Breustedt House
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A fine example of German colonial "fachwerk" --all walls framed with cedar timbers, then filled solid with sun-baked adobe brick.Built 1858 for Johann Andreas and Caroline (Dauer) Breustedt, at site now just west of the intersection of I.S. 35 and S.H. 46 east. Several generations of the family grew up in the house.In 1965 it was moved here for restoration and preservation by Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Dillen.Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1972
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
New Braunfels was founded in 1845 as a colony of German immigrants, who brought Old World building traditions to the Texas Hill Country. This 1858 home is a fine example of "fachwerk" construction, its walls framed in cedar timbers and packed solid with sun-baked adobe brick. Several generations of the Breustedt family were raised within its walls before it was moved and restored in the 20th century to preserve its craftsmanship.
Why it matters
Structures like this preserve the distinctive German-Texan heritage that shaped the culture, food, and architecture of the Hill Country to this day.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
New Braunfels was founded in 1845 as a colony for German immigrants, organized through a society of German noblemen who promoted settlement in Texas. Thousands of German-speaking people came to Texas in the following years, escaping hard economic times and political turmoil at home and looking for land and opportunity across the ocean.
They brought their language, their churches and social clubs, and their building traditions. In the Texas Hill Country, German settlers adapted Old World methods to new materials, and towns like New Braunfels kept a distinctly German character for generations.
By 1858, when this house was built, the colony had grown from a hard early start into a settled community. Families were building permanent homes meant to last, often using techniques their parents and grandparents had known in Germany.
People & events
Johann Andreas Breustedt and Caroline (Dauer) Breustedt built this house in 1858. They were part of the German community that turned New Braunfels into a thriving town. Like many immigrant families, they built for the long haul, and several generations of Breustedts grew up inside these walls.
The house is built in a style German speakers called "fachwerk." The builders put up a frame of sturdy cedar timbers and filled the spaces between them with sun-baked adobe brick. It combined a European half-timbered tradition with materials that suited the Texas climate and landscape.
The house first stood on a site just west of today's intersection of I-35 and State Highway 46. As New Braunfels grew and its roads changed, old homes like this one were at risk. In 1965, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Dillen moved it to its current spot to restore and preserve it, so the Breustedts' craftsmanship could be seen by later generations.
Its place in the American story
The Breustedt House is part of one of the most important immigrant stories in American history. German-speaking immigrants were among the largest groups to come to the United States in the 1800s, and they shaped farming, crafts, food, music, and education across the country. In Texas their influence was especially strong in the Hill Country.
Fachwerk buildings show how immigrants adapted their traditions instead of simply copying them. Germans in Texas built with cedar and adobe instead of the oak and wattle-and-daub of the Old World, finding new materials for familiar methods. That blending of heritage and frontier practicality is a big part of the American immigrant experience.
The house's move and restoration also connect to the historic preservation movement that grew across the country in the mid-twentieth century. Ordinary citizens, not just government agencies, increasingly stepped in to save buildings that development threatened, often by moving them to safe ground.
If you visit
Take time to look at how the walls are made. In fachwerk construction, the timber frame is the skeleton and the adobe brick fills the gaps, so look for the pattern of posts and braces that marks the style. It's a hands-on lesson in how settlers built with what they had.
New Braunfels still wears its German heritage proudly, in its street names, churches, festivals, and food. After visiting the house, explore the town's older neighborhoods for other examples of nineteenth-century German-Texan building. Notice how often you'll see stone, timber, and practical, sturdy design.
New Braunfels sits on I-35 between San Antonio and Austin, which makes it an easy stop on a Texas road trip. Combine this house with a wider Hill Country loop through other towns founded by German immigrants, and you'll see how a nineteenth-century wave of newcomers left a mark the region still treasures.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Johann Andreas Breustedt
- · Caroline (Dauer) Breustedt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Breustedt Kitchen
New Braunfels, TX
This hand-hewn limestone building was raised in the 1860s as a detached kitchen for the New Braunfels home of German immigrant Johann Andreas Breustedt, his wife Caroline, and their nine children. Its craftsmanship reflects the meticulous building traditions the town's German colonists brought to the Texas Hill Country, from ceilings of adobe-and-grass plaster on split cedar lath to hand-wrought hinges on unique casement windows and a stone-lined well. After the main house was removed, the kitchen was carefully restored in 1968.
Church Hill School Building
New Braunfels, TX
Built in 1870, this schoolhouse grew out of day classes once held inside St. Martin's Evangelical Lutheran Church, serving the farm families of the Hortontown and Neighborsville communities. For years lessons were taught in both German and English, a reflection of the region's strong German immigrant roots. After serving the public school system, the building was preserved in 1975 as a school museum.
New Braunfels
New Braunfels, TX
Founded in 1845 during the days of the Republic of Texas by Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels, New Braunfels became the focal point of German immigration into central and western Texas. During the Civil War the town sent men and supplies to the Confederacy. Today it is a historic and recreational hub, home to Landa Park, the Sophienburg Museum, and the Comal, billed as the shortest large-volume river in the country.
Comal County
New Braunfels, TX
Comal County was created and organized in 1846, carved from the Travis and Bexar land districts, and named for the river whose spring-fed islands suggested pancakes to early settlers. Its seat, New Braunfels, had been established a year earlier and honors Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, the German nobleman who led colonists here. The county's very names carry the imprint of its German founding.