DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the man passing it along. Now you're rolling through Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, and the marker standing out here is about as modest as the little room it points to — but what happened in that little room? Well, hold on, because we're getting there.
The house itself goes back to 1866. Carl Basse built it, a typical early Fredericksburg home, the kind of solid German Hill Country construction that meant business. By 1873 the property had passed to the Henke family, and it would stay Henke property.
Heinrich Henke was an early settler, a Confederate freighter, and a man who apparently saw no reason to waste a good front porch — he ran a butcher counter right there on it. The meat processing happened out back, same yard where he stabled the horses that pulled his meat vending cart. Practical man, Heinrich.
Later a shop went up on the foundation of the stone walls surrounding the lot. He and his wife Dorothea — she was a Weirich before she married — had twelve children between them. Twelve.
So they added a long dining room and a kitchen with a sloped roof, because twelve children will remind you real fast that square footage is not optional. A good number of their furnishings have been preserved by a descendant named Udo Henke, which means something of that life still exists in the world. Now.
In this house — this working, busy, butcher-on-the-porch, twelve-children house — there is a small room to the rear of the front bedroom. And on February 24th, 1885, Heinrich and Dorothea's daughter, Anna Henke Nimitz, gave birth in that room to a boy she named Chester William Nimitz. The marker says he was destined to command the greatest naval armada in history.
And the marker is not wrong. Chester Nimitz graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1905 — honor graduate. In the First World War he served as chief of staff to the commander of the Atlantic Submarine Fleet.
In 1926 he installed the first Naval ROTC unit in the U.S. Navy. Then came Pearl Harbor, and after the attack, Nimitz was selected Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.
In 1944 he was appointed Fleet Admiral, United States Navy. And then — September 2nd, 1945, Tokyo Bay. Aboard his flagship, the USS Missouri, as the representative of the United States of America, Fleet Admiral Chester W.
Nimitz signed the Japanese surrender documents. The boy from the little back room in Fredericksburg, Texas. Admiral Nimitz died in San Francisco on February 20th, 1966.
But the house on this Gillespie County lot is still here — the Henke house, built 1866, property of the family since 1873 — still holding that small room, still holding that story.
What the marker says
Typical early Fredericksburg home built 1866 by Carl Basse. Property of the Henke family since 1873. Heinrich Henke, early settler, Confederate freighter, had butcher counter on front porch; meat processing was done in back yard; there the horses that pulled meat vending cart were stabled. Shop later built on foundation of stone walls surrounding lot. He and his wife Dorothea (nee Weirich) added the long dining room and kitchen with sloped roof to accommodate their twelve children. Many of their furnishings are preserved by Udo Henke, a descendant. In small room to rear of front bedroom, on Feb. 24, 1885, their daughter, Anna Henke Nimitz, gave birth to Chester William Nimitz, destined to command the greatest naval armada in history. A 1905 honor graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, Nimitz was chief of staff to commander, Atlantic Submarine Fleet, W.W.I. Installed first Naval ROTC unit in U.S. Navy, 1926; selected Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet after attack on Pearl Harbor; appointed Fleet Admiral, U. S. Navy, 1944. As representative of the U. S. he signed Japanese surrender documents on his flagship, USS Missouri, Sept. 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay. Admiral Nimitz died in San Francisco on Feb. 20, 1966. (1968)