Theis-Bergmann House

Theis-Bergmann House. . , A Well-Trained Mule , Ellen Oelkers, a townsperson, says, “Jacob Theis ran a dairy. He would come to town with his milk can in a two-wheel gig and a well-trained mule. The mule would find the places by himself and would stop long enough for the old gentleman to draw that quart of milk and pour it in a little tin bucket that sat on top of a post. The milk cost a nickel. When Mr. Theis was through pouring the milk he would say ‘git’ and the mule would go on to the next place with out [sic] being driven.” , – M. Cartwright, Note on Newton Alley , Local lore has it that the alley also had another purpose. If there was a fire in town, the bucket brigade would line up along the alley and pass buckets from the river down to wherever the fire was on Main Street., The House Behind the Dry Goods Store , Up Newton Alley is the remaining house of one of Boerne’s founding families, the Theis family. Phillip Jacob Theis, with his wife and children, left Germany for Texas in 1855. He learned how to be a blacksmith in New Braunfels for two years before he started out on his own to set up shop in Boerne. The house was used for storage., The house is constructed by “chink and daubing,” or using mud and clay to pack together reeds and branches into a solid wall similar to a palisade fortification. The wall is slightly thicker on the western side. Surviving examples of palisade-style architecture are rare in Texas., Mr. Jacob Theis’s grandson, Max, remembers, “The old well we had in front of the house was as cold as ice, and all the men that hauled freight through Boerne stopped and filled their canteens from it. It’s now filled in or covered.” , – M. Cartwright, Captions: , Artistic Rendering of the Theis House by Col. Bettie Edmonds , Side View , Entrance and Yard , Two-Wheel Gig , Phillip Jacob Theis Built and Opened His Blacksmith and Wheelwright Shop Here in 1858