Schmidt-Gold House
Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This home was built in the 1860s by german stonemason Lorenz Schmidt, a pioneer settler in the Adelsverein colony and builder of many early structures, including the Vereins Kirche. Originally a story-and-a-half, the house was enlarged to two floors in 1902 by Jacob Gold, Sr., a local business leader and founder of Rheingold community in eastern Gillespie County. The home's materials and design reflect influences of the early German settlers. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German stonemason Lorenz Schmidt, a pioneer of the Adelsverein colony that founded Fredericksburg, built this house in the 1860s; he was also among the builders of the town's landmark Vereins Kirche. In 1902 businessman Jacob Gold, Sr. — founder of the Rheingold community — raised it to two full stories. Its stonework and design reflect the craftsmanship the German immigrants carried to the Texas Hill Country.
Why it matters
It embodies the German immigrant colonization of central Texas, whose settlers gave the Hill Country its distinctive stone architecture and culture.
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Related people
- · Lorenz Schmidt
- · Jacob Gold, Sr.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The William Rausch House
Fredericksburg, TX
Gillespie County native William Rausch and his wife, Olga, bought this Fredericksburg property in 1894 and, in 1906, built the home that stands here. A stonemason and carpenter by trade, Rausch likely did much of the work himself, raising a German vernacular limestone house whose central gable carries jig-cut decorative trim. The home stayed in the family until 1943, a modest monument to the craftsmanship of the Hill Country's German community.
Wahrmund Millinery, Moellendorf-Dietz Bakery
Fredericksburg, TX
Erected about 1876 in the German settlement of Fredericksburg, this building blended home and business: Elise Wahrmund ran a millinery and dressmaking shop in the front rooms of the family residence. Later it housed a boarding house under the Clarks, and from 1924 to 1966 a succession of German-descended bakers—Schult, Moellendorf, and the Dietz brothers—filled it with the smell of fresh bread.
Maier-Alberthal Building
Fredericksburg, TX
Built around 1860, this sturdy German vernacular stone building was acquired in 1866 by Anton Maier, a native German who became a Fredericksburg merchant and held several Gillespie County offices. He passed it to his son-in-law August Alberthal, and over the decades the building served as a grocery, a soda water factory, an auto repair shop, and even a mission congregation's place of worship. Its thick stone walls reflect the building traditions the town's German settlers brought with them.
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.