HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Krause House/Mann's Crossing Post Office

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Anton F. Krause and Johanna Roesler emigrated from Austria to Texas in 1854. Like many new arrivals, they walked most of the way from the Texas coast to San Antonio, where they were married in the San Fernando Church in May 1855. In 1875 they sold their San Antonio store and saloon and moved with their six children to southwestern Bexar County near Mann's Crossing. The family purchased 101 acres in 1875 and a smaller tract including this site in 1876. They built a small log cabin and stone kitchen that year with the help of neighbors, including family friend and stonemason Henry Nentwich, whose daughter Elizabeth later married the Krauses' son Charles. The logs were hewn from local elm trees and the sandstone was found nearby. Additions were made as the family grew over the years. From January 1879 to November 1880 and again from September to December 1886, Anton Krause served as postmaster of Mann's Crossing, using his house as the post office. Krause and his sons also were active in law enforcement, and the house was used by Texas Rangers and federal agents to hold prisoners at various times. Typical of the gradual development of rural farmsteads evolving from a single pen log cabin, this house includes typical features of a vernacular farmhouse such as the original log core structure, board-and-batten siding on extensions, standing seam metal roof and box eaves. Its very survival is historically significant. The Krause land was designated a family land heritage farm in 1975. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Anton Krause and Johanna Roesler emigrated from Austria in 1854, walking much of the way from the Texas coast to San Antonio, where they married the following year. In 1875 they moved to rural southwestern Bexar County near Mann's Crossing, building a log cabin and stone kitchen with the help of neighbors. Anton served twice as postmaster—running the office from his home—and the family's law-enforcement ties meant Texas Rangers and federal agents sometimes held prisoners in the house.

Why it matters

The Krause homestead captures the immigrant farmstead life that filled out rural Texas, evolving cabin-by-cabin from a single log pen into a working farm.

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Related people

  • · Anton F. Krause
  • · Johanna Roesler Krause

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