DUANE
Duane's take
Now, this one comes straight from the official Texas Historical Commission marker — let me spin it out for you the way it deserves to be told. Out in the northeastern corner of Dallas County, near a little place called Rowlett, the land was callin' to people from far across the water. Late in the nineteenth century, German and Swiss farm families were pourin' into that part of Texas, chasin' the tail end of an agricultural boom, and the soil was waitin' for them like it had saved up its patience.
Among those families were Johann Christian Herfurth — born in 1835 — and his wife, Anna Barbara Etter, born in 1842. Now Johann and Anna Barbara had a son, John Samuel Herfurth, born in 1879, and it was young John Samuel who went out ahead of his parents, scouted the Dallas County farmland, and said: this is the place. The farm was purchased in 1908 — one hundred and fifty-one acres, with a modest little three-room house sittin' on it like it was just waitin' to become something more.
And oh, it became something more. Around 1910, not long after they'd settled in, Herfurth added two rooms and a hallway to that original house. A man building outward from what he has — that is a man with a plan.
Then came 1918, and a second major addition that sealed the whole design into what it is today: an airplane bungalow, classic craftsman style, with strong horizontal lines, a low-pitched roof, deep eaves, and small panes up in the upper window sashes. Solid. Grounded.
The kind of house that looks like it grew out of the earth rather than was built on top of it. Now here's a little wry footnote the walls of that house might blush to admit — there is evidence the contractor relied on plans from Sears, Roebuck and Company. That's right.
The catalog. You could order a house design the same way you ordered overalls, and out in Dallas County, somebody did. And you know what?
It worked. But a fine house is just the frame. The real story is what J.S.
Herfurth did with those one hundred and fifty-one acres. In the 1930s, when the whole nation started takin' a hard look at scientific land management, J.S. wasn't the kind of man to sit on the porch and watch other people figure things out. He followed those developments closely, worked right alongside Dallas County extension service agents, and started puttin' new techniques to work — contour plowin', crop rotation.
The land responded, and so did his neighbors' opinion of him. He was named a local farm conservationist and awarded the honor of triple-A farmer. Extensive cotton production, too.
And if that wasn't enough, J.S. had a particular fondness for animal husbandry — the breedin' of horses and mules, if you please. The family held onto that homestead across the generations, right up until the last of them — J.S.'s youngest son, Carl Leroy Herfurth, and his wife, Helen Hall — were the final members of the family to own and occupy the place. One immigrant family, one hundred and fifty-one acres, a house built in stages the way a life is — room by room, year by year, addition by addition.
The Herfurths didn't just farm the land near Rowlett. They became part of it.
What the marker says
Accompanying the agricultural boom in the late 19th century was the influx of immigrant German and Swiss farm families to the northeastern portion of Dallas County. Among the German families buying farms near Rowlett was Johann Christian Herfurth (1835-1914) and his wife, Anna Barbara Etter (1842-1925). One son, John Samuel Herfurth (1879-1958), located the Dallas County farm land and brought his parents here. The farm was purchased in 1908, originally consisted of 151 acres and included a small 3-room house on the property. Soon after obtaining the property, around 1910, Herfurth added two rooms and a hallway to the original house. A second major addition in 1918 produced the basic design of the airplane bungalow house as it exists today. The exterior of the house is a classic craftsman style with strong horizontal lines, a low pitched roof, deep eaves and small panes in the upper window sashes. There is evidence that the contractor relied on plans from Sears, Roebuck & Co. In the 1930s, nationwide research into scientific land management practices increased. J.S. Herfurth followed those developments closely and worked with Dallas County extension service agents to implement new techniques, such as contour plowing and crop rotation. He was named a local farm conservationist and awarded the honor of triple-a farmer. In addition to extensive cotton production, Herfurth was also interested in animal husbandry, particularly the breeding of horses and mules. J.S.’s youngest son, Carl Leroy Herfurth, and his wife, Helen Hall, were the last members of the family to own and occupy the Herfurth homestead.