Browse Exhibits (54 total)
Kiolbassa - Aniol Home and Farm
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
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
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
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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Marnoch Homestead
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
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
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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Munk, Frederick
Frederick MUNK House
Originally a part of the Ygnacio Perez Spanish Colonial grant issued in 1808, the Frederick Munk structures and site is located on the Christopher Yoacum headright grant and partially on the Jose M. Pereida headright grant.
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Padilla Ranch House - Demolished 2009
Padilla Ranch House – formerly located on Balcones Creek and I H – 10 near Bexar County and Kendall Counties line.
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Pape Farmstead (AKA Ione Farm)
The Conrad Pape Family immigrated from Germany, arriving at Indianola, Texas, in 1845 and later moving to Smithson Valley in Comal County.
The original 261 acres of land purchased by the Pape family was bound on the south by Nacogdoches Road (the original alignment of the Camino Real a la Tierra de los Tejas) and north by the future San Antonio International Airport).
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