...original founders settled on “Comfort”—a feeling few of them experienced back in Germany...
The beginnings of Comfort
The town was laid out by Ernst Hermann Altgelt along the banks of the Cypress Creek above its confluence with the Guadalupe River. Freemasons, freethinkers, and political activists from Bettina and Sisterdale settled the area. The town was a center of Union sentiment during the Civil War and lost many young men at the battle of the Nueces in 1862.
After briefly considering naming the town “Gemütlichkeit,” the original founders settled on “Comfort”—a feeling few of them experienced back in Germany.
This beautiful little town is like a time capsule of Central Texas German immigrant history. In 1852, a group of German “freethinkers” settled along the banks of Cypress Creek.
Today, most of downtown is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and some properties have remained in the same families for generations.
Several historical sites in downtown Comfort comprise a fascinating walking tour that showcases the town’s German heritage, including the Freethinkers Memorial Monument on High Street; a bust of Ernst Altgelt in the Comfort Park; the 1892 German Evangelical Church; the 1880 Ingenheutt Faust Hotel and homestead; and the 1854 Faltin House. See less
