Gottlieb Elbel and Christiane Zeh immigrated to Texas from Germany in 1849, married, and settled this farm as among the founders of Spring Branch Creek. Gottlieb built the family’s two-room log cabin here in 1852. The Spring Branch post office first opened on Spring Branch Creek in 1858, closed during the Civil War, and reopened in this homestead cabin from 1867 to 1872 with Gottlieb Elbel as postmaster. He kept a postal journal that is an invaluable record of the postal correspondence and subscriptions of area residents. As a postal station between New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, with mail delivered on horseback, it was significant in the rural community’s development.