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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.