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SISTERDALE, TEXAS


Kendall County, Texas Hill Country

29° 58' 23" N, 98° 43' 15" W (29.973056, -98.720833)

FM 1376 and FM 473
13 miles N of Boerne the county seat
13 miles E of Comfort
32 miles E of Kerrville
SE of Fredericksburg
Population: 110 (2010)
25 (2000) 60 (1990)

Sisterdale Area Hotels
Boerne Hotels | Fredericksburg Hotels

Sisterdale Tx Dam On Sister Creek
The dam on Sister Creek
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007

History in a Pecan Shell

Nicolaus Zink, the man who surveyed New Braunfels for Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels is credited with founding the town. The name comes from Sister Creek. The tiny population grew with the arrival of "Forty-Eighters" - dissidents (many of them intellectuals) leaving Europe after a failed revolution.

Frederick Law Olmsted (noted landscape architect and creator of NYC's Central Park) visited Sisterdale on his cross-country trip. Sisterdale was granted a post office in 1851.

The community was open on its anti-slavery and pro-Union policies - it's relative isolation probably protecting it from Confederate reprisals. When the war was over, Sisterdale lived in blissful tranquility - its population comprised of an estimated 150 people (1884).

Sisterdale had a store, gin and a factory for making Cypress shingles - an important industry at that time.

In 1914 there were only 25 residents which doubled by the mid-20s. In 1968 the estimate was sixty-three - the same number that appears on the 2010 state map.

Sisterdale Landmarks - Photo Gallery:


Sisterdale, Texas old stone school house
Former Sisterdale Schoolhouse
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007

More Texas Schoolhouses | Texas Towns


Sisterdale Tx Schoolhouse Hand Water Pump
Schoolhouse hand water pump
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007


Sisterdale Tx  1885 Cotton Gin Winery
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007


Sisterdale, Texas 1885 cotton gin
The 1885 Sisterdale Cotton Gin.
TE photo, 2002

See Cotton | Cotton Gins | Texas Towns


Sisterdale Tx Closed House
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007


Sisterdale Tx Closed Garage
A closed garage.
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007


Sisterdale Tx Shed
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007


Sisterdale Tx Closed Building
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007


Sisterdale Tx Cemetery
Sisterdale Cemetery
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007

More Texas Cemeteries


Sisterdale, Texas stone school house
The schoolhouse in 2002
TE Photo


TX - Sisterdale Dancehall  sign
Sisterdale Dancehall
Photo courtesy Michael Barr August 2016

Sisterdale Chronicles

  • Sophisticated Sisterdale by Michael Barr

    "The earliest settlers in Sisterdale drank fine wine from tinkling glasses. They listened to Mozart played on the piano in the library lined with classical literature. Their lively after dinner conversation, mostly in Latin, turned to Voltaire, Kant, Goethe, and Hegel.

    The scene was surreal and without parallel on the Texas frontier where most settlers lived a dark, meager existence...." more

  • August Seimering and the Forty-Eighters by Michael Barr


  • "... The Forty-Eighters supported the democratic revolution that swept across Europe in the 1840s. But the revolution failed, leaving the Forty-Eighters between a rock and a hard place.

    About 4,000 Forty-Eighters came to the United States. About 100 came to Texas. Most of them, including August Siemering, settled in Sisterdale.

    Joining him were such notables as Otto von Behr - the son of a German prime minister, Carl Daniel Adolph Douai - the man who introduced the kindergarten system to the U.S. and Edgar Gerhard Julius Ludwig von Westphalen - the son of a Prussian Baron and Karl Marx's brother-in-law...." more

    TX Kendall  County 1907 Postal Map
    Kendall County 1907 postal map showing Sisterdale
    From Texas state map #2090
    Courtesy Texas General Land Office

    Take a road trip
    Texas Hill Country

    Sisterdale, Texas Nearby Towns:
    Boerne the county seat
    Comfort | Fredericksburg
    See Kendall County

    Book Hotel Here:
    Boerne Hotels | Fredericksburg Hotels | More Hotels
    Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact us.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     


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