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LUDWIG HEIN HOUSE
727 High Street, Comfort
HISTORY: Ludwig Hein was born in Steinhoefel Kreise Friedeberg,
Berlin on October 9, 1955. In 1877, at age 22 he immigrated to the United States
via the Port of New Orleans, and crossed country until he reached Waring,
Texas.
Ludwig, from a family of 11 children, was joined in this country five
years later by the passage of his parents, Henry and Ottilie Hein to Waring,
Texas. In Waring, Ludwig met and married Rosa Treiber. Rosa was born August 19,
1867 in Burgenland, Austria. She, too, had immigrated to this country. On
January 8, 1890, Ludwig Hein purchased Lot 93 in the township of Comfort from
Achese Auguste for the sum of $150.
The Hein house, built before 1900, served
as the home for the Hein's when Ludwig had a blacksmith shop next door. Six
children were born to Ludwig and Rosa.
Son, Frederick, remembers how hard his
father, Ludwig, worked in the tin blacksmith shop which adjoined their home
directly on the southside. There were many horses to shoe as well as difficult
wheel rims to mend.
In 1914, Ludwig moved his family to San Antonio so that
his younger children might attend school there.
On April 19, 1923,
Southwestern Bell moved the local switchboard from the Koblin Building to 727
High Street. Miss Augusta Allerkamp was in charge with 340 local and rural lines
coming into the Comfort switchboard.
In 1925 Mrs. Grace Martin assumed
management of the switchboard. The main switchboard was located in the front
room while the remainder of the home served as Mrs. Martin's living quarters.
The dining room of the home also served as one of the first lending libraries of
the town, when in January, 1941, Mrs. Martin begin keeping the library
books.
In 1947 Zahn Green purchased the Comfort and Center Point
Exchanges which operated as Hill Country Telephone Company. With the advent of
the dial system, Green sold out in 1955 to Hill Country Telephone, ending a 32
year era of Comfort's History.
The simple frame home was typical of those
built in Comfort at the Turn of the Century as indicated by the porch columns,
brackets and exposed rafter. The back portion of the house was added to the
original structure before 1936.
The house was given a Historic Marker in
1987.
Source: Boerne Public Library files- Feb. 2000
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