one was in the building at the time of the fire, whose cause was unknown Sunday afternoon.

In the 20 minutes it took firefighters to bring the two-alarm fire under control, flames ripped through the restaurant's 1980s addition and left its original building with extensive heat and smoke damage.

Only the blackened frame of the extension still stood. Crushed ventilation pipes, sooty bathroom sinks and singed insulation piled on a charred floor muddy from the hundreds of gallons of water pumped onto the structure by firefighters. Flames melted the paint off steel siding, erasing the bottom half of white and beige lettering that once read, "W. Bros."

The original structure, a state historic site, still stands. Smoke stained some windows an ombre of brown and employees reported heat damage inside, including the loss of many historic photos that hung on the walls.

Wunsche's is a cornerstone of Spring, said local historian and author Margaret Smith, both for its ties to the town's first boom and how it contributed decades later to reviving the community.

Spring was a modest railside settlement surrounded by immigrant German farmers until 1901 when it became the switchyard at the intersection of two major railroads. In a few years, the population exploded from a couple hundred to 1,200, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Seizing the moment, Dell and Charlie Wunsche built Wunsche Brothers Hotel and Saloon in 1902, primarily to serve the rabble-rousing men working the rails.

It is infamous for being the last place to stop serving alcohol in Harris County as Prohibition took effect. Local legend describes a final night of singing and dancing in the dirt streets as visitors from across the state came to Spring to drink it dry. But soon after that, the switchyard was moved and the Great Depression followed, draining the town of residents and wealth.

Future generations of the Wunsche family rented the building on the corner to a succession of small businesses until Viola Burke leased the crumbling structure in 1949 to open the Spring Cafe.

"It was known for its food even though the place had holes in the floor and the porch was falling down," Smith said, chuckling. "I like to say Old Town Spring was built by the power of the hamburger."

A sign inside the cafe boasted seriously and perhaps a little proudly, "The slowest service in town." Dozens of people waited hours in a line that stretched out the door for one of Burke's inch-thick hamburgers hand-formed from beef ground by the butcher across the street. One day, a local entrepreneur decided to give cafe customers another place to shop while waiting, opening an antiques and gift store. Soon historic farmhouses from the surrounding area were moved onto plots near Wunsche Bros. to host the historic district's trademark boutique shops.

In 1982, The Woodland's developer George Mitchell's son, Scott, and his wife, Brenda, bought Wunsche Brothers, restoring the building and securing its designation as a state historic landmark.

"I know there are other restaurants out here, but this is the one everybody knows about," said Noel Eckberg, who owns a store across the street.

She did not have an estimate for the damage but hoped Wunsche's would be able to reopen in six weeks.

As it rebuilds, area employees said the closure of the restaurant will be felt throughout Spring.

"It will be sorely missed, believe me," said Bobbie Ratisseau, who works in Old Town Spring. "No fish sandwich for me for a while."

Lupita Uriarte, who works next door at a home decorating shop, said Wunsche's closing would impact the area economically. "They bring a lot of clientele," she said.

Sunday afternoon, dozens of passers-by -- many of whom had hoped to get lunch at Wunsche's -- stopped to ask about the fire and offer their condolences. Still more reached out on Facebook, reminiscing about family meals and wishing the restaurant a fast recovery. Dozens vowed to donate to a charity account at Amegy Bank being set up to support the nearly 40 families of employees who will be out of work during the restoration.

"We gotta get this place opened up," Vincent said. "Soon."

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