An 1858 limestone stagecoach stop on the San Antonio-to-Bandera stage line; Austrian jeweler Joseph Huebner died there in 1882, reportedly after mistaking kerosene for whiskey.
6613 Bandera Rd, San Antonio, TX 78238
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Texas historical landmark; exterior drive-by and roadside viewing.
Access
Limited Access
Roadside stop along Bandera Rd; exterior only
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1858 · Texas Historical Landmark · 1858 limestone stagecoach stop · San Antonio–Bandera stage line
Joseph Huebner emigrated from Austria to San Antonio, where he practiced as a jeweler. In 1858 he constructed a one-story limestone house on what was then the northwestern edge of settled Bexar County, at a site along the stage route connecting San Antonio to Bandera. The structure served a dual purpose: family residence and stagecoach stop for travelers on the Bandera Road line.
Stagecoach stops on this route provided water, feed for horses, and overnight accommodation for travelers crossing the rougher terrain between San Antonio and the German-settled Hill Country communities. The Huebner property was well positioned along the route for this function.
Joseph Huebner died in 1882. KSAT and Ghost City Tours both cite local historical accounts describing his death as the result of accidentally consuming kerosene rather than whiskey — a documented but unverified-in-formal-records death narrative that has been attached to the property since at least the early twentieth century. Whether the account appears in Bexar County coroner records has not been established in the published sources available.
The property passed to the Onion family in subsequent decades and is now recognized as a Texas historical landmark. The Historical Marker Database records the marker designation for the site, corroborating its stagecoach-stop history independent of the paranormal claims.
Sources
KSAT's 2016 investigation of the Huebner-Onion Homestead gathered accounts from area residents and paranormal researchers who had visited the property. The most commonly reported phenomena cluster around the exterior of the main limestone structure: the sound of horse hooves on the ground approaching from the direction of the old stage road, heard when no horses are present on the property.
A second recurring account describes the faint sound of piano music in the yard — notes carried on still air with no identifiable source inside or outside the building. The piano detail is unusual for a stagecoach stop with no documented musical history, and investigators have not established a historical connection between the Huebner family and a piano on the property.
Ghost City Tours additionally documents accounts of plates and small objects found shattered inside the homestead without visible cause. These accounts come from people with access to the interior, who describe finding dishes or decorative items broken on the floor in rooms that had been empty.
Joseph Huebner's reported manner of death — mistaking kerosene for whiskey — is a story that has attached itself to the property since at least the early twentieth century. The accidental-poisoning narrative is the standard frame local tradition uses to explain the ongoing activity.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Huebner-Onion Homestead is a Texas historical landmark at 6613 Bandera Rd. The limestone one-story main house and outbuildings are visible from the road. Ghost-tour operators include the site as a drive-by stop on northwest San Antonio routes.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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