DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one doing the tellin'. Now, out here on land that borders the old Mission Concepcion Acequia — that's the canal, for those of you who don't parlez the Spanish — there stands a home built about 1890. Solid.
Quiet. The kind of place that doesn't advertise what it's seen. But in 1896, a man named William Ernst purchased this site, and William Ernst had seen plenty.
Born in Prussia in 1830, Ernst had made his way to Texas and taken up the unglamorous but essential work of carrying mail between Fredericksburg and San Antonio. That's rugged country, long miles, and not a lot of applause at the end of the route. But somewhere along the way, Ernst had developed a gift that would take him somewhere nobody on that mail route could have predicted.
The man could cook. Now, we're not talking Sunday potluck territory here. We're talking about a reputation — earned and known.
And during the U.S. Civil War, while Ernst was in Mexico, that reputation reached the right ears at exactly the right moment. He prepared a supper for Emperor Maximilian himself.
One supper. That's all it took. Because those culinary skills earned Ernst an appointment to the Emperor's staff as a chef.
Let that settle in. A Prussian-born mail carrier from the Texas Hill Country, cooking at the highest table in Mexico. But courts and emperors are unpredictable company.
In 1867, Maximilian was executed. And William Ernst — the chef, the mail carrier, the Prussian who had somehow dined with royalty — returned to San Antonio. He opened a restaurant on Alamo Plaza.
Right there in the shadow of that famous old mission, a man who had cooked for an emperor served the people of San Antonio. He died in 1904. And the home he had purchased on the acequia in 1896 still stands today, sitting quiet on that old canal, holding every bit of that story inside its walls.
What the marker says
Built about 1890, this home was constructed on land bordering the Mission Concepcion Acequia (Canal). In 1896 the site was purchased by Prussian Native William Ernnst (1830-1904), a former mail carrier between Fredericksburg and San Antonio. Ernst acquired a reputation as a talented cook, and while in Mexico during the U.S. Civil War, he prepared a supper for Empoeror Maximilan. His Culinary skills earned him an appointment to the Emperor's staff as a chef. After Maximilian's Execution in 1867, Ernst returned to San Antonio, where he operated a restaurant on Alamo Plaza.