August and Karoline Tolle House
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
German native August Tolle (1829-1922) immigrated to New Braunfels with his parents and siblings in 1845 and established a drugstore with Dr. Theodore Koester, his brother-in-law, in 1858. In 1861, he wed Karoline Messer (d. 1929), also from Germany. The couple had five children, Edith, Amelia, Theodore, Clara and Alfred. In 1891, August bought this house and lot, which later transferred to Alfred and his wife, Emma Louise (Hampe). Their three children sold it in 1969, and subsequent owners restored it several years later. Today, the home represents vernacular Victorian design, with decorative fretwork, carved rafter tails and shuttered four-over-four windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
August Tolle came to New Braunfels as a boy in 1845, part of the great German migration that settled the town, and grew up to open a drugstore with his brother-in-law in 1858. With his wife Karoline, also German-born, he raised five children, and in 1891 he bought this house, which later passed to their son Alfred. Restored by subsequent owners, the home shows off vernacular Victorian touches—decorative fretwork, carved rafter tails, and four-over-four shuttered windows.
Why it matters
The Tolle house is a window into the German immigrant world of New Braunfels, whose merchant families gave the town its enduring Old World character.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
New Braunfels was born in 1845, the year Texas joined the Union. It was founded under the sponsorship of a society of German noblemen who hoped to settle thousands of their countrymen on the Texas frontier. The colonists who came that year and over the next few years faced a hard voyage, disease and an unfamiliar climate. The ones who survived built one of the most distinctly German towns in America.
By the later 1800s that frontier settlement had become a prosperous small town. German was spoken in shops, churches and homes, and immigrant families had grown into a settled merchant class. Railroads, local industry and steady trade brought new money, and with it came a new fashion in houses.
That fashion was Victorian. Across America, factory-made trim and pattern-book designs meant that a family of moderate means could put decorative woodwork on an ordinary frame house. In New Braunfels, German families took up the style and adapted it to the Texas heat and to their own taste.
People & events
August Tolle was a teenager when he came to New Braunfels with his parents and siblings in 1845, the town's founding year. In other words, he grew up with the town and saw it go from rough camps to established streets.
In 1858 he went into the drugstore business with Dr. Theodore Koester, his brother-in-law. A drugstore that early was a key part of town life: medicine, tonics and advice in a place where trained help could be scarce. Working with a physician in the family was a common pattern among immigrants, who often built their businesses on family ties.
In 1861, as the country was coming apart, August married Karoline Messer, who was also German-born. They raised five children: Edith, Amelia, Theodore, Clara and Alfred. In 1891, by then an established man in his sixties, August bought this house and lot. It passed to Alfred and his wife, Emma Louise Hampe, and stayed in the family until their three children sold it in 1969. August lived to 1922 and Karoline to 1929. Between them they saw New Braunfels from its first days into the twentieth century.
Its place in the American story
German immigrants were one of the largest groups to shape nineteenth-century America, and Texas got its own large share. Towns like New Braunfels kept a European language, faith and set of customs alive while their residents became Texans and Americans. The Tolle family's path, from immigrant boy to shopkeeper to homeowner whose grandchildren held the house until 1969, is one many American families will recognize.
The house tells its own version of that story. It is not a German cottage carried across the ocean. It is American vernacular Victorian, with fretwork, carved rafter tails and four-over-four shuttered windows. Building in the style of the day showed that an immigrant family had arrived, both in money and in culture.
Homes like this are easy to overlook next to grand mansions, but they are where most Americans actually lived. The house was also restored by later owners, which is a reminder that saving ordinary places matters as much as saving famous ones.
If you visit
Pay attention to the details. Look along the eaves for the carved rafter tails, the decorative fretwork, and the shuttered windows with four panes over four. That woodwork was the late-1800s way to show taste and success, and it is worth taking the time to pick each piece out.
This is a private home, so enjoy it from the street and respect the owners. Even from the sidewalk you can picture a family gathered on the porch on a hot Texas evening, possibly talking in German.
New Braunfels is easy to explore on foot or with short drives, and its German heritage is still part of the town's character. Make the Tolle House one stop on a walk through the older neighborhoods, and look at how other houses from the same period combine Old World roots with American styles.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · August Tolle
- · Karoline Messer Tolle
- · Theodore Koester
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
New Braunfels Woolen Mill
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German immigrants August Tolle and Dr. Theodor Koester built a large two-story cedar-timber building in 1864, and in 1868 it became the New Braunfels Woolen Mill, drawing on Comal River water for steam power. The successful mill eventually closed for lack of a protected trademark, and in 1901 the Popp family converted it into the town's first steam laundry, which ran until a 1934 fire. Only the old bell, rock foundation, and part of the chimney remain.
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Built in 1859 of cedar, oak, and limestone with such refinements as a dumbwaiter and speaking tubes on each floor, this house belonged to Dr. Theodore Koester (1817–1877), physician to the German Immigration Company that settled New Braunfels. The versatile Koester ran his medical offices, a pharmacy, and a bakery all from within this home. It reflects the enterprising spirit of the German immigrants who built a thriving town in the Texas Hill Country.
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Johann Michael Jahn reached New Braunfels in 1845 as a colonist with the German Emigration Company that founded the town. A trained Tischlermeister, or master cabinetmaker, he built a thriving business in fine handcrafted furniture and served among the city's first aldermen. His son and grandson carried on the trade, raising this building in 1910 and keeping the company going into the 1930s, while examples of Jahn's craftsmanship reached museums including the Witte in San Antonio.