Progressive Farmer rated Kendall County fifth in its list of the "Best Places to Live in Rural America" in 2006.
Kendall, along with Hays and Comal Counties, was listed in 2017 of the nation's 10 fastest-growing large counties with a population of at least 10,000. From 2015 to 2016, Kendall County, the second-fastest-growing county in the nation, grew by 5.16%, gaining 2,088 people in a one-year period.[3][4]
April 20 – Adelsverein[7] organized in Germany to promote emigration to Texas.
June 7 – Fisher-Miller Land Grant set aside 3,000,000 acres (1.2×1010 m2) to settle 600 families and single men of German, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestry in Texas.[8]
Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels secured title to 1,265 acres (5.12 km2) of the Veramendi grant, including the Comal Springs and River, for the Adelsverein.
February – Thousands of German immigrants were stranded at port of disembarkation Indianaola on Matagorda Bay. With no food or shelters, living in holes dug into the ground, an estimated 50% died from disease or starvation. The living began to walk to their destinations hundreds of miles away.[9][10]
May 14–15, San Antonio – The Texas State Convention of Germans adopted a political, social, and religious platform, including: 1) Equal pay for equal work; 2) Direct election of the President of the United States; 3) Abolition of capital punishment; 4) "Slavery is an evil, the abolition of which is a requirement of democratic principles.."; 5) Free schools – including universities – supported by the state, without religious influence; and 6) Total separation of church and state.[14]
Kendall County was established from Kerr and Blanco Counties, named for journalist George Wilkins Kendall. Boerne was made the county seat.
The Union League formed companies to protect the frontier against Indians and their families against local Confederate forces. Conscientious objectors to the military draft were primarily among Tejanos and Germans.
May 30 – Confederate authorities imposed martial law on Central Texas.
August 10 – The Nueces massacre occurred in Kinney County. Jacob Kuechler served as a guide for 61 conscientious objectors attempting to flee to Mexico. Scottish-born Confederate irregular James Duff and his Duff’s Partisan Rangers pursued and overtook them at the Nueces River, 34 were killed, some executed after being taken prisoner. Jacob Kuechler survived the battle. The cruelty shocked the people of Gillespie County; 2,000 took to the hills to escape Duff's reign of terror.[18]
Spring Creek Cemetery near Harper in Gillespie County has a singular grave with the names Sebird Henderson, Hiram Nelson, Gus Tegener, and Frank Scott. The inscription reads "Hanged and thrown in Spring Creek by Col. James Duff’s Confederate Regiment."[19]
1866 Samuel Boyd Patton was elected chief justice after his home became part of Kendall County which had been Blanco County.
1866, August 10 – Treue der Union Monument ("Loyalty to the Union") in Comfort dedicated to the German Texans slain at the Nueces massacre. It is one of only six such sites allowed to fly the United States flag at half-mast in perpetuity.[20][21]
1870 The original Kendall County limestone courthouse was built (Italianate architecture), with architects Philip Zoeller and J. F. Stendebach.[22]
1897, May 27 – John O. Meusebach died at his farm at Loyal Valley in Mason County, and was buried in the Marschall Meusebach Cemetery at Cherry Spring.
1900–present
1900 Kendall County had 542 farms. Area under cultivation had risen from 153,921 acres (622.90 km2) in 1880 to 339,653 acres (1,374.53 km2). Stockraising was still the principal industry.
1905 Citizens of Boerne gathered to share agricultural information, recipes, and news of events. This later became the annual Kendall County Fair.[28]
1913 The Kendall County Fair Association was organized and was awarded a nonprofit corporate charter from the State of Texas.[28]
1918 A hygieostatic bat roost house was built in Comfort to attract bats to eradicate mosquitoes and reduce the spread of malaria. It was designed for former San Antonio Mayor Albert Steves Sr., by bat authority Dr. Charles A. R. Campbell.[29]
1988 The Federal Republic of Germany recognized the Boerne Village Band for its contribution to the German heritage in Texas and America.[31]
1990, Earth Day – Cibolo Nature Center opened to the public.[32]
1991 The Texas Legislature adopted a resolution recognizing the Boerne Village Band for "keeping alive German music as a part of our heritage."
