Comfort Historic District (Boundary Increase)

The Comfort Historic District was listed in the National Register in 1979 as an architecturally cohesive group of commercial and residential buildings. Comfort is a well-preserved German immigrant community in the Texas Hill Country displaying a high concentration of buildings that reflect the growth and development of the unincorporated rural settlement from its founding in 1854 through the early 1950s. The boundary of the historic district is being increased to include over 170 additional properties, including 19th and 20th-century houses, commercial and institutional buildings, and functionally related complexes. The period of significance (not specified in the original nomination) spans from c.1854 through 1954. When the nomination was prepared in the late 1970s, buildings built after 1929 were not considered historic and were therefore only noted as "noncontributing," or "compatible." From 2000 through 2002, the entire district was surveyed to determine the contributing or noncontributing status of all properties. Survey sheets for each building are on file with the Texas Historical Commission. This nomination amendment documents the history of the district from the 1930s to the present to justify a period of significance extending to 1954. This nomination also serves to increase the physical boundaries of the district, based on the findings of the 2000-02 survey. The new boundary areas include commercial, domestic, industrial, and institutional properties, and are to the immediate north, east, south, and west of the current district.

The Comfort Historic District encompasses the most intact 19th and 20th-century residential and commercial sections of the community. Buildings in the district reflect a change in the community through different building forms and styles, using a wide range of materials, from log cabins, fachwerk, and stone vernacular buildings, to late 19th and 20th century buildings reflecting Gothic, Queen Anne, Colonial, and Victorian, Spanish and Ranch Style influences. The arrival of the railroad and State Hwy 27 led to Comfort's growth as a regional trade area for agricultural products. Out lots became too small to successfully produce these products so the owners of the out lots sold them for larger tracts of land outside of Comfort, still maintaining their homes on these out lots. In time out lots were then subdivided into town lot tracts and many bungalow-style residences were put in by the new owners. Many of the homes were built by the new owners with the help of their friends and relatives mainly in the 'flat' area of Comfort. Alfred Giles famous for his rock structures, influenced other citizens to go into business on their own like Otto Bartel, Otto Meyer, Henry and Charles Seidensticker. Most of the homes have not been altered or moved. The district is nominated at the local level of significance in the area of Community Planning and Development and Architecture.