History
The Christian Kraus Homestead
This house was begun in 1859 by Christian Kraus when he and his wife, Anna Maria, settled in the Klein Frankreich (Little France) community. Kraus farmed and taught school here. The Krauses reared their 7 children and the 7 children of Peter Burg, who was killed by the Haengebrande during the Civil War. Kraus, who was instrumental in building St.
History
The Easter Fires
Blazing on the hills around Fredericksburg each Easter Eve, combined with a local pageant, these fires recall an old tale. In March 1847, when Comanches and whites signed a major peace treaty, the Indians lighted huge signal fires on these hills.
History
The Grapetown School
In 1882, Frederick Baag donated this tract of land for the third Grapetown schoolhouse. Completed in 1884, the structure was built with labor and materials donated by the community. All seven grades were taught by one teacher. In 1905, the facility became a county school known as Grapetown Line School, District No. 14.
History
The Marschall-Meusebach Cemetery
Members of the families of two former German noblemen, related by marriage, are buried in this cemetery. John O. Meusebach (1812-97), who came to the Republic of Texas in 1845 as leader of the German Emigration Company, established (1846) the town of fredericksburg and signed (1847) an historic peace treaty with the Comanche Indians.
History
The Meinhardt-Pfeil Home
The original section of this two-story limestone residence was constructed about 1850 by pioneer area settlers Albert and Doris Meinhardt. A widow in 1879, Doris sold the property to her former son-in-law G. Adolph Pfeil (d. 1926), a local cotton gin owner. He converted part of the living area for use as a blacksmith shop and later opened a soda water factory here.
History
The Patton Home
Pioneer Fredericksburg business leader Albert Lee Patton (1851-1934) and his wife Emma (Wahrmund) (d. 1927) built the original four-room section of this limestone home shortly after they purchased the property in 1876. Alterations to the structure, completed in the late 1880s, included the addition of the three-window front bay.
History
The Pinta Trail
Origin of the Pinta Trail is attributed to nomadic Plains Indian tribes. Early Spanish and Mexican expeditions followed the general route of the trail, which extended from San Antonio de Bexar to the San saba River near present Menard.
History
The Schandua Building
Erected in 1897 of hand-hewn limestone, this structure was the home of John (d. 1900) and Bertha (Klein) Schandua (d. 1943). They lived upstairs with their children and John's hardware store was downstairs. For a time, the Masonic Lodge met upstairs in exchange for some construction costs. After John died his brother Henry married Bertha.
History
The William Rausch House
Gillespie County native William Rausch (1884-1939) and his wife, Olga (d. 1943), bought this property in 1894. They lived in an existing house until 1906, when they built this home. A stonemason and carpenter by trade, Rausch probably did much of the construction himself. The German vernacular limestone structure features a central gable with jig-cut decorative trim.
Architecture
Trinity Lutheran Church
This congregation traces its history to 1902, when it was organized in the Albert Schoolhouse. A sanctuary built here in 1902 was replaced in 1904, and this structure was erected in 1928. Worship services were conducted in the German language until 1950.
History
Vereins Kirche
Church for all denominations, school and community hall. Built, summer 1847, after the Comanche peace treaty made by John O. Meusebach, Commissioner, German Emigration Company. Located in Main street between Courthouse and Market Square of early Fredericksburg. Razed after the celebration of fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of first settlers, 1896.
History
Vogel Sunday House
In the 1880s German immigrant Christian Vogel (1824-1889) built the left half of this structure to house his family while in town for Saturday trading and Sunday church services. His son Amandus (1854-1898) and daughter-in-law Elizabeth (Weber) (1857-1944) added the right half and covered it with pressed tin at the turn of the century.
History
Wahrmund Millinery, Moellendorf-Dietz Bakery
Erected about 1876, this building was a combination residence and business for the family of George Wahrmund, whose wife Elise had a millinery and dressmaking shop in the front rooms. Mr. and Mrs. James T. clark, 1901-1913 owners, ran a boarding house here. From 1924 to 1966, the structure housed a bakery, operated in succession by Martin Schult, William Moellendorf, and Theodore and Edgar Dietz.
History
Walch Home
In 1845 Johan (John) Joseph Walch (1828-1914) migrated to Texas from Germany. In 1847 he settled in Fredericksburg, where he worked as a stonemason. Before Walch married Wilhelmine Gaertner in 1851, he erected a two-room limestone house on this lot. He also built a rock barn, which he later enlarged by adding a second story.
History
Weber "Das Keller Haus"
This simple, one-room limestone outbuilding was constructed in 1903 by stonemason Emil Weber. He built the structure, which sat over a cellar, for storing vegetables, bacon, sausage, and wine. One of Weber's sons, Werner E. Weber (d. 1974), a woodcarver, used the building for his workshop.
History
Welgehausen Ranch
German immigrants Friedrich Welgehausen and his wife Juliane built a one-room log cabin here in the 1850s. After their son Conrad and his wife Margaretha (Walter) acquired the property in 1873, they enclosed the cabin within their two-story limestone house.
History
William Wahrmund House
Gillespie County Judge in 1852-62, 1864, and 1876-90, William Wahrmund (1824-90) hired local stonemasons H. Hennersdorf and Louis Schmidt to build this residence near his own home and store in 1875. Over a period of years, the house was occupied by three of Wahrmund's sons, William L., Otto, and Henry, and by several grandchildren.
History
Williams Creek School
Established to serve the rural Albert community, the Williams Creek School, also known as the Albert School, began in 1890-91 near the creek. In 1897, trustees approved construction of a stone schoolhouse at this site. They enlarged the school to two rooms in 1922, constructing a frame addition clad in brick-faced metal siding.
History
Wunderlich Houses
When Adolph Wunderlich (d. 1935) married Martha Schumann (d. 1956) in 1883. He built the smaller of these two homes, combining log and stone construction. The family soon outgrew the first dwelling, and Adolph built the larger house of limestone blocks in 1892. On this farm, he raised cotton, corn, sugarcane for molasses and grapes for wine.
History
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Built 1852 by congregation, hewing wood by hand; quarrying native limestone; Swiss missionary pastor serving as night foreman at lime kiln. Texas Hill Country's oldest Lutheran church. Still is enclosed in original walls. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
