Home of Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Herff - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The home was built in 1855 by Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Herff. Born and trained in Germany, Dr. Herff developed ingenious techniques early in his career for treatment of tuberculosis and plastic surgery. After emigrating to Texas Herff became the first surgeon in Texas and had a prolonged and esteemed career as a medical pioneer. He had a great deal of experience with battle casualties from his years in the Hessian Army (1843-1847) and then as a Confederate Army surgeon during the Civil War. Herff was known for his scrupulous attention to cleanliness which resulted in low infection rates despite the less-than-ideal circumstances in which he was forced to perform surgeries. Over the years his reputation grew as he performed remarkable medical feats which included the removal of bladder stones from a Texas Ranger (Herff's first use of chloroform); cataract removal resulting in the restoration of eyesight; correction of a depressed skull fracture to alleviate traumatic epilepsy; and expert arrow removal; a gastrostomy on a young person who had ingested lye; and finally, at the age of eighty-four, he operated on his daughter-in-law who had an ectopic pregnancy. For these accomplishments Herff is known as the "Father of Texas hospital care".

Herff died in his home on the river in May, 1912. Herff and several members of his family are buried in San Antonio's City Cemetery #1, 1301 E. Commerce, San Antonio, TX (Section E, Plot 16).

Marker Number: 12345 Marker Text: Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff (1820-1912) was the son of Christian and Eleanora (Von Meusebach) Herff, prominent citizens of Darmstadt, Germany. The younger Von Herff studied in Giessen, Bonn and Berlin, graduating with a medical degree in 1843. He served as a surgeon in the Hessian army, achieving recognition in plastic surgery, cataract extraction and tuberculosis treatment. In 1847 he joined a group known as Die Vierziger (The Forty), who founded an idealistic commune in Texas called Bettina (near present Castell). The utopian enterprise failed within a year, and Von Herff returned to Germany, where he was pressed into military service during the German Revolution. He married Mathilde Klingerhöeffer (1823-1910) in 1849, and they were on the way back to Texas by year's end. The couple dropped the title "Von" from their name when they became American citizens. They lived briefly in New Braunfels, then settled in San Antonio in 1850. Active in city, cultural and medical affairs, Herff was a city alderman from 1850 to 1851. He helped form the Bexar County Medical Society and was a charter member of the Texas Medical Association in 1853. In 1855 he built a home on this site. Herff served as city health officer in 1860. Although he was a Confederate Army surgeon during the Civil War, his Union sympathies were known. In 1869, he was instrumental in founding San Antonio's first infirmary, operated by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Herff served on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners in 1880 and continued his general medical practice until 1908, performing his last surgery at age 87. He died in his home on the river in 1912. (2000)

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