1998 The current Kendall County limestone, steel, and concrete courthouse was built in Boerne, across the street from the original 1870 courthouse with architect Rehler Vaughn & Koone, Inc.
2005 Kendall County celebrated its 100th anniversary of the Kendall County Fair. The Kendall County Fair Association continues to produce one of the few remaining entirely privately funded county fairs in Texas.
2013 The Kendall County Fair Association, Inc. celebrated its 100th year of existence.
2015 Kendall County declared a state of emergency from May flooding.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 663 square miles (1,720 km2), of which 662 square miles (1,710 km2) are land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2) (0.09%) is covered by water.[33]
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.
As of the census[38] of 2010, 33,410 people, 8,613 households, and 6,692 families resided in the county. The population density was 36 people per square mile (14 people/km2). The 9,609 housing units averaged 14 units per square mile (5.4/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 92.86% White, 0.56% Native American, 0.35% African American, 0.23% Asian, 4.46% from other races, and 1.55% from two or more races. About 17.89% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 8,613 households, 36.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.20% were married couples living together, 7.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.30% were not families. About 19.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the county, the population was distributed as 27.20% under the age of 18, 6.10% from 18 to 24, 26.40% from 25 to 44, 26.40% from 45 to 64, and 13.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.40 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $49,521, and for a family was $58,081. Males had a median income of $39,697 versus $28,807 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,619. About 7.90% of families and 10.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.60% of those under age 18 and 9.40% of those age 65 or over.
Kendall County constitutes an anomaly in Texas politics, due to it being a historically Republican county in a state that was overwhelmingly Democratic at the presidential level until the 1950s. This is largely due to the heavily German American heritage of the county and that the area Kendall County occupies was the center of Texas’ small Unionist movement during the Civil War. Most Texas Germans acquiesced to secession, but Fredericksburg and surrounding areas were still self-sufficient and sold surplus food to the army.[39] No Democratic presidential nominee has carried Kendall County since Franklin D. Roosevelt won 88% of Texas’ vote and carried all 254 counties in 1932, though his performance is particularly impressive seeing as how he won the county by almost 50 points despite the county's long-standing Republican favoritism. In 1936, when Roosevelt won over 87% of Texas’ vote, Alf Landon carried Kendall County with over 62% of the vote, making Kendall County the nation's southernmost county to vote for Landon. Since then, only Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Jimmy Carter in 1976 have managed over 30% for the Democratic Party in Kendall County.
United States presidential election results for Kendall County, Texas[40]
Count Castell[43] of the Adelsverein negotiated with the separate Darmstadt Society of Forty to colonize two hundred families on the Fisher–Miller Land Grant territory in Texas. In return, they were to receive $12,000 in money, livestock, equipment and provisions for a year. After the first year, the colonies were expected to support themselves.[44] The colonies attempted were Castell,[45] Leiningen, Bettina,[46] Schoenburg and Meerholz in Llano County; Darmstädler Farm in Comal County; and Tusculum in Kendall County.[47] Of these, only Castell survives. The colonies failed after the Adelsverein funding expired, and also due to conflict of structure and authorities. Some members moved to other Adelsverein settlements in Texas. Others moved elsewhere, or returned to Germany.
^"Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^Zeke MacCormack, "Folks flocking to area counties: Kendall, Comal, and Hays are on the top 10 list", San Antonio Express-News, March 24, 2017, pp. 1, A11.
^Brister, Louis E. "Adelsverein". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^Ramos, Mary G. "German Settlements of Texas". Texas Almanac. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on February 7, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^"Indianola, Texas". Blueprints For Travel, LLC. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^Smith, Cornelia Marshall; Tetzlaff, Otto W. "Meusebach, John O". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^"Kendall County Courthouse". Texas Escapes. Texas Escapes – Blueprints For Travel, LLC. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^"Bergheim". Texas Escapes. Texas Escapes – Blueprints For Travel, LLC. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^"Sisterdale". Texas Escapes. Texas Escapes – Blueprints For Travel, LLC. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^"Boerne History". Boerne Convention and Visitors Bureau. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
^Bünger, Walter L.; ‘Secession and the Texas German Community: Editor Lindheimer vs. Editor Flake’; The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 82, No. 4 (Apr., 1979), pp. 379-402
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