Jakob (Jacob) Brodbeck

Before the airship, Brodbeck built a teaching life. Trained at a seminary in Esslingen, he sailed for Texas with his brother George in August 1846 and reached Fredericksburg in March 1847, where he replaced Johann Leyendecker as the second teacher at the Vereins Kirche. He later taught at the Grape Creek school, became a citizen in 1852 and in 1858 married a former Grape Creek pupil, Maria Christine Sophie Behrens; they had twelve children. In 1869 he designed an ice-making machine. Backers of his airship included Dr. Ferdinand Herff, H. Guenther and A. W. Engel.

What the plaque says

Jakob (Jacob) Brodbeck Teacher and inventor Jakob Brodbeck (1821-1910) conceived the idea of building an airship while sailing to the U.S. In 1846. Born and educated as a teacher in Plattenhardt, Germany, he began teaching in the kingdom of Württemberg, where he worked on a perpetual motion clock for the king and tried to improve everyday living with labor-saving inventions. Widespread warfare in Europe prompted Jakob (later Jacob) and his brother, Johann Georg, to immigrate to Texas. Brodbeck taught in Fredericksburg, Castell and Luckenbach, and in 1858 wed Christina Behrens. He never forgot his airship idea, and eventually moved to San Antonio, where he took a teaching job to fund his project. He demonstrated a model of his airship to the public to raise funds and sell shares to investors. Despite skepticism, he raised enough to finish his work. Shortly after the Civil Car, a crowd gathered north of San Antonio to watch his first test flight. After a successful takeoff, the coil spring power mechanism failed and he suffered minor injuries. He continued to teach while repairing his airship in preparation for a second attempt, but the power mechanism once again failed. Despite further fundraising, he never rebuilt his flying machine. Brodbeck's real success was as an educator and public servant. While inspiring students with his inventive ideas, he also served as Bexar County school inspector, and Gillespie County surveyor and commissioner. He died in 1910 and was laid to rest in the family cemetery in Luckenbach. In 1967, Texas governor John Connally named him "the father of U.S. Aviation." (2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Luckenbach — 2.3 mi
  A store, saloon and dance hall on Grape Creek that a humorist bought in 1971, declared a free state of mind, and turned into a pilgrimage for Texas music.
• Old Tunnel State Park — 6.1 mi
  A railroad tunnel abandoned in 1942 that now shelters up to three million Mexican free-tailed bats, who fly out each evening from May through October.
• Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site — 8.9 mi
  A state park on the Pedernales opposite the LBJ Ranch, with a working Texas-German farm kept as it was around the First World War and the permit desk for the ranch tour.
• Fort Martin Scott — 9.5 mi
  An army post of 1848 on Barons Creek beside the German town, where soldiers kept the peace of a Comanche trade and paid the merchants in hard cash.

More markers nearby

• Engel Family — 2.4 mi
• Texas Ranger General E. Kirby Smith, C.S.A. — 5.1 mi
• Ferdinand Hohenberger Farmstead — 5.3 mi
• Tunnel of the Fredericksburg & Northern Railway — 6.1 mi