The Herff Farm - A Story of Pioneers
The old Herff/Rozelle Homestead is located in the Texas Hill Country on the outskirts of
Boerne in Kendall County. Positioned at the confluence of the Cibolo and Menger Creeks,
this 62-acre property is part of the original 320-acre tract purchased by pioneer physician
Ferdinand Herff in 1852 as a retreat for his large family. Herff eventually expanded his
holdings to some 10,000 acres, which were used for ranching and additional family lands.
After an earlier house burned, Ferdinand and Mathilde Herff rebuilt the two-story limestone
house in 1883. Agricultural fields and sheep pastures surrounded the house. After his wife’s
death in 1910, Ferdinand Herff gave the house and sixty-eight acres to his son, Charles, who,
with his wife, Mildred, had lived in the house and farmed the property since the middle
1890s.