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CLICK
HERE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT COMFORTS' 150th JUBILEE |
Comfort,
Texas was established in 1854 by predominantly
"Freethinker" German immigrants.
Comfort is an unincorporated community in Kendall County.
The downtown area is possibly one of the most well-preserved
business districts in Texas. There are well over 100
structures in the area dating back to the 1800s, and seven
of them were designed by the noted architect, Alfred Giles.
Mr. Giles lived in San Antonio and was Comfort's first
commuter. He would ride horses, the stagecoach, and later
the train to check his building sites in Comfort. |
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Click on the
above photo to see the Ingenhuett-Reed house, circa
1900 |
A water district, established in the 1950s, covers the
town area of approximately one square mile. The current
population in the water district is 1,350. Some 2,500-3,000
people live within a three to five-mile surrounding area.
Most
of the population today are composed of the
descendants of those original pioneer families of the
1850s and the 1860s. Ernst Altgelt, at the young age
of 22, is credited with surveying and measuring the
lots that would later be sold to the incoming German
immigrants. He stayed and married Emma (Murck) Altgelt
and they raised their nine children in the township of
Comfort.
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Comfort is also known
for a not-so-pleasant event that took place during the Civil
War. Many tourists view the Treue Der Union Monument that was
dedicated in honor of 35 men who died at the Battle of the
Nueces because they opposed the state's secession from the
Union.
In 1918, Albert Steves
erected a bat roost on his family farm and summer home in
Comfort. This roost was built to attract bats in an effort to
control mosquito populations by natural means. It was
originally researched and developed by Dr. Charles Agustus
Rosenheimer Campbell of San Antonio. At the time this was the
latest in medical technology in the campaign against malaria. At one time there were 16 bat roosts built in the United
States and Europe, of which only two sites now remain—one in
Comfort and one in the Florida Keys.
Comfort has an
incredible beauty, with lush green hills and mild climates,
discreetly tucked in the middle of the Hill Country. In fact,
it has become known as the "Star of the Texas Hill
Country." There is a feeling of peace and contentment in
this small community, which has been here from the beginning.
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