DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the tale as the official marker tells it — I'm just the one drivin' you past it. August Tolle came into this world in 1829, back in Germany, and he wasn't yet a teenager when his family packed everything they had and made the crossing to New Braunfels in 1845. That's a whole life uprooted, a whole world left behind, and a brand new one waitin' on the other side of an ocean.
August landed in Texas and he got to work. By 1858, he and his brother-in-law, a Dr. Theodore Koester, had established a drugstore together.
A drugstore. This man had already built something. Then came 1861, and August wed Karoline Messer — she'd made her own journey from Germany too — and together they raised five children: Edith, Amelia, Theodore, Clara, and Alfred.
Five names, five lives, all rooted in this corner of Comal County. Now, the house. August bought it in 1891 — the lot and all.
And when his time came and went, the property passed to his son Alfred and Alfred's wife, Emma Louise, who was born a Hampe. Their three children held it until 1969, when it sold and moved on to new hands. Those subsequent owners looked at what they had and decided it was worth saving, and they restored it.
What you're lookin' at today is vernacular Victorian design — decorative fretwork, carved rafter tails, shuttered four-over-four windows. Every detail a quiet argument that a man who arrived here with nothing in 1845 built something that's still standin'. August Tolle lived until 1922.
Karoline made it to 1929. The house outlasted them both, and it's still here to prove it.
What the marker says
German native August Tolle (1829-1922) immigrated to New Braunfels with his parents and siblings in 1845 and established a drugstore with Dr. Theodore Koester, his brother-in-law, in 1858. In 1861, he wed Karoline Messer (d. 1929), also from Germany. The couple had five children, Edith, Amelia, Theodore, Clara and Alfred. In 1891, August bought this house and lot, which later transferred to Alfred and his wife, Emma Louise (Hampe). Their three children sold it in 1969, and subsequent owners restored it several years later. Today, the home represents vernacular Victorian design, with decorative fretwork, carved rafter tails and shuttered four-over-four windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2004