Mosel-Jordan-Duecker Haus
Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Johann Nicholas Mosel (1839-1904) was granted a 100' x 200' lot in Fredericksburg by the German Emigration Company in 1847. Here he built a rough limestone structure (now the northeast rooms), which might have served later as a Sunday house when he moved to an outlying farm (4 mi. W). German immigrant August William Jordan (d. 1898) bought the house in 1860. His sons sold it as a Sunday house to Henry Duecker (d. 1950), who added the frame additions in 1924. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Johann Nicholas Mosel received this Fredericksburg lot from the German Emigration Company in 1847 and raised a rough limestone dwelling, the oldest part of the present house, which he later may have used as a "Sunday house" after moving to an outlying farm. German immigrant August William Jordan bought the property in 1860, and it passed to Henry Duecker, who added frame rooms in 1924. The layered structure earned a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark designation in 1986.
Why it matters
Its stone-and-frame layers embody the German settlement of the Texas Hill Country and the distinctive "Sunday house" tradition of farm families with town lots.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- ยท Johann Nicholas Mosel
- ยท August William Jordan
- ยท Henry Duecker
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Holy Ghost (Heilige Geist) Evangelical Protestant Church
Fredericksburg, TX
This congregation grew from the first Protestant services held in the German settlement of Fredericksburg by the Rev. Henry Basse in 1846, the year the town was founded. Members worshiped in the communal Vereins Kirche until 1888, when Carl Priess donated a lot for a dedicated building completed in 1893; its tower still holds a bell from the original church. A 1948โ49 remodeling accompanied the congregation's transition to Holy Ghost Lutheran Church.
Old Central Drugstore
Fredericksburg, TX
Swiss-born jeweler and watchmaker Alphons Walter raised this two-story building in the heart of Fredericksburg in 1905, then sold it in 1909 to civic leader Robert Striegler, who ran the Central Drugstore on the ground floor. A drugstore would occupy the site for more than 70 years, while the upper floor housed the town's telephone exchange, doctors' offices, and a photographer's studio.
The Schandua Building
Fredericksburg, TX
Built in 1897 of hand-hewn limestone, this Fredericksburg building followed the German settlers' practical custom of home over shop: the Schandua family lived upstairs while John ran his hardware store below, and for a time the Masonic lodge met on the upper floor in trade for help with construction costs. After John's death his brother Henry married his widow, enlarged the building, and carried on the business. Hardware was sold here until 1972.
Gillespie County
Fredericksburg, TX
Once crossed by the trails of roving Indian peoples, these Hill Country lands were settled by German immigrant pioneers in 1846, with a group of Mormons founding Zodiac the next year. The county was created and organized in 1848 and named for Richard Addison Gillespie, a Texas frontier defender and Mexican War captain who was killed at the Battle of Monterrey in 1846. Fredericksburg became its seat.