City of Horseshoe Bay history officially has home: Conrad Fuchs House
Lew K. Cohn/The Highlander
One of the oldest structures in Horseshoe Bay, the Conrad Fuchs House, circa 1870, is formally presented to the city Tuesday, July 18. Ron Lynn Mitchel, Horseshoe Bay Resort vice chairman, president and CEO, center, here with Mike Brittain of the Horseshoe Bay Property Owners Association, left, has just placed the deed and the keys to the historic home in the hands of Mayor Steve Jordan, right. See images of the home on Facebook page of The-Highlander.
By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor
The Highlander
One of Horseshoe Bay's oldest structures now belongs to the City of Horseshoe Bay after the Horseshoe Bay Resort handed over the deed and the keys to the historic Fuchs House at Tuesday's regular council meeting.
Ron Lynn Mitchell, vice chairman, president and CEO of Horseshoe Bay Resort, presented the deed to the house — which was built in the 19th century — as well as the 2.76-acre tract of land it sits on to Horseshoe Bay mayor Steve Jordan and Fuchs House Advisory Committee member Mike Widler.
“It is our hope that the city will restore the structure to its former glory and it will be used for how the council sees fit,” Mitchell said of the building, which was built by Conrad and Anna Fuchs in the late 1870s or early 1880s.
“This is a great day that has been about five years in the making,” Jordan said. “We don't have many historic structures in Horseshoe Bay, but this is certainly one of them.
“The LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority) will be issuing grants soon for projects like this and I want to see us work diligently to get a grant request in for $25,000 with a 20 percent match. The council has to approve this first, but if we could get a grant like this, it would get us off to a good start in restoring the Fuchs' House.”
German natives Conrad Fuchs and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adolf Fuchs, moved to Burnet County in 1853. Conrad married Anna Perlitz in Fayette County in 1861 and moved into a log cabin on the Fuchs property, which was granted to him by the state of Texas on May 15, 1862. After the Civil War, Conrad Fuchs built a steam grist and saw mill on nearby Tiger Creek and when the Tiger Mill post office opened on Sept. 2, 1872, Conrad Fuchs was named postmaster.
He built his house to accommodate the post office as well as a growing family of six children. Built of field stone in the pioneer German style, the hosue boasted a large central hall, shingled roof and plastered interior. Anna Fuchs taught area school children in the home as well.
After Conrad Fuchs death on Feb. 16, 1898, Anna Fuchs sold the property and it eventually was restoried in 1972-1973, when it was used as a museum until it was purchased by the Horseshoe Bay Resort, which intended to open an overnight children's camp on the property. However, because the property was outside the main resort footprint, it was never developed as such.
On Oct. 15, 2013, the Horseshoe Bay City Council established the Fuchs House Advisory Committee to act as an advisory committee in the development, supervision, and administration of the affairs of the Fuchs House and property. Current members of the committee include chair Francie Dix, Donna Bateman, Virginia Roberts and Widler.
