DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, some houses just sit there. And then some houses — they start a story the very same year a couple says their vows.
Richard E. Kloepper and Ella Sodke got married in 1906, and that same year, not a month to waste, construction began on this very house right here in New Braunfels. You get the feeling these two didn't believe in waiting around.
Richard was a Texas native, and he wasn't the kind of man who blended into the background. He was a founding member of New Braunfels State Bank, and a founding member of the local First Federal Savings and Loan Association. A prominent local businessman — that's what the marker calls him, and the record seems to agree.
So here you've got a brand-new house, a brand-new marriage, and a man with a hand in building the financial backbone of his community. For five years, Richard, Ella, and their only son, Kermit, called this place home. Then in 1911, they moved on.
Just like that, the chapter closed, and the house passed to new hands. A man named Albert Voss became a subsequent owner, and his family lived here for many years, keeping the place going, keeping the story alive. Now here's what makes this house worth slowing down for.
It's Queen Anne in style, built of longleaf pine — and it has held on to itself in a way most things don't. The original porch spindle frieze is still there. The decorative shingling, still there.
And on the front projecting wing, a bracketed window hood that's been looking out over the same street since 1906. A lot has changed in New Braunfels since Richard and Ella said I do. Banks have come and gone, families have moved in and moved on.
But this house — built the year of a wedding, out of longleaf pine and a little bit of ambition — is still standing right where they left it.
What the marker says
Texas native Richard E. Kloepper and Ella Sodke married in 1906, the same year construction began on this house. A prominent local businessman, Richard was a founding member of New Braunfels State Bank, and of the local First Federal Savings and Loan Association. The couple moved from the house with their only son, Kermit, in 1911. A subsequent owner was Albert Voss, whose family lived here for many years. The Queen Anne home, built of longleaf pine, retains much of its original detailing, including porch spindle frieze, decorative shingling, and a bracketed window hood on the front projecting wing.Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2003