DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker on the Struve House is what I'm going off here, so let me tell it straight from the record. Now, you want to talk about a man who came to Texas with a story already followin' him, Amand Von Struve is your man. Born in 1838, he came to Texas in 1848 — still a boy — alongside his father, a former Imperial Russian officer.
A Russian officer. Out here in the Texas Hill Country. Some families carry a little more history in their luggage than others.
They put down roots, and Amand got to work. Starting in 1858 and continuing on from there, he bought land. Kept buying it.
By the time he was done amassing, he had over eight thousand acres under his name, and running across those acres were herds of horses, cattle, and sheep. Eight thousand acres. That's not a farm.
That's a territory. Now here's where the story gets particular. Amand had a wooden dwelling on that land, the kind most folks started with out here.
But in 1869, he added something different — a stone spring house-kitchen. Stone. Deliberate.
Solid. And the marker tells us exactly why: to protect food and water from Indians and animals. That wasn't decoration.
That was calculation. Then in 1871, he married Christiana Fissler Ebeling, and together they raised eight children on those eight thousand acres. A family as big as the land they were living on.
But here's the thing about stone versus wood, and time versus everything. The main dwelling — the heart of the homestead — was razed in the 1940s. Gone.
The stone spring house-kitchen, though, that 1869 addition Amand built to outlast trouble? It was restored in the 1950s for preservation. Amand Von Struve died in 1902.
The wooden house didn't make it out of the forties. But that stone room he built to protect what mattered — it's still standing. Sometimes the part you build for survival is the part that survives.
What the marker says
Amand Von Struve (1838-1902) came to Texas in 1848 with his father, a former Imperial Russian officer. Buying land here, 1858 and later, he amassed over 8,000 acres, with herds of horses, cattle, and sheep. To wooden dwelling, he added (1869) this stone spring house-kitchen, to protect food and water from Indians and animals. He married (1871) Christiana Fissler Ebeling. Had 8 children. Their main dwelling was razed in 1940s. Stone annex was restored for preservation, 1950s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1973