Schuehle-Saathoff House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it its proper due. Way out in Medina County, there stands a house that has been quietly watching Texas change for a long, long time. A one and one half story cottage, built with native limestone pulled right from the land around it, and it went up in 1850.

That is not a typo. Eighteen fifty. Let that settle for a moment.

Henry Schuehle, who had made his way over from Germany, purchased land near here and owned this house. He didn't build something fancy or showy. He built something that fit the land, fit the tradition, and fit the way German settlers of the 19th century understood the word home.

That vernacular tradition, as the marker puts it, is written into every stone. Then comes 1900, and the house changes hands. S.H.

Saathoff buys the place, and here is where the story gets a little deeper. The Saathoff family didn't just arrive in Texas one day. They came from Germany back in 1846, and they helped found Quihi.

That is a founding family in the truest sense of the word. And once they were in this house, they weren't going anywhere in a hurry. Saathoff family members were active in public education, they put down roots in this community, and they lived in this limestone cottage for about seventy-five years.

Seventy-five years of suppers and schoolbooks and seasons turning outside those thick stone walls. Henry Schuehle built it to last. The Saathoffs proved him right.

What the marker says

Henry Schuehle immigrated from Germany and purchased land near here. He owned this house, built in 1850. In 1900 the house was bought by S.H. Saathoff, whose family came to Texas from Germany in 1846 and helped found Quihi. Saathoff family members were active in public education, and lived here about 75 years. The house, a one and one half story cottage built with native limestone, represents the vernacular tradition of 19th century German settlers. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996