Since the middle of the 14th century, Bruneck has been surrounded by a curtain wall and moat. Over the years parts of the city wall were turned into buildings in which businesses and commercial enterprises settled. In summer 1830 the lower moat was filled in. A channel covered with stone slabs remained.

In 1834 the contemporary chronicler, Johann Nepomuk Tinkhauser, wrote about it: “Filling in the moat significantly improved the town of Bruneck […]; the large square, now with three rows of trees, gave the residents a pleasant place to walk in summer.”

From the middle of the 19th century, countless prestigious buildings were erected along the newly laid out Pustertaler Strasse to the north of Graben. These included today’s Hotel Post, a district municipal office and a school. Today they house the Karl Meusburger Middle School and Bruneck’s Tourist Information Office.

Merchants’ markets and cattle markets continued to be held on Graben. Bruneck remained a strongly agricultural town. And so it was often the case that “on the Graben, where the townspeople promenaded beneath tall poplars, daintily dressed ladies could be seen balancing, unconcerned, between the herds of cattle as they returned home and their indecent products,” as the Pusterthaler Bote reported in 1880. The development of Bruneck into a modern market town was nevertheless clearly noticeable – with Graben being a lively symbol of this.