Completed in 1907 for Jacob “Jake” Stahl (b. July 15, 1885), this late-Victorian/early-20th-century Queen Anne residence is documented in Texas photo archives and is located at 206 St. Francis Street. A 1975 Texas Historical Commission field photograph identifies the property as the “Jake Stahl House” and notes its original town-lot reference (Block 9, Lot 1).
People and context.
Jake was a son of Solomon and Henrietta “Yetta” (Wolfe) Stahl, a merchant family active in Gonzales commerce from the 1880s. Local Jewish-community histories credit Solomon with broad investments (hotel, café, saloons, utilities, and produce trading) that helped seed later family enterprises. Jake entered the produce and hides trade at fourteen with his brother David, and together they operated Stahl Brothers’ Store, dealing in dry/green hides, furs, poultry, eggs, and groceries. Family accounts also tie the Stahls to cotton buying and to one of the region’s largest early turkey and poultry operations.
Jake married Selma Bath of Marshall, Texas—daughter of Morris and Charlotte Herschfeld Bath, German immigrants—on June 17, 1906, in Gonzales. A compiled index of Gonzales Inquirer items also notes the couple in 1909, likely a later social mention. Selma’s memorial confirms her Dec. 31, 1885 birth at Marshall and her Feb. 22, 1949 death in Gonzales.
House history
A printed local history booklet records that in 1905 the Stahl brothers purchased the house lots on St. Francis and that Jake completed the residence in 1907, where he and Selma lived the rest of their lives. A Texas archive photograph taken in 1975 corroborates the “Jake Stahl House” identification.