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.

813 Clay Street

I have spent quite a bit of time looking for anything about this house at 813 Clay St. About all I have is a photo taken in 1988 that reads  "1988 owner--James R. Murphy,
built ca 1908-1912
Block G lot 5,6,8 [8 is circled] B. F. Cage add.
Grandfather Garrett purchased in 1919 on Govt. Ck.  Only original left on Clay Streeet from Barnett St. Has fish scale dormers.  Had lattice work on porch which has been changed."
What this means is that the house sits on three lots of Block "G" in the B. F. Cage addition to Kerrville. 
I cannot connect anyone surnamed Garrett to this property.
I have poured through old newspapers, census records, and deed books to try and determine who actually built this house and who the earliest owners were. The house could actually be older than indicated above, but who was the first owner? Do any of my loyal readers know more about the property?

ca 1988

Here's what I do know.
At the 1930 census, Kelley S. White rented this house and lived here with his wife Bessie and children Frank, Lena, Dorris, Mavis, Cecil, Gene, and Bessie J.  Kelley and Frank were newspaper printers.
In 1935 K. W. "Boss" Crawford lived here with his wife.
The 1936 city directory shows A. C. Bernhard now owned it. Nine people lived in this house then.
The 1940 census shows that William M. Murphy was now the owner.  The value was $2,500, and he was the owner/operator of a wood yard. Also living in the house were his wife Ella M., and children Annie, Minnie, Jimmy, Pauline, Douglas, and Martha J. The family still owned the property in 1988.
According to her obituary, Ella Murphy was born in Gillespie County and came to Kerrville in 1937. However, the 1940 census indicated she was already living in Kerrville in 1935. Before coming to Kerrville they lived (in 1930) in the Reservation community in west Kerr.  William Murphy died in 1953, his widow in 1973.
This is all fine, but none of it tells me who built the house, or when.  Any help out there?

1013 Main Street

This Victorian house at 1013 Main Street, now home to Creations, a quilters' supply shop, was the home of William Henry and Florence Rawson. Reported to date to 1895, it may be slightly older.
The 1899 sketch below shows a much more heavily decorated house that we have today.
Rawson was a druggist and owner of Rawson Drug Store.  He also served two terms as mayor of Kerrville from 1896-1900.
 

Rawson came to Kerrville in 1890 seeking the same thing that so many early settlers sought--improved health. His health being restored, he opened a pharmacy here. Rawson's Drug Store building on Water Street stands today and is known as the Davis Building. I wrote about it here  http://kerrhistory.blogspot.com/2012/05/davis-building.html

ca 1932

On June 16, 1890, W. H. Rawson purchased 4 building lots from James A. Tivy for $450 ($50 cash, and a $400 note).  Two of those lots were on Main Street, the other two adjoining lots were on Live Oak Street.  The note was paid and the lien released by Tivy on November 12, 1891. The Rawsons probably built the house shortly after that. 

ca 1899

In 1899 the city of Kerrville valued the property at $850; the next year it was valued at $1350. The  most reasonable explanation for the increase is that an addition was put on.
Florence died  in 1914.  W. H. Rawson continued to reside here until he died in April 1931. They are buried at Glen Rest Cemetery.

1100 E. Main Street

ca 1932

Undated early photo, Kerr County Historical Commission collection

This is another nineteenth century house in Kerrville. Are you surprised by how many there are?

In 1891 Mary Virginia Gillespie purchased three lots of land along Main Street from Captain J. A. Tivy for $275, partly in cash, the remainder due later.  The debt was paid off in December 1894. It is probable this folk Victorian was built at that time, and definitely no later than 1898 because in 1899 the house and three lots were assessed at $800 for tax purposes. This may have been an investment property as I can find no record of Miss Gillespie in newspapers, other county records, or census records for Kerr County.

She sold the property in 1901 to Miss Mary E. Parsons.  The property changed hands several times over the next three decades.  By1934, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin H. Keith moved in. He established his cabinet shop at the rear of the property. They were renters for about 10 years, at which point J. R. Burnett sold them the house and land. Ed Keith died in 1950, but his widow, Addie, lived here until her death in 1989.  Today this house is home to professional offices.

Edward Dietert House

This photo was updated April 17, 2016

This folk Victorian home now has the address of 332 Clay Street, and until recently was the Soul Cafe.  In March 2016 the Pint & Plow Brew Pub opened here.  The house sits at the corner of Clay and Jefferson.  I believe it was originally 529 Jefferson Street.  Unlike the Tivy hotel, which was actually rotated on its lot, it appears the house is in its original location.  The front door was moved instead.

In researching this house, the first mention I could find of the 332 Clay address was in a 1963 advertisement for apartments to rent. The fact that I cannot find a mention of this address prior to 1963 would usually suggest that the building wasn't much older than that, but this house is clearly much older.
The 1924 Sanborn map shows a house in this location and with about the same footprint. The address then was 529 Jefferson Street.  A 1930s aerial photo also shows the house.

The January 17, 1974, Kerrville Mountain Sun had a story about James J. Vogel, who was running for Justice of the Peace.  He resided at 332 Clay and had legal offices at 529 Jefferson.  I think it was the same building--just with doors facing different streets.

Based on the evidence, I am certain this was the Edward Dietert house at 529 Jefferson. Edward and Tekla Langbein Dietert arrived in Kerr County from Boerne in 1903 and built a home on the corner of Jefferson and Clay streets the next year.  They lived there the rest of their lives.  Ed Dietert died September 1959, his widow in April of 1960.  They are buried at Glen Rest Cemetery.

Ed Dietert was a rancher on the Divide.  His obituary reported that his family resided in Kerrville so that the children might attend school and the services of their church.  This arrangement was not uncommon at that time.
Also according to his obituary "Cabinetmaking was his hobby, and some of the finest interior work in some of the older homes of the city is his handiwork."  I wonder which houses those are.
Perhaps one of my readers will know.