Old Cherry Spring School (Das Alte Schulhaus)

Dietrich Rode and William Kothe settled Cherry Spring after leaving Fredericksburg in search of land; some sources say Rode had built a small Lutheran church there in 1849. William Marschall, Conrad Ahrens, Ludwig Spaeth and Adam Schneider came later, and many early settlers raised sheep. On the San Antonio-El Paso route, it prospered modestly as a commercial center. Its post office opened in 1858, and by 1860 it had 202 people, 142 with German surnames. The post office closed in 1912, and the population fell to nine by 1964 before reaching seventy-five by 1970.

What the plaque says

Old Cherry Spring School (Das Alte Schulhaus) The Cherry Spring community was founded by German immigrants about 1850. Classes for schoolchildren originally were held in private homes. In 1859 German nobleman Wilhelm Marschall Von Bieberstein deeded ten acres of land to L. Schneider, H. Bradhering, W. Kothe, C. Ahrens, C. Kothe, and F. Doering for construction of a schoolhouse. Classes were held in the original part of this building from 1860 through 1878. the schoolhouse later was used for church services and was the site of the formal organization of Christ Lutheran Church in 1905. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area — 9.5 mi
  A dome of pink granite north of Fredericksburg that rises some 385 feet above Sandy Creek, creaks as it cools at night, and has drawn people for thousands of years.
• Vereins Kirche and Main Street — 16 mi
  The octagonal Society Church on Fredericksburg's market square, rebuilt in stone in the 1930s, beside a main street laid out like a Rhine village.
• National Museum of the Pacific War — 16 mi
  A museum of the war in the Pacific in Chester Nimitz's hometown, dedicated at his request to the two million who served with him, with a garden given by Japan.
• Fort Martin Scott — 18 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

• Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church — 0.2 mi
• The Marschall-Meusebach Cemetery — 1.0 mi
• Squaw Creek Cemetery — 5.3 mi
• Herman and Willie Lehmann — 6.6 mi