Browse Exhibits (61 total)

Kallison Ranch

Nick Kotz, The Harness Maker’s Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas, Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2013

Kallison Ranch was purchased in 1910 by Nathan Kallison from two tracts that were originally part of the Jacob Hoffman Ranch, one of the earliest ranches in western Bexar County.  Nathan and his wife, Anna, were Jewish immigrants from Russia who came to San Antonio in 1899 by way of Chicago.  They operated a one-room harness shop which eventually became the largest farm-and- ranch supply business in the Southwest.  The 1,683-acre ranch consisted of flat farmland on the southern end, with rolling, chalky pasturelands to the north.    (Nick Kotz, The Harness Maker’s Dream:  Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas,  Fort Worth:  TCU Press, 2013)

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Kenney, Patrick - House

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The Patrick Kenney House located in Bexar County near Somerset, TX was built around 1877-78, after Patrick Henry Kenny purchased 46 ½ acres of land for $186.00 from D.W. Heard on 22 December 1877.1 The acreage was originally a part of the Clemente Bustillo grant, Survey #348.2 This purchase added to the already extensive acreage Kenney had previously purchased located on from the Michael De Chaumes grant.

Special note: The name of Bexar Road is pronounced “Bex–sar”  not  “Bear”.    There was actually a community of Bexar (Bex sar) in this general area!

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Kiolbassa - Aniol Home and Farm

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In December of 1854, immigrants from Upper Silesia in Prussian Poland began arriving
in Texas. In Bexar County, approximately twenty Silesian families created the village of
Saint Hedwig eighteen miles east of San Antonio. Today, recognized as one of the
earliest Polish settlements in the U. S. it is located on FM 1346, in far eastern Bexar
County.

Valentine Aniol, one of the founding settlers of Saint Hedwig, Texas, in 1856,   purchased from C. G. Napier an undivided interest in two hundred acres of land near the center of the John Springer Survey or Survey #31.

In 1892, Valentine Aniol conveyed the property to his daughter Julia Aniol Rakowicz  and her husband John Rakowicz with the stipulation, “to furnish to the said Valentine Aniol   a room on the premises including support, medical attention and clothing during her (sic) natural life.”

In 1896, the property came into the Kiolbassa family when it was
purchased by Ignatz Kiolbassa from John and Julia Aniol Rakowicz.

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Klemcke, William - House

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Charles Frederick William Klemcke and his wife, Emilie came to this country with the Castro Colony.  Charles Frederick William Klemcke was born in Ohlen, Silesia which is now southwestern Poland. Emilie was born in Oranienburg, just north of Berlin, Germany. Frederick AKA William Klemcke was a candle and soap maker. 

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Koerbel Place

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Koerbel Place is named after one of the original families that lived and farmed the land on which the house is located. The history of the property tells a tale of settlers from Germany and Switzerland who made their home in Bexar County,Texas during the most
unsettling and difficult years in U.S. history. A Castro Colonist, a Confederate Soldier, reputed use as a Stage Coach Stop and a resident ghost are all part of the narrative of the Koerbel Place story.

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Krause House

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ANTON F. KRAUSE HOUSE

San Antonio, TX.

 

With political unrest and threats of war in Europe, Anton F. Krause and his future wife, Johanna Roesler, both natives of Lussdorf, Bohema, sailed from Bremen aboard the Lucie.   They arrived in Galveston on November 7, 1854. Their granddaughter, Clara Krause Parsons, remembers them saying they walked most of the way to San Antonio where they joined a number of other German speaking families.  On May 22, 1855, Anton and Johanna were married at San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas.

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Kurtz - Stumberg House

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More to come!

Marnoch Homestead

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The Scottish surgeon Dr. Fredrick Marnoch (1802-1870) purchased more than 1500 acres at this site in the autumn of 1858. In January 1859, Marnoch commissioned famed San Antonio architect and builder John M. Fries to construct this house near Helotes Creek.

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Mitchell - Mauermann Property

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Mitchell was an active participant in the revolt of Texas against Mexico.  Appointed customs boarding officer at Velasco in 1830, he participated in the battle of Velasco on June 26, 1832, a pivotal event leading up to the Texas revolution. He was elected a regidor of the new municipality of Washington-on-the-Brazos in July 1835, and represented the municipality as a member of the General Council that governed Texas from late 1835 until the convention of 1836.  He served on the committee that prepared the declaration of San Felipe de Austin. With his son, Nathan, Mitchell fought in the Battle of San Jacinto

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Monken Complex

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The Monken family and their descendants can trace their family history and heritage back to the early German immigrants into Texas in the 1840’s.  They are to be commended for retaining one of the early German homesteads in Texas as well as much of the original land obtained by the early Monken’s. 

The MONKEN house has been beautifully restored and incorporated into the Balcones Creek Ranch development in northwest Bexar County near the Kendall County line.  Also included on the property is the former Monken barn.  The retention of these historic structures are wonderful examples of how a developer can successfully integrate history into a new housing development instead of destroying old structures.

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