Within 30 days’ time, on opposite sides of our county, the Kendall County Historical Commission has been gifted with the rare opportunity to spotlight two early county stalwarts and honor them with Texas Historical Commission markers. And we are at the midpoint.
On March 16 in Comfort, the Dan and Frances Holekamp historical marker was given the light of day with an unveiling and the Holekamps came alive once again.
Dan was a true entrepreneur. His pool hall, saloon and community entertainment hall were polished fixtures on the corner of Comfort’s High and Seventh streets in the 1890s and early 1900s.
The Comfort Heritage Foundation has 11 flyers advertising events at Holekamp Hall. Some events were for the benefit of the Comfort Schools and Comfort Public Library.
Dan followed up these enterprises with a mercantile store just a block down Seventh Street called “D. Holekamp and Sons.”
Then in 1907 the family moved into a house at 421 Seventh St., centrally located between his business ventures, where today you can read the inscription on the newly installed THC marker.
Still handsomely preserved 116 years later, not only is this the current home of Barb and Gary Lindner, but it was Gary who researched Dan and Frances Holekamp with the assistance of CHF’s archivist Margaret Morries and submitted documentation to the Texas Historical Commission to secure the marker.
On April 6 the historical commission is transitioning from “urban” Comfort, 22 miles southeast across Kendall County to the corner of Edge Falls Road and FM 3351 to honor Casper Heinrich Sueltenfuss with his THC marker.
Sandwiched between future Bergheim (1901) and Kendalia (1883) and lost to time, the southeast region of Kendall County was once called “Guadalupe” and then later “Schiller,” both defined by their in-home rural post offices.
As profiled in the Sunday edition of the Galveston Daily News on Dec. 17, 1876, “Guadalupe has a population of about 100.” Our honoree has ties to both rural post offices.
Over time, Casper Sueltenfuss acquired extensive land holdings of more than 4,000 acres, had a large family — he and his wife, Anna, had 10 children — and an impressive résumé of social, organizational, administrative and even religious affiliations.
For example, Casper was a charter member of the Germania Farmer’s Verein when it was established in 1875, located in today’s western Comal County’s Anhalt, and was elected a Kendall County commissioner in 1880.
Two of Casper’s descendants, great-granddaughter Marilyn Vogt and great-great-great granddaughter Lillie Vogt, will share more of Casper’s back-story during the roadside marker unveiling.
Marilyn created and footnoted a narrative from her extensive cache of documentation on Casper that was submitted to THC resulting in the marker’s approval.
THC marker unveilings are free and open to the public. Come join us at 10 a.m. April 6 at the corner of Edge Falls Road and FM 3351 to learn more about Casper’s 40-year career of public service.
Casper Heinrich Sueltenfuss’ life was infused into the DNA of early Kendall County. Please direct any questions to Bryden Moon at: [email protected], or call 830-336-3375.
Bryden Moon is the historical marker chair for the Kendall County Historical Commission.
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