Cordier-Tschirhart-Seal House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Cordier-Tschirhart-Seal House in Medina County. Now settle in, because this little limestone cottage has seen more lives pass through it than most houses twice its size. Jean Baptiste Cordier, born in 1804, came to Texas in 1844.

He was Alsatian, and he brought with him the kind of determination that turns raw limestone into something you can actually live in. Three rooms downstairs and an attic above. Not grand, maybe, but solid.

The kind of solid that outlasts the people who build it. Cordier put this place up with his own hands, and then, in 1847, he sold it. Now here is where the story gets interesting.

The cottage didn't pass to one family. It passed to two men at the same time. A blacksmith named Stephan Ahr, born 1821, and a shoemaker named Jacob Biry, born 1810.

Two trades, two families, one small limestone house. Their families occupied it together. You have to wonder what that front door looked like at suppertime.

The years rolled on, the way years do, and in 1906 the house was purchased by Eugenia Beck Tschirhart, known to the community as Mrs. Sebastian Tschirhart, born in 1861. The Tschirhart name took hold, and the house held on.

And when time and weather had done their work, it was Eugenia's descendants, a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Adrian L. Seal, who rolled up their sleeves and restored it.

One house. Alsatian limestone. A blacksmith and a shoemaker sharing a roof.

And a family, generations deep, making sure it's still standing for you to drive past today.

What the marker says

Jean Baptiste Cordier (1804-1881) built this Alsatian pioneer dwelling after migrating to Texas in 1844. The native limestone structure had three downstairs rooms and an attic. Cordier sold the cottage in 1847 to blacksmith Stephan Ahr (1821-1903) and shoemaker Jacob Biry (1810-1867), whose families occupied it together. In 1906 the house was purchased by Eugenia Beck (Mrs. Sebastian) Tschirhart (1861-1938). It was restored by her descendants, Mr. and Mrs. Adrian L. Seal. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1976.