Boerne Dam

Boerne Dam. . , First Business in Boerne , The first business in Boerne used the natural resource of Cibolo Creek. In 1854, William Dietert left Germany, where his family had been millwrights for generations, and sailed for Texas aboard the Franziska. That same year, he built a gristmill and dam on the Cibolo. The hard-working Dietert family later built dams and gristmills in Comfort, Fredericksburg, and Kerrville., Did You Know? , A gristmill is a mill where water provides power to grind grains, such as wheat into flour., William Dietert’s House , Near the dam is William Dietert’s original house at 604 E. River Road, built in 1860. Although it is now a commercial building, you can still see signs of its age in the stonework and the building’s compact form. It is one of Boerne’s earliest buildings and has served many purposes over the years, including as a tavern and residence while the gristmill was in service. It has undergone many changes and uses but was restored closer to its original form a few decades ago., Captions: , Artistic Conception of William Dietert’s Gristmill , William Dietert’s House, 1984 , Old Dam Originally Built by William Dietert in 1856, circa 1900 , New Dam Built in Early 1910s, image circa 1920