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The Elbel Building and Kendalia Halle sign. Photo: Renelibrary, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elbel_Building_Kendalia_(1_of_1).jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>
ADDRESS & CONTACT
Address
FM 473, Kendalia, TX 78027
GPS
29.968953419229, -98.522192913794
Some dance halls go out with a bang. Kendalia Halle went quiet with a Facebook post in the summer of 2024. Its owners cited unforeseen circumstances and canceled the rest of the year. The hall still stands at a lonely Kendall County crossroads on FM 473. Its 1903 floor is still there, too. It’s just waiting.
German settlers built the hall in 1903 for a local brass band club. They framed it in wood and wrapped it in corrugated tin. Then they added windows that fold outward to catch the evening breeze. That’s Hill Country air conditioning. The town itself took its name from George Wilkins Kendall, a founder of the New Orleans Picayune.
Too Beautiful to Close
By the 1990s, the previous owner had tired of booking bands. So Tom and Glenda McKinney took over in 1996. Tom was a retired welder who had played in South Texas country bands. Then they held dances every Saturday night. Polka bands from New Braunfels shared the calendar with Cajun outfits and Tejano players. As Tom told the Austin Chronicle, “This place is just too beautiful to be closed up.”
Later, the hall became a favorite stop for Gary P. Nunn, the songwriter behind “London Homesick Blues.” Meanwhile, the property grew into a small campus. Next door stands the Elbel Building, a storefront that has housed local businesses since 1911. Previously, its basement ran a bar called the Rathskellar.
Over three decades, caretakers fought gravity with pulleys, concrete, and steel. They straightened the hall’s frame like a chiropractor working on an old cowboy. Still, money and time caught up with the place. After the 2024 closure, the whole property went on the market. Two years later, it’s still waiting for a buyer.
Kendalia Halle belongs to the same German hall tradition as Anhalt Hall, just down the road to the south. The Austin Chronicle captured its revival in a 1997 Day Trips column. Until a buyer appears, you can only admire it from the road. But a 1903 floor doesn’t give up easily. It just needs one more band and one more Saturday.
Featured photo: Renelibrary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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