Old Krause Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, somewhere in Comal County stands a building that's been a lot of things to a lot of people, and it all started around 1860 with one man and one remarkable set of hands. His name was Friedrich Krause, a master carpenter, and what he built, he built to last.

Hand-cut native cedar. Cypress. Limestone.

Adobe brick. Not a single material in that structure was an accident, and not a single cut was careless. That's the kind of man Friedrich Krause was, at least if this building is any evidence.

And it is considerable evidence. Now, a building that solid is going to attract attention, and attract attention it did. At some point those walls housed the Weber and Deutsch store, which tells you commerce found its way through that door.

But commerce was just the beginning. Because those same walls also became the Hoffmann Opera House. Think about that for a second.

The same building where folks haggled over goods also rang out with performance, with music, with whatever the Hoffmann Opera House was bringing to Comal County. And if that weren't enough, the place also served as a drill hall for Clement's Rifles of the Texas Militia. So under one roof, you had trade, you had opera, and you had soldiers drilling for duty.

Not many buildings can claim that particular combination. The years kept rolling, as years tend to do, and by 1966 the Richard Dedeke Family took on the work of renovation, giving those hand-cut cedar and limestone walls another chapter. Friedrich Krause built something in 1860 that was still worth saving more than a hundred years later.

That's not just craftsmanship. That's a legacy.

What the marker says

Built about 1860 by master carpenter Friedrich Krause of hand-cut native cedar, cypress, limestone, and adobe brick. Once Weber & Deutsch store, Hoffmann Opera House,and drill hall for Clement's Rifles of Texas Militia. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968 (Incise in base: Renovation in 1966 by Richard Dedeke Family.)