Henry Noll Homestead

This antique house is currently for sale and needs loving restoration. I hope a buyer will be found who values it for its history and architecture.
NOTE:  This is not my home. I just like this house, plus its history and architecture are similar to my home's.
NOTE: 22 Aug 2017: This house has a new owner who plans to restore it.

This graceful 19th century Victorian home is the Henry Noll homestead.  Originally located at 909 Water Street, at the foot of Washington Street in Kerrville, it now sits atop Deer Park Lane about four miles south of town.  It was moved to its current location in 1983, one of many homes in Kerr County that have been saved by relocation.

This house appears on the first Sanborn Fire Insurance map for Kerrville, drawn in 1898, so we know for certain it is at least 120 years old. I believe it is older--perhaps a dozen years older. I have attached links to the 1898 and 1930 maps.
You will also see the 1898 and 1930 house footprints on this page.

On November 2, 1888, Christian Dietert sold a lot of land to Henry Noll for $300.  Other lots of land nearby were selling for about $100, so either there was already a house on the lot, or Noll paid a premium for the location on the river. If indeed there was a house on the property, Christian Dietert MAY have built it. He operated a grist mill and saw mill next door.

1898 footprint

Henry Noll operated a general store on Water Street near his home.

After he passed away in 1926 his son, Henry Noll, Jr. gave this house and the lot it sat on to his sister Elisabeth Johnston, who was married to Charles H. Johnston. He died in 1930.
Their son Charles H. Johnston, Jr. married Josphine Fawcett on September 8, 1936.  Surrounded by commercial creep, they moved to 345 West Water Street in 1939.  The Water Street location must have been lovely once. I found this comment in the March 23, 1939, Kerrville Mountain Sun, "Wouldn't you just love to have a bedroom like the one in the old Johnston home on Water Street, where the plum trees in full blossom completely surround the bay windows." You can see the bay window in the photo above.

1930 footprint

In May 1941 Charles A. and Mary Reiter bought the property from the Johnstons and lived here until at least 1977. It was convenient to their auto sales and service business next door.  By 1980 it sat vacant along with two neighboring properties owned by Notre Dame Catholic Church and was moved in 1983. Today 909 Water Street is a parking lot.  I am so grateful though that someone found this house worth saving.

Looking East

Something a little different today--a rooftop view looking east away from downtown across Washington Street.
This is a newspaper clipping from 1956.  The photo was taken from the Blue Bonnet Hotel on Water Street. The Catholic church is in the middle on the left. There is a building next to it with three garage bays.  I have been told that at this time the priest lived in a second story apartment over the garage. Also visible are the convent and Notre Dame School. In the far background you can see Tivy High School.
In the foreground is a building with a long roof.  In 1956 this was used by the Kerrville Bakery. The front part is the remnant of the old Dixie Theater.  Next to it, on the corner, is the H. Noll Building, which in 1956 was the Harris-Darby Appliance Company "Your Firestore Store".  You could shop, quite conveniently, for other goods while your auto was being serviced.

UPDATE  and correction from fellow history buff Bryant Saner who attended Notre Dame School 1955-1961:  This former student says that while the building with the three garage bays was for the priest, he didn't live upstairs.  It seems the upstairs of this building was a meeting room and cafeteria for the school.  The priest lived and had offices behind the garage.
And for clarification, the large rambling 3-story building at the upper right of the photo was the convent.  The school sat between the convent and the rectory.