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C.S.A. Home Front Producer George Wilkins Kendall - Marker in/near Kendalia
	C.S.A. Home Front Producer George Wilkins Kendall Marker #598 - 1965 HWY 473 in Kendalia, in front of library

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August Faltin Building - Marker in/near Comfort

Marker #237 - 1982   Prussian native Friedrich August Faltin (1830-1905) moved to Comfort in 1856 and purchased the general merchandise business of Theodor Goldbeck, located at this site. Trained in his father's store, which had been established about 1818 in Danzig, Prussia, now Gdansk, Poland, Faltin became a leading merchant of the Texas Hill Country. In addition, his 1869 partnership with Capt. Charles Schreiner of Kerrville became the nucleus of the vast Schreiner enterprises. By the late 1870s Faltin's business, which included banking and post office services, had outgrown the structure at this site and he had architect Alfred Giles of San Antonio design a new building. Constructed by the noted builder J. H. Kampmann, the Victorian Italian edifice was completed in 1879. Later run by Faltin's sons Richard and August S., the business was sold in 1907 to their brother-in-law Dan Holekamp and his sons Otto and Edgar. That same year an addition to the building was completed. Also designed by Giles, it included second floor space for meetings and fraternal and civic groups. In 1968 the property was sold back to the Faltin family. The August Faltin Building remains as a symbol of the area's early commercial growth. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982 (Main and Seventh, Comfort)

Original structure was two stories above a full basement. The main level served as a general store, the basement was the warehouse (with freight elevator), and the family lived on the second floor. A small 3 bay store designed by Alfred Giles in 1879. Tall segmented arched openings on first floor; two story gallery topped by pressed tin cornice & arched parapet. In 1907 Giles designed a long two story addition

 Prussian native, Frederick August Faltin, moved to Comfort in 1856 and purchased the general merchandise business from Theodore Goldbeck. By the late 1870s Faltin's business, which included banking and post office services, had outgrown the structure and he had architect Alfred Giles of San Antonio design a new building. Constructed by the noted builder J. H. Kampmann, the Victorian Italian edifice was completed in 1879.

Later run by Faltin's sons, Richard and August S., the business was sold in 1907 to their brother-in-law, Dan Holekamp, and his sons, Otto and Edgar. That same year an addition to the building was completed. Also designed by Giles, it included second floor space for meetings of fraternal and civic groups, school dances and receptions. In 1968 the property was sold back to the Faltin family.

In 1974, great grandson August restored the upstairs area into two aparments. Ray and Jan Weeks moved to Comfort in 1993 and live in one of the apartments and use the other apartment as a Bed and Breakfast.
The August Faltin building was designated Texas Historical Landmark in 1982.

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Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff - Marker in/near Boerne

Photo Credit: Dietert Historical Archives -
Patrick Heath Public Library (Boerne)

Marker #1268 - 1982   Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff, Nov. 29, 1820-May 18, 1912), the son of a prominent German family and a veteran of the Prussian army, physician Ferdinand Ludwig von Herff first came to Texas in 1847. By the 1860s he had set up practice in San Antonio, where he was an active civic leader. His medical innovations made him a prominent physician in the southwest. Dr. Herff and his wife, Mathilde, 1823-1910, owned a ranch at this site and, through their interest in the area, led in the development of Boerne. Local residents honored their many contributions with a monument here on Malakopf Mountain, a site favored by the Herffs. "After seventy years of weather exposure and vandalism, the original rock obelisk had deteriorated to the extent that doctors John B. and Ferdinand Peter Herff, grandsons of Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff, had it completely rebuilt with limestone blocks in 1952."- [quoted from Garland Perry, "Our Heritage" series] Texas Historical Commission honored Dr. Herff by designating this monument with a Texas Historical Marker in 1982. (on Malakopf Mountain, 1.5 mile NE of Boerne Via FM 474 and Kennon Ranch Road)The monument is on a hill overlooking Boerne across Hwy 474 from Spring Creek Road exit. The trees are too high to see the monument from FM 474 but If one turns right on Spring Creek Road, and then turns around at the first house, and then stops about 50 yards or so down road, now facing FM 474, you can see where it is with the naked eye. Binoculars are helpful. See picture below on the right.

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Kendall Masonic Lodge No. 897 - Marker in/near Boerne
	Marker #15599 - 2005 Kendall Masonic Lodge No. 897 More info and Map Link

Saint Helena Episcopal Church - Marker in/near Boerne

Photo Credit: Ted and Janis Maxymof

Marker #4440 - 1986   The first Episcopal worship service in Kendall County was held in the Old Kuhfuss Hall in Boerne in 1873. St. Helena's congregation was organized by Bishop R. W. B. Elliott in 1881, and a small wooden church structure was erected on this site. By 1929 the need for a new church had arisen. The original wooden building was razed to make room for a new limestone sanctuary. Later additions have included educational and office facilities. St. Helena's Church, a part of Boerne history for over a century, has often served as a center of community activities.

