Company Profile
GCHS and Pioneer Museum
Company Overview
The Gillespie County Historical Society (GCHS) is an American Alliance of Museums accredited museum and is seeking an Executive Director as its leader and primary representative. The Society’s activities center around two museum sites GCHS owns and operates, the Pioneer Museum and Marktplatz’ iconic Verein Kirche. The Pioneer Museum is a 3+ acre complex of historic buildings, artifacts, and archives interpreting the story of the 1840’s German colonization of the Texas Hill Country and the immigrant German founders of Fredericksburg. The Vereins Kirche is a replica of an 1847 structure, completely reinterpreted in 2020 to tell the story of the building’s history and significance. Both sites are located in the heart of this popular tourist destination town. Annual visitation to the Pioneer and Vereins Kirche is routinely 36,000-plus. The Gillespie County Historical Society was chartered in 1935. It currently has a $877,000 annual operating budget, a 15-member Board of Directors, and four full-time and five part-time leadership team members along with seven part-time docents.
Company History
Fredericksburg was founded by immigrants from Germany who arrived here in May 1846 seeking land, freedom, and self-determination. Within the first year, they decided the first public building should be a church and community center patterned after municipal buildings they had in Germany. They built the Vereins Kirche (Society Church) and opened it for their communal use in 1847. For decades it served as a church for all denominations, the community center, the school, and a storehouse. Falling into disuse and disrepair by 1896, it was torn down.
Many founding family descendants yearned for the community to build a replica of this old structure that typified their ancestors’ determination for permanence in their new homeland. In 1933, a group of 100 of these citizens met to discuss the building of a replica of the Vereins Kirche. They unanimously approved the project and began collecting money. They applied to an agency of the New Deal, the Public Works Administration (1933-39), and received aid for the project. The PWA provided the funds to pay builders, and the local citizens raised the money for materials. The cornerstone was laid in January 1934. The new building was built to the same size specifications as the original and was located less than 300 feet from where the original stood. Within weeks, on January 26, 1934, a group of citizens met again to form the Gillespie County Historical Society to run the VK replica when completed. Temporary officers were elected, and the process began for writing bylaws and chartering as a Texas nonprofit corporation.
The replica was completed and dedicated in May 1935. In July 1935, permanent officers of the Historical Society were elected and the charter application was submitted with the following mission statement:
The Purpose for with the Gillespie County Historical Society is formed is educational:
• To awaken and cultivate interest in the history and traditions of Gillespie County
• To perpetuate worthy customs of its pioneers
• To collect and preserve their intellectual and material achievements
The charter application was approved in November 1935.
In addition to the Society providing volunteers to operate the Vereins Kirche as a museum, they expanded operations to contain a historical library in 1938. Over the next 17 years, the Pioneer Memorial Museum and Library thrived in this building, but by the beginning of the 1950s, space had run out to appropriately exhibit artifacts along with a library. So when one of the oldest pioneer homesteads in Fredericksburg came up for sale in 1955, the Society purchased it. It was the Kammlah Homestead on Main Street, named after the family who built it and occupied it as a home, store, and small farm for three generations from 1847-1955. The Society began renovations in order to turn the three structures - home and store, smokehouse, and barn into the new Pioneer Museum. It opened its doors as such in June 1957. Meanwhile, the VK became a secondary sight with a permanent exhibit mainly showcasing a set of artifacts related to the first 100 years of the town’s existence.
Through the next 40 years to the mid-1990s, the Pioneer Museum expanded on the Main Street campus with other historic structures donated and relocated, including a one-room country school, a Sunday House, a log cabin, and a bathhouse/barber shop. In 2005, the last historic structure, the Dambach-Besier House, an 1870s residence, was purchased and reconstructed stone by stone on our campus from its original location at the other end of Main Street. This now serves as our Main Entrance, Exhibit Space, Gift Shop, Board Room, and Business Office.
Currently our 3.5-acre campus contains 11 historic structures that represent the building techniques and materials used in this community from 1847 to 1920, much of it with a unique flavor of 19th century German roots. We also maintain stewardship of a collection of over 60,000 artifacts, archives, and historical photos. We host lecture series for adults, school tours, adult group tours, and hands-on activities for both adults and children to learn pioneer skills. We host a week-long Spring Break event for children and parents with all day living history presenters. We offer a free community Easter Egg Hunt and Christmas “Kinderfest” as our gift to local families.
Today, the Pioneer Museum Fredericksburg and the Vereins Kirche are the primary endeavors of the Gillespie County Historical Society. We enjoy a reputation for being an educator of our local heritage, a worthy stop for tourists, and a place that represents the best of our founders’ legacy.
Benefits
This is a full-time, salaried position with a competitive salary based upon experience within the range: $74,000-$82,000. The position requires some weekend and evening hours although the work schedule is flexible, and some duties may be performed from home. Benefits include bonus plan, paid medical insurance, 7 sick days, three weeks’ vacation and 5 paid holidays.