The Gass Schmiede

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most buildings out here in Kendall County have a story, but this one starts with a man walking. Every week.

Five miles. From Sisterdale. A rock mason by the name of J.

Gottlieb Lorbeer, who you get the feeling did not consider that walk worth mentioning, because the work was the thing. The work being the lower level of a limestone-block building going up in 1890, commissioned as a blacksmith shop, a schmiede, for a man named Jacob Gass. Gass was born in 1845 and would live until 1913, and whatever else he was in this life, he had the good sense to hire a man who knew how to lay stone.

Lorbeer worked that lower level for almost a year, making that weekly trek in from Sisterdale, five miles to the east, and then doing it all over again. Now here's where the story gets a little lopsided, and I think Lorbeer would have had thoughts about this. The upper level, finished quickly, with machinery.

That's all the marker says. Quickly. With machinery.

While Lorbeer was down below, one careful limestone block at a time, for nearly a year. The upper level got a different role too. Not a shop.

A residence. So you've got a blacksmith shop on the bottom and a home on top, both under the same limestone roof. That building stood, and in 1903, a man named Paul Ingenhuett bought it.

And then the Ingenhuett family did something worth remembering. In 1932, they made the building available for a museum and a public library. A blacksmith's shop, built by a man who walked ten miles round-trip every week to lay its stones, ended up holding books for the public.

Gottlieb Lorbeer, wherever you are, that lower level is holding up just fine.

What the marker says

This limestone-block building was built in 1890 as a blacksmith shop ("schmiede") for Jacob Gass (1845-1913). Rock mason J. Gottlieb Lorbeer worked on the lower level for almost a year, walking to the job each week from Sisterdale (5 mi. E). The upper level was finished quickly with machinery and was used as a residence. Paul Ingenhuett bought the building in 1903, and his family made it available for a museum and public library in 1932. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986