The August Hennersdorf House
Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
August and Johanne Hennersdorf migrated to Fredericksburg from Prussia in 1855. In the early 1900s they constructed this frame and limestone residence for their family. Evidence indicates the floor joists under the frame portion of the home may be the octagonal wooden columns from Fredericksburg's original vereins Kirche, which had been dismantled in 1896. Members of the Hennersdorf family owned the property for ninety years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
August and Johanne Hennersdorf left Prussia for Fredericksburg in 1855 and, in the early 1900s, built this frame-and-limestone home for their family. Local tradition holds that the floor joists beneath the frame section are the octagonal wooden columns salvaged from the town's original Vereins Kirche, dismantled in 1896. If so, the house quietly carries a piece of the community's founding meeting-house within its bones.
Why it matters
The home ties one immigrant family's story to Fredericksburg's earliest civic landmark, showing how German settlers reused and remembered the structures that first bound their community together.
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Related people
- · August Hennersdorf
- · Johanne Hennersdorf
Themes & tags
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