Editing Comfort, Texas (section)

==History==
[[File:Comfort (TX) State Bank IMG 0355.JPG|thumb|Former Comfort State Bank, now the Comfort Heritage Foundation]]
[[File:Comfort, TX, Town Square at Christmas IMG 0353.JPG|thumb|The town square at Christmas]]
[[File:Gazebo for albert steves 2013.jpg|thumb|Gazebo for Albert Steves designed by [[Dionicio Rodriguez]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Details - Gazebo for Albert Steves - Atlas Number 2004001171 - Atlas: Texas Historical Commission |url=https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/2004001171 |website=atlas.thc.state.tx.us |access-date=11 October 2022}}</ref>]]

Comfort was established in 1854 by [[Germany|German]] immigrants, who were [[Freethinkers]] and [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Friedenker|url=http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/viewform.asp?atlas_num=5259011673&site_name=Freidenker+%28Nineteenth+Century+Freethinkers%29&class=5000|publisher=Texas Historical Commission|access-date=11 January 2012}}</ref> Ernst Hermann Altgelt, at the age of 22, is credited with surveying and measuring the lots that would later be sold to the incoming German immigrants.<ref>{{cite web|last=Everett|first=Donald E|title=Altgelt, Ernst Hermann |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fal57|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=19 June 2019}}</ref> He stayed and married Emma (Murck) Altgelt, and they raised their nine children in the township of Comfort. Fritz and [[Betty Holekamp]] built the first house in Comfort, having started construction before Comfort's official founding on September 3, 1854.<ref>Stewart, Anne and Mike; ''Ernst Hermann Altgelt: Founder of Comfort, Texas''; 2010</ref> The first churches were not established in Comfort until 1892.<ref name="Comfort, Texas">{{cite web |last=Lich |first=Glen E. |title=Comfort, Texas |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hjc16 |work=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=17 November 2010}}</ref> After some controversy, a cenotaph honoring "the Founding Freethinkers" was dedicated on November 2, 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Comfort Freethought Cenotaph Dedication |url=http://ffrf.org/legacy/fttoday/2002/dec02/fisher.php |work=Freethought Today |publisher=Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. |access-date=10 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226110317/http://www.ffrf.org/legacy/fttoday/2002/dec02/fisher.php |archive-date=26 December 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Comfort Historic District|downtown area]] is possibly one of the most well-preserved historic business districts in Texas. There are well over 100 structures in the area dating back to the 19th century, and seven of them were designed by the noted architect [[Alfred Giles (architect)|Alfred Giles]].<ref>{{cite web0\
title=Alfred Giles|last=George|first=Mary Carolyn Hollers|title=Giles, Alfred|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> Mr. Giles lived in San Antonio, and he would ride horses, the stagecoach, and later the train to check his building sites in Comfort.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cannon |first=Bill |title=Texas: Land of Legend and Lore |year=2004 |publisher=Republic of Texas |isbn=978-1-55622-949-7 |pages=27–29}}</ref> Most of the population today is composed of descendants of those original pioneer families of the 1850s and the 1860s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sharpe|first=Patricia|title=The Perfect Texas Hill County Weekend|journal=Texas Monthly|page=117|date=June 1989}}</ref>

Comfort is also known for a tragic event that took place during the [[American Civil War]]. The [[Treue der Union Monument]] ("Loyalty to the Union") was dedicated in honor of 35 men who died at the [[Battle of the Nueces]], which took place because they opposed the state's secession from the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. The German settlers were killed on their way to [[Mexico]] during the Civil War. They were attacked by [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] forces near [[Brackettville]] on August 10, 1862. The bodies were not buried, and the bones were retrieved and placed here in 1865. The monument was erected in 1866.<ref>{{cite web |title=Treue der Union Monument |url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasHistory/Treue-Der-Union-Loyalty-to-the-Union.htm |publisher=Blueprints for Travel, LLC |access-date=17 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=List of Dead-Treue Der Union Monument|url=http://www.txgenweb2.org/txkendall/treue.htm|publisher=Texas Gen Web|access-date=17 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226175800/http://www.txgenweb2.org/txkendall/treue.htm|archive-date=26 February 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 1918, Albert Steves erected a [[Hygieostatic Bat Roost]] on his family farm in Comfort. This roost was built to attract bats in an effort to control mosquito populations by natural means. It was originally researched and developed by Dr. Charles Agustus Rosenheimer Campbell of San Antonio. The idea was to use bats against [[malaria]]-carrying mosquitos. At one time, there were sixteen [[bat roost]]s built in the United States and Europe, of which only two sites now remain — one in Comfort and one in the [[Florida Keys]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rosenzweig|first=Michael L|title=Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth's Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-515604-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/winwinecologyhow00rose_0/page/80 80]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/winwinecologyhow00rose_0/page/80}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comfort-texas.com/HistoryCC.htm |title=Comfort History |access-date=2008-08-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060531231950/http://www.comfort-texas.com/HistoryCC.htm |archive-date=2006-05-31 }}</ref>

===Darmstadt Society of Forty===
Some of the early settlers in Comfort migrated from the collapsed [[Fisher–Miller Land Grant]] experimental colonies of the Darmstadt Society of Forty.{{further|List of Darmstadt Society of Forty members}}