Homesite of Johann and Gertruda Walzem
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Homesite of Johann and Gertruda Walzem Johann Joseph and Anna Gertruda Walzem came to Texas from Prussia c. 1851. In 1859, the State of Texas officially granted them the land they had settled (160 acres), including this homesite. Johann was a stonemason. He and his sons built the home and barn, as well as nearby St. John Chapel. They also dug four cisterns on the property. Starting in 1871, the land passed to the Walzem's children: Johann, Gertrude, Andreas, Heinrich and Peter. The home, built in stages of stone from the site, served as a school for the local children in the 1860s. The barn also may have been used as a home. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Johann Joseph and Anna Gertruda Walzem emigrated from Prussia around 1851, and in 1859 Texas formally granted them the 160 acres they had settled near New Braunfels. A stonemason, Johann and his sons quarried local stone to build their home and barn, dug four cisterns, and raised the nearby St. John Chapel. In the 1860s the stone house doubled as a school for local children.
Why it matters
The homesite is a tangible piece of the great German immigration that reshaped the Texas Hill Country, where newcomers brought Old World stonecraft, faith, and schooling to the frontier.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Johann Joseph Walzem
- · Anna Gertruda Walzem
Related events
- · German immigration to Texas
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Mission Valley School
New Braunfels, TX
German settlers founded the Mission Valley community in the mid-1840s, naming it for an earlier Spanish mission, and at first taught their children at home. In 1870 two brothers donated land for the first community school, and in 1884 a sturdier limestone schoolhouse rose nearby. Long after the district was absorbed by New Braunfels in 1952, the site—with its frame and stone schoolhouses and stone cisterns—has served as a community center.
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul
New Braunfels, TX
German Catholic colonists who reached New Braunfels in 1845 were promised a church and school, and in 1847 Bishop John M. Odin received four lots atop a hill locals called "Lustiger Strumpf" (Happy Stocking) for its shape. A log cabin gave way to a walnut-wood chapel, and since 1871 a Gothic church of native limestone has crowned the hill; its storm-toppled steeple was rebuilt with a clock added in 1889. Franciscan, Benedictine, and Sisters of Divine Providence teachers took turns running the school.
New Braunfels Academy
New Braunfels, TX
Promised schools by the society that sponsored their emigration, the German settlers of New Braunfels hired their first teacher in 1845, the year classes began. When the state retracted support for local school districts in 1856, the city persuaded the legislature to create the New Braunfels Academy in 1858, funding it through a local property tax and tuition—making it one of Texas's first tax-supported schools. It taught in both German and English until the state built a public system in 1871.
Carl Heinrich Guenther
New Braunfels, TX
Born in Prussia in 1821, Carl Heinrich Guenther immigrated to Texas in 1845 and became a pillar of New Braunfels — one of its first public school teachers and a leader of the German singing societies. In 1854 he presided over a statewide Saengerfest that adopted an anti-slavery platform, an unpopular stance in Texas; though he shared those leanings, he later joined the Confederacy as a captain. After his death his widow Margarethe carried on the family brewing business.