Old Post Office - Comfort Historic District - Comfort, TX
Posted by: 
Raven
N 29° 58.003 W 098° 54.442
14R E 508936 N 3315101
Built in 1910, the Old Post Office in Comfort, TX is one of the 100+ contributing buildings in the Comfort Historic District (listing #79002989). It currently houses the "814 A Texas Bistro" food establishment.
Waymark Code: WMRRFE
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/29/2016
Views: 7
Located on 713 High St. in Comfort, TX, the Old Post Office is a small one-story red brick and limestone building erected in 1908 and completed 2 years later. It has a keystone arch above its entrance, double doors flanked by two windows, and is crowned by a brick parapet.
Per a Texas Historical Marker attached to its outside wall: "From 1856, when Comfort's postal station was established, until this building was constructed in 1910, the town's post office was housed in various mercantile stores. In 1910, while Hermann Ingenhuett was serving as postmaster, this building was completed. Designed by noted San Antonio architect Alfred Giles, the renaissance revival style structure exhibits Giles' talent for blending red brick and limestone. It remained in use as a post office until 1952."
Since 1952, the building has served an an apartment as well as several businesses including antique shops and restaurants. It currently houses the
814 A Texas Bistro food establishment, whose name references the old address of this location.
The Old Post Office is one of the 100+ contributing structures in the Comfort Historic District, which was placed on the Registry in 1979 (listing #79002989). Although few specific building details are available on the district's original NRHP records, the district's boundaries were increased in 2004 (listing #79002989) and in that subsequent NRHP submission (see
PDF copy of the original form, page 15), the following entry can be found within the original "1979 Contributing Buildings" records:
* Property #103 -- Old Post Office -- a 1908 [sic!] 1-story brick building with segmental arch above its entrance.
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As for the Comfort Historic District itself (per the
National Park Service): "[It] incorporates much of the town site founded in 1854 when several German immigrant families moved into the area. By 1860, Comfort was a flourishing town with small buildings clustered around two town squares. One of the town squares remains intact today. Many of the buildings display fachwerk--a traditional German building technique associated with Germanic settlements consisting of heavy timber framing and diagonal bracing, with an infill of limestone. Examples of this unique building type can be seen on Main and High streets. The district also includes buildings designed in popular 19th-century architectural styles, including Italianate and Queen Anne. The Civil War era had a tremendous impact on the town of Comfort. Texas' secession and the Civil War created tension for the Germans. The majority of the immigrants abhorred slavery and were opposed to the State's secession from the Union. In 1862, 40 anti-secessionists attempted to join the Union forces, but were attacked by a vastly larger Confederate force and massacred. The majority of the 40 men were from Comfort. In 1865 the remains of the men were brought home to Comfort and in 1866, a monument known as the Treue der Union was erected in their memory."