Comfort: August Faltin Building and Homestead

Comfort: August Faltin Building And Homestead

Large, two storey house with wrap around porches
Two storey commercial building with covered second floor balcony and groups of people in front of store and on balcony. Building header says August Faltin, 1879
Portrait of Frederick August Faltin and wife Clara Below Faltin about 1865
Large, two storey commercial building next to a stuccoed rock home labeled “Moline Wagons”. Home has a covered porch and picket fence; people on horseback and in horse-drawn carts in front of store
Detail of home without stucco showing fachwerk, or half timbering, and stone construction
Large group of people of several generations posing for a photo about 1890
Department store interior showing sales staff plus gear for horses, china, and canned goods for sale and a large sign saying Chase and Sanborn’s teas and Coffees
Department store interior with sales staff showing fabric, hats, and other dry goods for sale

Driving into Comfort along Highway 27 from Kerr County, the two-story home with wraparound balconies and gingerbread ornamentation is an imposing sight. Its builder – Prussian-born August Faltin –came to Comfort in 1856 to open his own shop.

Downtown, Faltin’s general store and residence, built in 1879, came to represent Comfort’s early commercial growth. Next door, the Faltins’ log cabin is a well-preserved example of an early German fachwerk style. But their 1894tan brick Victorian on the outskirts of town was described at the turn of the century as “one of the most luxurious and complete family residences in that section of the country.”