Ingenhuett-Faust Hotel

Duane's take

The marker tells it this way, and I'm just passing it along. Out here in Comfort, there's a hotel that's been standing long enough to have opinions about the weather. The Ingenhuett-Faust Hotel.

Two sections, two eras, one story worth telling. The older part of this place went up in 1880, and whoever was swinging hammers that year had an eye for detail. We're talking jig-cut brackets and a balustrade, the kind of finish work that says somebody wanted this building to be remembered.

They got their wish. Then came 1894, and with it some additional facilities. The marker notes that was seven years after the railroad arrived in Comfort, which tells you something about how a train line could change the math on a town's ambitions.

More travelers coming through means more beds needed, and this hotel answered the call. Now here's a name worth saying slowly: Alfred Giles of San Antonio. He designed both sections.

Not one, both. The man had a hand in the 1880 original and in the 1894 expansion, which means the whole place carries a kind of architectural conversation with itself across fourteen years. The Peter Ingenhuett family ran the hotel through those early decades, keeping it going until around 1903.

Then a gap in the record, a quiet stretch the marker doesn't fill in. But by 1909, Louis and Matilda Faust had taken the reins, and they held on. They owned it, managed it, kept it alive all the way until 1946.

That is a long time to make sure strangers have a decent place to sleep. Two families, one building, a railroad rolling into town right on time. Comfort, Texas keeps its history standing upright.

What the marker says

The older section of this hotel, with its jig-cut brackets and balustrade, was built in 1880. Additional facilities were constructed in 1894, seven years after the coming of the railroad to Comfort. Both sections of the inn were designed by Alfred Giles of San Antonio. Members of the Peter Ingenhuett family operated the hotel until about 1903. It was owned and managed by Louis and Matilda Faust from 1909 until 1946. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1985