Joachim H. Hintz

Johann Joachim Henrich Frederick (J. H.) Hintz (1841-1920), a native of Ziesendorf, Mecklenburg, Germany, immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1855. The Hintzes settled in the Millheim area, and Joachim joined the Cat Spring Agricultural Society in 1861. During the Civil War, Joachim served in Waul's Texas Legion, was captured in Yazoo City, Mississippi, on July 14, 1863, and was imprisoned at Camp Morton, Indiana, until his release on March 15, 1865. In 1866 he became a U.S. citizen. He married Wilhelmina Schneider in 1870, and they had eight children. The family's major livelihood was farming crops such as cotton and tobacco, but Joachim was also admired for his skills as a Baumeister, or Master Builder. He designed and built a variety of buildings and structures in Austin County, including bridges at Coshatte and over Bollinger Creek, dance platforms, and meeting halls. His greatest legacy is a surviving collection of dance halls where generations have gathered for meetings, meals, and music, including the Bellville Turnverein Pavilion (1897), an imaginative 12-sided wood-frame hall, 80 feet in diameter, with a center pole supporting a lofty roof and still used for a variety of functions; Peter Hall (1900), an eight-sided hall with a center pole and a cupola for ventilation and air circulation; and the Cat Spring Agricultural Society Pavilion (1903), a twelve-sided pavilion nearly identical to the one at Bellville. Hintz's projects are often distinguished by precision joinery and elaborate, elegant roof-framing systems. His round halls have been hubs of activity for music, celebrations, weddings, and gatherings, and they remain functional in their communities and inspirational to visitors to Austin County.

Bellville, Texas · United States