Stone, Gothic style church building. Sanctuary above ground with a basement partially below ground. Basement used for classes and group meetings.

The present Gothic stone church was built in 1929 on the site of the old church. The first Episcopal worship service was held in Boerne in 1873. St. Helen's congregation was organized in 1881, and a small wooden structure was erected on this site. By 1927, the need for a new church was evident. The original wooden building was razed and the current limestone church was built. Later additions have included educational and office facilities.

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Ludwig Hein Home - Marker in/near Comfort

Photo Credit: Bryden Moon

Marker #3145 - 1987   Ludwig Hein (1855-1933) came to Texas from Germany in 1877. He married Rosa Treiber of Waring and built this home for his family before 1900. Hein operated a blacksmith shop next door until the family moved to San Antonio in 1914. The home was known as the "nerve center" of Comfort when the local telephone switchboard was housed here from 1923 to 1955. Features of the Victorian house include its front bay window and bracketed porch supports.

Ludwig Hein was born in Steinhoefel Kreise Friedeberg, Berlin on October 9, 1955. In 1877, at age 22 he immigrated to the United States via the Port of New Orleans, and crossed country until he reached Waring, Texas.
Ludwig, from a family of 11 children, was joined in this country five years later by the passage of his parents, Henry and Ottilie Hein to Waring, Texas. In Waring, Ludwig met and married Rosa Treiber. Rosa was born August 19, 1867 in Burgenland, Austria. She, too, had immigrated to this country. On January 8, 1890, Ludwig Hein purchased Lot 93 in the township of Comfort from Achese Auguste for the sum of $150.
The Hein house, built before 1900, served as the home for the Hein's when Ludwig had a blacksmith shop next door. Six children were born to Ludwig and Rosa.
Son, Frederick, remembers how hard his father, Ludwig, worked in the tin blacksmith shop which adjoined their home directly on the southside. There were many horses to shoe as well as difficult wheel rims to mend.
In 1914, Ludwig moved his family to San Antonio so that his younger children might attend school there.
On April 19, 1923, Southwestern Bell moved the local switchboard from the Koblin Building to 727 High Street. Miss Augusta Allerkamp was in charge with 340 local and rural lines coming into the Comfort switchboard.
In 1925 Mrs. Grace Martin assumed management of the switchboard. The main switchboard was located in the front room while the remainder of the home served as Mrs. Martin's living quarters. The dining room of the home also served as one of the first lending libraries of the town, when in January, 1941, Mrs. Martin begin keeping the library books.

In 1947 Zahn Green purchased the Comfort and Center Point Exchanges which operated as Hill Country Telephone Company. With the advent of the dial system, Green sold out in 1955 to Hill Country Telephone, ending a 32 year era of Comfort's History.

The simple frame home was typical of those built in Comfort at the Turn of the Century as indicated by the porch columns, brackets and exposed rafter. The back portion of the house was added to the original structure before 1936.
The house was given a Historic Marker in 1987.

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Idlewilde Lodge - Marker in/near Comfort

Photo Credit: U.S. Army

Marker #2615 - 1983   Built in 1902 of Texas long leaf yellow pine with cypress siding and millwork, this structure was first used as a spa by Dr. C. H. Wilkinson of Galveston. In 1906 the property was sold to E. Hugo, who operated "Camp Reliance" here until 1912 when Robert Wilke acquired the land and adopted the name "Camp Good Times". The building was bought by the YWCA in 1918 and served as the main lodge for "Camp Idlewilde", a girls' summer camp, for more than 60 years. (from Comfort, take FM 473 about 1.5 miles E - turn S onto road to lodge, about .5 mile to site)

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Lex Sanitarium - Marker in/near Boerne

Photo Credit: Dietert Historical Archives -
Patrick Heath Public Library (Boerne)

Marker #14702 - 1991   Shortly after coming to Boerne from Bulverde in 1919, Mrs. Adolph (Emilie) Lex saw that the community needed a place to care for recovering patients. She opened her home on Johns Road as such a place. It became known as the Lex Sanitarium. The family dining room, with its table seating twelve, became the dining place for the family, for the patients, and sometimes, for those visiting the patients. Adolph's mother lived with the family after her husband, Peter Lex, died in 1921. She helped with the chores on the Lex farm and with the cooking and cleaning for the Sanitarium. Being a mile from the town of Boerne, the Lex Farm was convenient to the doctor's visits. Eventually, two rooms of the Lex home were converted into operating rooms in which Dr. John Francis Nooe performed surgery.

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C.S.A. Home Front Producer George Wilkins Kendall