Peter Joseph Ingenhuett Homestead

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the Peter Joseph Ingenhuett Homestead in Kendall County. Peter Joseph Ingenhuett was born in 1833, arrived in Texas as a German immigrant, and put down roots on a farm near Comfort sometime in the 1850s. Now, that right there is already a story worth telling.

A man crosses an ocean, crosses a continent, and winds up in the Texas Hill Country. He finds his land, and he gets to work. In 1861, he married Marie Karger, born in 1843, and together they built a life that this county would not soon forget.

For a few years the farm held them, but by 1867 the Ingenhuetts had made their move into town. And once they arrived on what is now High Street, they did not arrive quietly. A hotel.

A saloon. A livery stable. The man understood that a growing Texas town needed places to sleep, places to drink, and a place to rest a horse, and he was prepared to provide all three.

On top of running those businesses, Peter Joseph Ingenhuett served as the Comfort postmaster for nearly twenty-five years. Nearly a quarter century of sorting mail, keeping connections alive between that little Hill Country town and the wider world. Now here is the detail that tends to stop people.

That small cottage at the back of this very property, the one that looks like it might have been an afterthought, that was the Ingenhuett home. That is where Peter and Marie lived, until 1888, when the larger dwelling at this site was built. Marie passed in 1913.

Peter, born in 1833, did not leave this world until 1923. He had seen Comfort grow from a farm settlement into a real town, and his hand was in much of that growin'. Some stories end with a grave.

This one ends with a house still standing.

What the marker says

German immigrant Peter Joseph Ingenhuett (1833-1923) came to Texas and settled on a farm near Comfort in the 1850s. In 1861, he married Marie Karger (1843-1913), and they moved into town in 1867. The Ingenhuetts opened various businesses along what is now High Street, including a hotel, saloon, and livery stable. Ingenhuett served for nearly 25 years as the Comfort postmaster. The small cottage at the back of this property was the Ingenhuett home until the larger dwelling at this site was built in 1888. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986