HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Hugo and Anna Gold Crenwelge House

Willow City, Gillespie County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Jacob Gold, Jr. (d. 1914) gave this property to his daughter, Anna (1878-1957), and her husband Hugo Crenwelge (1877-1948) in 1902. Three years later the Crenwelges built this home. Constructed of hand-cut limestone quarried near the site, the house features large ashlar blocks and lintels, a two-level gallery, and jig-sawn wood trim. An outstanding example of a rural German-Texan farmstead, the house remained in the Crenwelge family until 1965. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

In 1902 Jacob Gold, Jr. deeded this Hill Country land to his daughter Anna and her husband Hugo Crenwelge, and three years later the couple raised a sturdy home from limestone quarried right nearby. Its hand-cut ashlar blocks, two-level gallery, and jig-sawn trim are hallmarks of the German-Texan building tradition that shaped Gillespie County. The house stayed in the family for six decades, a lasting emblem of immigrant farm life on the Texas frontier.

Why it matters

German immigrants gave the Texas Hill Country a distinctive stone-building culture, and farmsteads like this one preserve the craftsmanship and family continuity of that settlement.

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Related people

  • · Hugo Crenwelge
  • · Anna Gold Crenwelge
  • · Jacob Gold, Jr.

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery

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In 1883 the German settlers of the North Grape Creek community near Fredericksburg organized a Lutheran congregation with the resounding name St. Paulus Evangelische Gemeinde an Nord Grape Creek. Conrad Herbort gave land for a church, parsonage, and cemetery, where the first burial took place in 1884. The old graves still speak German through their inscriptions and ornate ironwork crosses.

St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Duecker Family Homestead

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