Comfort, Texas
Census-designated place in the United States in Kendall County · Not an incorporated municipality
About Comfort
Comfort is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kendall County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Comfort had a population of 2,211. Comfort was founded by German emigrants on the western end of the Texas-German belt. Many residents of the town today are descendants of those same Germans. Comfort is known for its German heritage and large ranches outside of town.
It lies adjacent to the Guadalupe River, and the 1987 Guadalupe River flood killed 10 people being evacuated from a summer camp sited near Comfort, leaving 33 others missing for a time.
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How Comfort is governed
Comfort appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from Kendall County and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Comfort does have local officials.
Form of government not yet listed.
0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.
Residents of Comfort
Registered voters elect the officials below.
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Mayor
Executive
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The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.
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City Manager / Administrator
Executive
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The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).
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Police Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the police department.
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Fire Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the fire and emergency services department.
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Public Works Director
Administration & departments
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Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.
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Finance Director
Administration & departments
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The budget, taxes, and city accounts.
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Planning & Zoning Director
Administration & departments
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Land use, zoning, building permits.
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Parks & Recreation Director
Administration & departments
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Parks, programs, and public facilities.
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City Council
Legislative
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The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.
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City Clerk
Administration & departments
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Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.
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City Attorney
Administration & departments
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The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.
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Boards & Commissions
Legislative
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Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.
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Municipal Court
Judicial
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Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.
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Municipal Judge
Judicial
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Presides over the municipal court.
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Population over time
From 2,363 in 2010 to 2,211 in 2020 (−6.4%).
Show the numbers
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2,211 |
| 2010 | 2,363 |
History
Comfort was established in 1854 by German immigrants, who were Freethinkers and abolitionists. Ernst Hermann Altgelt, at the age of 22, is credited with surveying and measuring the lots that were later sold to the incoming Germans. 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. The first churches were not established in Comfort until 1892. After some controversy, a cenotaph honoring "the Founding Freethinkers" was dedicated on November 2, 2002.
The downtown area is possibly one of the most well-preserved historic business districts in Texas. The well over 100 structures in the area date back to the 19th century, and seven of them were designed by noted architect Alfred Giles. Mr. Giles lived in San Antonio and would ride horses, the stagecoach, and later the train to check his building sites in Comfort. Most of the population today is composed of descendants of those original pioneer families of the 1850s and the 1860s.
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. The German settlers were killed on their way to Mexico during the Civil War. They were attacked by 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.
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, 16 bat roosts had been built in the United States and Europe, of which only two sites now remain — one in Comfort and one in the Florida Keys.
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.
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