When you meander past the Starbucks on Upper Balcones, you’ll find Dodge Road…named after Frederick J. Dodge, who was a Texas cattleman at the end of his life, but in the middle…well, we’ll tell you more about Detective Fred Dodge right after this.

Kendall County Roofing

Fred Dodge worked as a lawman and as an undercover agent for Wells Fargo in California, Nevada, and Arizona - protecting stagecoaches and solving train holdups.

He became a constable in Tombstone, Arizona, where he befriended the legendary Wyatt Earp. In fact, Dodge’s diaries were the basis for the book The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp, and they also documented his encounters with the Doolin and Dalton Gangs. In 1906, Dodge came to Leon Springs on vacation and fell in love with the Texas Hill Country. He purchased 2000 acres and named it Dodge Ranch. Dodge died in 1938 at the age of 84 and is buried in the Boerne Cemetery.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History, and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

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Across River Road from the Dam on Cibolo Creek is a real estate business operating in The William Dietert House, … the story of the Dietert family right after this …

Kendall County Roofing

German-born William Dietert and his two brothers came to Texas in the 1850s. William built a dam on Cibolo Creek to power a saw mill and grist mill...the first business in Boerne. A cotton gin and press were added to the enterprise. Dietert signed the petition to form Kendall County and served as a Commissioner and County Judge. William Dietert’s grandson Clarence Dietert, served in World War 2, served as Mayor of Boerne and died on May 26th, 2005 at the age of 91.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History, and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

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At the corner of Main Street and West San Antonio, next to Main Plaza is the Hillje Music Store where you can rent musical instruments, but before 1901, on that site was Homer’s Livery Stable, where you could rent a horse and buggy for a dollar a day. The story of the present-day Carstanjen Building right after this.

Kendall County Roofing

At 705 South Main where the Lovern Law Firm calls home, it was originally the real home and mansion of Rudolph Carstanjen, one of Boerne’s first settlers from Germany by way of Rio De Janeiro. In 1901, he built the 2 story Carstanjen Building and one of the early tenants was Levyson’s Drug Store which closed in 1920. The Plaza Drug Store was next owned by Bill and Wilda Williams. In 1941 Erhard Ebner purchased the drug store, and ran it there until 1967, when Ebner’s Drug Store moved across the street.

Rudolph Carstanjen never saw the fruit from the building he built in 1901 because he died in 1902 and rests in the Boerne Cemetery.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

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If you think Boerne has grown, the population of Bergheim in 1970 was only 22 souls. The story of our brother city Bergheim, right after this.

Kendall County Roofing

While the intersection of State Highway 46 and FM 3351 is relatively flat, the German name Bergheim means “Mountain Home”. Home in the Hills is more accurate. It was founded by Austrian immigrant Andreas Engel, who came to Texas in 1885 and worked for Casper Sueltenfuss. Andreas built the first cotton gin around 1900, but after the dreaded boll weevil arrived, it evolved into a General Store and Post Office where it remained in the Engel family for 4 generations. They also operated the largest cedar yard in Texas, specializing in fence posts for ranch owners. Today, that building is the Bergheim Meat Market, and the population of Bergheim is closer to 1700.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History, and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

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In 1905 the very first Kendall County Fair happened on Labor Day - Monday, September 4th, except it wasn’t on the fairgrounds you know today. The history of The Kendall County Fair right after this.

Sponsor: Kendall County Roofing

The very first Kendall County Fair took place in 1905 in the Opera House on Main Street - the site of the present-day Black Rifle Coffee. There was no rodeo or rides. It was created to have an annual event to exchange agricultural and livestock ideas, recipes and share news of events. In 1913, the Kendall County Fair Association was formed and was given an offer they couldn’t refuse. The Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff Family would deed 55 acres of their land on present-day River Road. The terms included a clause that forbade the sale of the property. H.O. Adler was the first president, Miss Martha Fabra was the first-lady manager. The only times the Kendall County Fair failed to meet was during World War II… and you remember…in 2020 for the pandemic.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History, and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

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While Boerne is the county seat established in 1849, Kendall County was created 13 years later. But Boerne was not the first settlement in the area…those bragging rights belong to Sisterdale. The story of our sister city right after this.

Sponsor: Kendall County Roofing

Sisterdale was first settled in 1847 when Nicolaus Zink built his cabin in the valley of Sister Creek. It was Comal County then. Zink was a former Bavarian army officer and a civil engineer. He built a fort and laid out the town of New Braunfels, in fact, Zink Street is right above Stinky Falls. Sisterdale was one of the Latin settlements, more free thinkers, also known as Forty-Eighters, fleeing the German State Revolutions of 1848. Other original pioneers in Sisterdale include Fritz and Betty Holekamp, August Siemering, who later founded the San Antonio Express News, and Edgar von Westphalen, whose brother-in-law was Karl Marx.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History, and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

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Boerne Radio Presents Boenre Texas History

When you pull into the right side of WalMart, you see the remains of rock walls, a limestone building, a tower and a house. The story of the original 1280 acre tract right after this.

The Republic of Texas couldn’t pay their volunteer soldiers in cash so instead The Texas General Land Office was created to give men land for fighting at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Surveyor John Small accepted that land in Boerne for his efforts in 1838. Johann Menger was the next owner, and the creekbed remains Menger Creek. He held it until 1850. Dr. William Kingsbury owned it next and named it Molar Ranch as he was a dentist. After Kingsbury died in 1896, the Shumard family took it over, and Malnor Shumard III was born in the ranch house. He died in 1999. When WalMart expanded, they carved out that section and donated it back to Boerne, where the main house became the Boerne Visitors Center.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History, and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

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While it never was incorporated and never had a post office, Texas maps will still recognize Nelson City…the halfway point between Boerne and Comfort—the story of Edwin Nelson and The Po Po Cafe right after this.

Sponsor: Kendall County Roofing

Edwin Nelson was a rancher and dairyman. In 1929, He opened a gas station and built the Nelson Dance Hall. As the nation entered the Great Depression, the dance hall failed and was sold to Edwin Houston, another rancher who exported animals to Latin America. He converted the building into a restaurant and named it Po-Po Cafe after a volcano in Mexico. In 1950, Luther and Marie Burgon took over the family-style restaurant and started decorating the walls with the plates they collected from their travels. Today, as Po Po Family Restaurant nears its 100th anniversary, there are over 2100 plates on the walls generously donated by diners…with another 2000 in storage.

I’m Tom Allred with Boerne Texas History and this is Boerne Radio 103.9FM.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.