Rausch Ranch Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, out on the Gillespie County road. Back in 1856, a German immigrant by the name of Nicolaus Gerhard bought a stretch of land out here. He was born in 1810, and he'd come a long way to call this place home.

For a while, he and his son Michael made do in a log cabin, which is about as honest a beginning as Texas tends to offer. Ten years passed. Then, in 1866, Nicolaus decided it was time to build something that would last.

He brought in local German stonemasons, and those craftsmen pulled the very rocks right out of a nearby pasture to raise this house. Stone by stone, neighbor by neighbor, the way a lot of Hill Country history got written. Now, Michael Gerhard eventually sold the home in 1904, and the buyer was a man named Robert Rausch, a skilled stonemason himself, which tells you something about who recognized the quality of what had been built.

Robert and his wife Bertha took ownership, and from that point forward the house became the headquarters of the Rausch family ranch. It held that role for decades, right on through until 1976, when the property was sold. The story doesn't end there, though.

Ronald and Karen Herrmann came along, purchased the place, and set about restoring it. A house that started as a German immigrant's dream in 1856, built to last, and here it stands to prove the stonemasons right.

What the marker says

In 1856 Nicolaus Gerhard (1810-1894), a German immigrant, bought this land, where he lived with his son Michael in a log cabin. In 1866 Nicolaus had local German stonemasons build this house, using rocks found in a nearby pasture. Michael Gerhard sold the home in 1904 to skilled stonemason Robert Rausch and his wife Bertha. The house served as headquarters for the Rausch family ranch until 1976, when the property was sold. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983 Incise on base: Purchased and restored by Ronald and Karen Herrmann