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Staffel Family and the Staffel Store

Boerne, Kendall County, Texas

Marker Inscription

German immigrant August Staffel arrived in Texas in 1852 and in due course made his way to Boerne, where he purchased property at this site in 1854. When Boerne was granted a postal station in 1856, Staffel served as first postmaster and housed the post office on his property. Staffel's other businesses included the Staffel store, stagecoach office, saloon, livery stable and wagon yard. After August's death in 1870, his wife, Bertha, operated the post office out of the Staffel store until 1881 and sold the property in 1905. Reminders of early economic development in Boerne, the Staffel store and the Staffel family played a significant role in that heritage. (2001)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

German immigrant August Staffel reached Texas in 1852 and settled at Boerne, buying this property in 1854 amid the wave of German colonists shaping the Hill Country. When Boerne won a postal station in 1856 he became its first postmaster, running the post office alongside his store, stagecoach office, saloon, and livery. After his death his widow Bertha kept the post office going out of the store until 1881.

Why it matters

The Staffel store reflects the German immigrant enterprise that built the commercial backbone of the Texas Hill Country.

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Related people

  • · August Staffel
  • · Bertha Staffel

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Nicolaus Zink

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In 1844, Bavarian-born civil engineer Nicolaus Zink was chosen to lead German immigrants to a Texas land grant under Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels and the Mainzer Adelsverein. Finding the granted land deep in Comanche country, Zink persuaded the prince to settle instead at the site that became New Braunfels, and his steady leadership carried the colonists through unrest, disease, and starvation. He later built homes across the Hill Country and helped engineer the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad bed to Kerrville.

Meyer Hotel Complex

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German immigrant Frederich Christian Meyer arrived in Comfort in 1862 and ran a stage stop and weigh station, gradually enlarging a log cabin and building a two-story stone home in 1869 for his wife Ernestine, a midwife who kept a separate building with maternity rooms for the women of the surrounding ranches. As rail lines reached the Hill Country in 1887, the Meyers added a hotel, and Ernestine and her children ran the business for decades after Frederich's death. A daughter, Julia Meyer Ellenberger, added a second guest house in 1920 and operated the complex until 1956.

Moos Homestead

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In 1850 the German immigrant John Moos and his bride Rosina built this house near the headwaters of Leon Creek, laying it up of field stone mortared with caliche in the style typical of pioneer Texas Germans. Its location made it useful as a relay station for the stagecoaches running the long road from San Antonio toward El Paso and California. The homestead thus served both as a family dwelling and as a link in the overland travel network of antebellum Texas.

Specht's Crossing

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This gravel-bed low-water ford carried horse-drawn carriages across the San Antonio–Blanco Road toward the German settlement of Spring Branch, and despite frequent flooding its use grew between 1875 and 1906. Postmaster Hans Von Specht ran the local post office from his hilltop home overlooking the crossing, which came to bear his name. Automobiles later used the ford until a low-water bridge replaced it in 1920, followed by a new Civil Works Administration bridge in 1934.