Christian-Matern House
Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Juliet Johnson, daughter of the founder of Marble Falls, married George Christian in 1887. He was one of ten owners of the Texas Mining & Improvement Company that developed the town. The first town lots were sold in 1887, and in 1892 this house was built for the Christians. Ivo B. and Mina Matern bought the house in 1908 and owned it for 51 years. Ivo Matern, a merchant and rancher, also served as mayor of Marble Falls in 1937. A fine late Victorian-era house, it exhibits Queen Anne style influences including decorative woodwork and protruding bay windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Marble Falls was founded in the 1880s, Juliet Johnson — daughter of the town's founder — married George Christian, one of the ten men whose Texas Mining & Improvement Company platted and promoted the new town. This fine Queen Anne house was built for the couple in 1892, all decorative woodwork and protruding bay windows. In 1908 it passed to merchant and rancher Ivo Matern, later mayor of Marble Falls, whose family kept it for fifty-one years.
Why it matters
The house links the boosters who conjured a Texas town out of the Hill Country to the families who then made it a lasting community, a familiar pattern in the settlement of the American West.
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Related people
- · George Christian
- · Juliet Johnson
- · Ivo B. Matern
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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