German native Antone Keller (d. 1857) came to Texas in 1846 as a colonist with the German Emigration Company. He arrived with his family at the port city of Indianola (65 miles southeast), where he later opened a crockery, glassware, and grocery store. He built this house there in 1851 for his second wife Charlotte (Kuester) Keller (1824-1897).
Three years after Keller's death, Charlotte married her stepson Antone Keller, Jr. (1836-1900). Following a destructive hurricane that struck Indianola in 1875, they moved the house to this site. Antone, a Confederate veteran, continued to operate his father's Indianola store until after the second major hurricane in 1886, when he moved the business to Cuero.
Augusta (Keller) Grunder (1863-1951), the daughter of Antone Keller, Jr. , acquired the home in 1900. Her husband Victor J. Grunder (1863-1940) was a prominent Cuero businessman and civic leader. Alterations were made to the residence during their ownership. John Junior Bell (d. 1963), the grandson of Victor and Augusta Grunder, was born in the house in 1910. First elected to public office in 1936, he served in the Texas Legislature (1937-47), the Texas Senate (1948-54), and the United States Congress (1955-57).
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