Joseph Klein House
The Joseph Klein house is located on Lot 96, New City Block 2003, at 135 Market Street, New Braunfels, Texas. Although the American Legion Auxiliary, Comal Unit 179, has published a booklet that stated (1976) categorically that "The Joseph Klein House ... was built in 1852 , there does not seem to be any contemporaneous evidence from the 1850s to support this contention, other than circumstantial evidence.
Circumstantial evidence does, however, point to 1852 as the construction date. Klein used his Lot 96 property as collateral for a loan of one hundred dollars borrowed from Andreas Geibel on January 1, 1852. While no release of that mortgage seems to have been recorded, it would appear that a release was effected. Then on February 4, 1853, Joseph Klein -- joined by his brother Valentin -- used the Lot 96 property as collateral for a loan of three hundred dollars borrowed from the 53-year-old Emigration Comp-any naturalist Otto Friedrich. Valentin Klein's joining with Joseph in pledging the property, plus the increased valuation of the lot, would indicate that within the past thirteen months some improvement, such as the dwelling house, had been placed on the property. Valentin Klein may have helped Joseph build his house and thus have acquired a mechanic's lien interest in the property by the time of the 1853 mortgage.
