Ye Kendall Inn
Boerne, Kendall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The center section of this vernacular Greek revival structure was built in 1859 as a home for Erastus and Sarah Reed, who had come to Boerne from Georgia. Under later occupants, the home often served as lodging for those traveling through the area. In 1878 owners C. J. Roundtree and W. L. Wadsworth expanded the building, which they named the Boerne Hotel, to accommodate visitors attracted to the area by its healthful climate. A later owner, Dr. H.J. Barnitz, adopted the name "Ye Kendall Inn" in 1909. The inn features a 2-story gallery and a wide symmetrical facade. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The heart of this building rose in 1859 as a Greek Revival home for Erastus and Sarah Reed, newcomers from Georgia. Its spot on a well-traveled route soon made it a natural stopping place, and by 1878 new owners had enlarged it into the Boerne Hotel, welcoming visitors drawn to the Hill Country's reputedly healthful climate. In 1909 owner Dr. H. J. Barnitz gave it the name Ye Kendall Inn, which it still carries.
Why it matters
It reflects the rise of the Texas Hill Country as a health-and-leisure destination in the late nineteenth century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Erastus Reed
- · Sarah Reed
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Staffel Family and the Staffel Store
Boerne, TX
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.
Camino Real de San Saba (Camino Viejo) in Kendall County
Boerne, TX
From the 1700s, the Camino Real de San Saba ran northwest from San Antonio through Comanche- and Apache-dominated Hill Country to the Spanish Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas on the San Saba River, a route mapped by Joseph de Urrutia in 1767. Long used by Native peoples and later by Spanish entradas, the "old trail" became a path for German settlers arriving from the 1840s onward, its alignment recorded by surveyors like Jack Hays and John James. It passed just west of Boerne's Main Plaza before threading north through Spanish Pass toward the Guadalupe River.
Pinta Trail in Kendall County
Boerne, TX
The Pinta Trail was a natural Hill Country pathway used first by Native Americans and later by the Spanish, running some 180 miles from San Antonio to the 1750s presidio at Menard. In the 1780s pathfinder José Mares folded it into a shorter Santa Fe–San Antonio route, and in 1839 Jack Hays surveyed its Guadalupe River crossing as the "Paint Road." German Adelsverein colonists used the trail in the 1840s to reach their new Hill Country settlements, and it appears in the era's maps, surveys, and even landscape paintings.
Nicolaus Zink
Boerne, TX
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.