Ruth Kiel

Comfort Ruth Kiel

Ernst Altgelt and people from what is now Germany founded Comfort in 1854 in the Guadalupe Valley of the Texas Hill Country. When the Civil War began, many of these freethinking people opposed secession. Some attempted to go to Mexico and were surprised by Confederates near the Nueces River. A few Unionists escaped; some were killed, and others were wounded and later killed. In 1865, friends and relatives retrieved their remains, and they now lie under the Treue der Union Monument. The first school was built in 1856, but not until 1892 did Comfort build a church. Charles Apelt created the Armadillo Farm, which made lamps, purses, and baskets from armadillo shells. Today descendants of original settlers live on family ranches and in houses built by their ancestors. Comfort is unincorporated to this day, and it retains a sense of its freethinking independence.