DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm going to tell you this one the way the official marker tells it — so settle in, because this story's got some weight to it. Way back in 1852, two souls made the long crossing from Prussia to San Antonio — Anna Barbara Heiman, born in 1828, and Johann Engelbert Heidgen, born in 1821. You might see their name spelled Heitgen in some corners of the record, but however you spell it, they arrived in a city that was still very much on the edge of something wild.
The eastern fringe of a neighborhood called the Irish Flats, to be specific. That's where they put down roots. That's where they bought their property.
And that's where this story really begins. Their first house was modest — a one-story caliche structure, face turned toward Elm Street like it had something to prove. But families have a way of outgrowing modest, and the Heidgens were no exception.
Thirteen children came into this world under that family name. Thirteen. Eight of them survived into adulthood, and with each addition to the family, the house grew too, walls pushing outward like the structure itself was keeping pace.
Now, I need to stop here, because the family history carries something that demands you slow down and listen carefully. One of their daughters — a little girl named Mathilda — was abducted from that home as a toddler. Taken by raiding Indians, right off this property.
San Antonio in the early 1800s sat along Texas' western frontier, and raids like this were a grim reality throughout much of that era. But the neighbors didn't stand idle. A group from the nearby Powderhouse Hill neighborhood formed a posse, rode hard, and brought Mathilda back.
She came home. That detail has lived in the family history ever since, and you can understand why. Life went on, as life does.
Anna Barbara worked as a midwife — delivering new lives into a frontier city still finding its shape. Johann, who went by John in some circles, was a stonemason, and a skilled one. His hands helped build the church, the rectory, and St.
Joseph's Society's Hall for St. Joseph's Catholic Church — a German parish that was established in 1871. The man knew how to build things that lasted.
And it's likely he built his own homes on this very site with those same hands. Sometime between 1882 and 1884, he began work on the larger house that stands here. Now, here's a detail that'll make you think about time a little differently — the west side of that structure abuts the Acequia Madre, also called the Alamo Madre, a major canal that Franciscan friars and their Indian converts had built to carry water to Mission San Antonio de Valero — you know it as the Alamo — and its farmlands.
Johann Heidgen built his house right up against a waterway older than the republic itself. The house is limestone and caliche rock, originally covered in lime wash, and it stands as what historians call the Texas German vernacular style — a form that was once common all across San Antonio but has grown rare enough to matter. The Heidgen family lived in it until 1907.
Anna Barbara, born in 1828, lived all the way to 1913. Johann, born in 1821, lived to 1915. That man built things to last — including, it seems, himself.
The marker went up in 2003, and what it's marking is more than one family's address. It's a rare reminder of what San Antonio's early residential neighborhoods looked like on the edge of what would become a downtown commercial district — a limestone-and-caliche ghost of the city that used to be. The Heidgens are long gone, but the house they built against that old canal is still standing, and now you know why that matters.
What the marker says
Anna Barbara (Heiman) (1828-1913) and Johann Engelbert (1821-1915) Heidgen (also Heitgen) came from Prussia to San Antonio in 1852. They bought property at this site, which at the time was on the eastern edge of the Irish Flats neighborhood. Their first house was a one-story caliche structure that faced Elm Street. Later additions accommodated the growing family, which included thirteen children, eight of whom survived into adulthood. According to family history, a daughter, Mathilda, was abducted from the home as a toddler by raiding Indians. A group from the nearby Powderhouse Hill neighborhood formed a posse and brought her back. Located along Texas' western frontier, San Antonio was prey to such attacks throughout much of the early 1800s. Anna Barbara worked as a midwife. Johann (or John), a stonemason, worked on the church, rectory, and St. Joseph's Society's Hall of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, a German parish established in 1871. He probably built his homes on this site, beginning work on this larger house between 1882 and 1884. The west side of the structure abuts the Acequia Madre, also known as the Alamo Madre, a major canal built by Franciscan friars and their Indian converts to provide water for Mission San Antonio de Valero (The Alamo) and its farmlands. Originally covered with lime wash, the limestone and caliche rock house is typical of the Texas German vernacular style once common in the city. The Heidgen family lived here until 1907. Today, the Heidgen House is a significant example of an architectural form once common throughout San Antonio. It is a rare reminder of the city's early residential neighborhoods on the edge of the downtown commercial district. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2003