Frank Teich, famed sculptor

One of Frank Teich’s famed works of art graces Navasota at the East Washington Avenue boulevard - the La Salle monument dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1936.

Teich, born in 1856 at Lobenstein, Thueringen, Germany, by the age of 22, had “dreams which extended beyond his native country which led the budding artist to immigrate to the United States in 1878.”

Dale Fry, a history buff graduate of Llano High School who is freelancing historical stories led to a journalism career with the Marble Falls Highlander newspaper and on to the Killeen Daily Herald in the late 1900s, wrote a biography of Teich. The book, “Goddess of Mystery and Other Central Texas Stories,” edited by Ralph Baber, was published in 1992 by H.C. Ogden Press at Tow, Texas. Fry’s chapter “Frank Teich, Fame Granted to Llano Sculptor,” presents a life long history of Teich’s long stretch of life and work.

Fry relates how Teich’s “genius was nurtured at an early age by his parents who sent him to famous German painters for private drawing lessons. Later, he studied under some of Germany’s leading artists including the renowned sculptor Johannes Schilling of Dresden.” He assisted Dresden in sculpting the German national monument, Die Wacht em Rhine, erected at Coblenz. Teich’s education continued at the Ancient Art School at Nuremburg.

Arriving in the United States, Teich first applied his skills as a stone carver in Chicago, then St. Louis and California before arriving in San Antonio in 1883. He then was employed by Gustav Wilkes, contractor for the erection of the capitol building in Austin. His job was to supervise the cutting of the granite used in the structure. As his reputation grew, he became an important figure in San Antonio.

A horseback ride into the Texas Hill Country changed the course of his life and in the end brought national fame. At the small hill country town of Llano he found the high grade granite in the rugged hills surrounding Llano.

Teich would become known as the “Father of the Granite Industry in Texas” and made Llano the “Granite Capital of Texas.”

Fry relates how Teich saw visions of the magnificent works he could create from this beautiful stone. He obtained property on the outskirts of Llano where he built a studio and monument works.

In 1901, Teich Monument Works, situated along the Llano River and fronting the railroad which Teich used to transport his creations to distant clients, began the projects which, during his lifetime, made Teich a legend.

Among his famous works are two massive statues on the capitol grounds in Austin, the Volunteer Firemen and the Confederate Monument. Others include the Governor Pease Statue in Austin, the Mahncke Memorial in Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, and the bronze statue of La Salle in Navasota. There is also the monument to Shanghai Pierce near Blessing.” Several other Teich Confederate monuments designed stand throughout Texas and the South.

A mystery of the monument of the Goddess that adorns the Texas State Capitol involves Teich. His daughter claims that he created a sculptor for the Capitol that was shipped to Italy for completion to be lost at sea on its return. With the Capitol nearing completion, a monument was ordered from a catalog of the Friedley and Voshardt Chicago manufacturer of architectural sheet metal ornaments, statuary, etc. The catalog states under the image of the Goddess,” Furnished for Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas.” (A Two Rivers Heritage Foundation’s Sandbar Histories book relates this story on page 15.)

Teich died in January of 1939 at his home In Llano at the age of 83 hailed as the “Father of the Granite Industry in Texas.” In the late 1900s, his named was placed in the Archives of Texas as well as an historical marker on the Llano courthouse lawn commemorating his accomplishments. The marker is in front of the World War I monument Teich executed in 1918 in honor of Llano County soldiers who died in that war.

(Written by Betty Dunn, Two Rivers Heritage Foundation. See www.tworiversheritagefoundation.org for more info and membership).