By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Jolly Old St. Nicholas will be at the Sophienburg for a party in his honor next Tuesday, December 5^th. Keva Boardman has planned a fun family time for only $5.00 a family. Beginning at 6:00 p.m. there will be goodies, entertainment by the Kinderchor, and lots to do and see.

This tradition was brought to NB by the German settlers way back in 1845. Not to be confused with Santa Claus, St. Nick is a little more judgmental. The child hangs up a stocking on Dec. 5 and during the night, St. Nick decides whether the child has been bad or good. He then fills the stocking with sweets and fruit if the child is on the right track but with a lump of coal (or a potato or a switch) if the child has been naughty. I never knew a child who was absolutely positive that they were going to get sweets. What does that tell you? There is a lesson of hope and forgiveness in the St. Nick tradition, for if the child is judged naughty, he/she has about two weeks to shape up before Santa comes down the chimney whether there is one or not (a chimney, that is). St. Nick will be a little more benevolent at the Sophienburg.

Come join us for a fun, educational evening and go through the museum too. The collection ladies are decorating for Christmas.

If you hang out at the Sophienburg enough, you get a pretty good picture of who’s looking for what and why. Lots of people come in looking for their roots, and others are interested in history.

Joy Alexander has been doing research on William H. Merriwether for the last two years in an effort to qualify a house that she owns for a historic marker. The small house is presently occupied by Ascot Travel. It’s located at the intersection of Landa Street and Landa Park Drive. Alexander found the information she needed on the house but discovered there was very little info on Merriwether. For example, why did he come to NB in the first place?

In 1847 Merriwether had purchased 480 acres of Comal Springs land from the Verimendi family and began his gristmill, saw mill, and cotton gin at the entrance to Landa Park, eventually selling this property to Joseph Landa in 1860. Needing water to power these mills, Merriwether had a millrace dug by slave labor (his slaves) from the area of the present Landa Park Lake past the LCRA building to the millpond over a falls and emptying into the Comal Creek.

The spillway at the end of the millrace. Above is the hydroelectric plant, which eventually was torn down. The original channel of the Comal River starts near Lakeview Boulevard, and from there the spring water forms a river that flows by Landa Estates Island.

My interest turned to another aspect of this Merriwether story. Where was the original channel of the Comal before the millrace was dug? It starts at the City Waterworks near Lakeview Blvd. From there, the spring water forms a river. It flows by Landa Estates Island. A little bit further it flows by another island on the left called Pecan Island on early maps, now part of the golf course. Moving on, the depth and volume of water increases after picking up water from the three large springs and many, many small ones in Landa Park. This increase in spring water now forms Landa Park Lake.

Before the millrace was dug in 1847 the old channel took a turn to the left through what is now the spring fed pool and it was about at that point that Merriwether began his millrace dig. Where the pool is the deepest, it drops down a fall, flowing towards the Golf Course Club House and then flows under the Elizabeth Street bridge. The small stream heads under the railroad trestle on its meandering way with Schlitterbahn on the left and the golf course on the right. The stream finally flows under the bridge at Hinman Island Drive and empties into what is now the main body of the Comal River. Eventually the Comal merges with the Guadalupe and continues its journey to the Gulf of Mexico.

A view of the spring-fed pool in 1935 after Landa Park was closed. It was not reopened to the public until 1938.

Can you imagine the volume and depth of water of that old channel before the millrace was dug? We may not know much about Merriwether, but he certainly left his mark.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

November is the time to start thinking about Christmas. After all, a White Christmas is just around the corner. Well, we can dream. Weihnachtsmarkt, the Sophienburg’s biggest event of the year is this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Civic Center. Tune in to Cable 3, WOAI San Antonio Living Show tomorrow at 10 a.m. and watch Patsy Wotipka talk about how she and co-chairman Linda Dietert, with the help of about 300 workers, put on this huge Christmas market.

Approximately 40 vendors plus the Sophienburg’s Sophie’s Shop will feature everything from vintage linens to a pet boutique offering clothes, jewelry, and cosmetics for your pooch and other animals. There will be food for sale in the foyer plus a beautiful Santa with whom the kids can have an affordable photo. No need to go to a mall. (You can have a photo made without going into the market)

Unlike most shows, this one features outstanding decorations. The theme is Nutcracker Extravaganza. Wayne Rahe, Jean Dorbandt, and Carol Stein claim that they are crazy with hot glue guns carrying out that theme in a glitz and glitter way. Greeting you on the outside porch will be six-foot nutcrackers, standing like sentinels and ushering you inside. In the foyer will be that traditional 16 foot Christmas tree, but decorated with guess what! Yes, with nutcrackers and musical instruments. So come to the Civic Center this weekend. You’ll not only find unique shopping, but you will help the Sophienburg financially to preserve our NB history.

November is also a time when lots of New Braunfelsers are absorbed in football games. Texas schools in particular are in a football frenzy, even prompting a new TV series. My story of historic insignificance could be called “Friday Night Lights Out.”

It was November, 1949, and the NB Unicorns were playing the Brenham Cubs in Brenham for the Bi-District football game. The year before, the Unicorns had played in the State finals and hoped to repeat that success. But this is not a Unicorn football story; it’s a Unicorn band story.

In 1949, the school district had no school buses available and had to charter private buses. After the Unicorn win, score 27-13, band members piled into two buses for the long ride home. It was close to midnight. On board were Band Director Lee Kohlenburg and Superintendent E. A. Sahm. One bus was following the other as we left the town lights behind and headed home. The buses took the wrong road home, heading to LaGrange instead of Giddings.The first bus turned down a narrow country lane and the other followed. We were lost and drove on this lane about five miles.

Unexpectedly we came upon a railroad crossing. The first bus slammed on his brakes and the second bus hit him from behind. Crash! The first bus had his motor in the back and the second bus had his motor in the front, knocking out both motors. Do you think we were unhappy about this situation? No. We piled out of the buses and spied a country graveyard next to the tracks. Carroll Hoffmann, drum major, remembers the event well. We built a fire, combined our leftover snacks, sang, screamed, told ghost stories, had a pep rally led by band member Cora Jane Becker as cheerleader.

Way off in the distance, one tiny light was visible. The Super and some students headed out and finally reached a farmhouse, called to NB and notified parents. We arrived home the next morning on new buses at about 8 o-clock. A great time was had by all.

The photo is of the 1929 Unicorn Band. E-mail: sophienburg@sbcglobal.net

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Get ready to celebrate New Braunfels’ heritage. Long before the Chicken Dance entered the city limits, the Wurstfest was held in a hole in the ground next to Main Plaza. Of course, this wasn’t the first location.

The brainchild of veterinarian and city meat inspector Dr. Ed Grist, and organized by Grist, Joe Faust and Tom Purdum, Wurstfest had its beginning in December of 1961. Herb Skoog recalls that the first celebration was going to be in Landa Park, but because of rain it had to be moved to the National Guard Armory.

Two years later in November of 1963, the celebration moved downtown. This is where the “hole in the ground” comes in. It was located where the Utilities parking lot is and here’s the story:

At first a store owned by Gustavus Conrads was located in this spot and in 1864 it was bought by Ernst Sherff. He enlarged the store, even adding a campground out back for those who came to town from the country.

The store was eventually bought by George Knocke and George Eiband and became Knoke and Eiband. In 1907 the store was sold to Ernst Eiband, brother of George, and Emil Fischer. Under their leadership, Eiband and Fischer opened a modern establishment in 1912. Sporting a skylight in the middle of the roof and a grand staircase to the mezzanine, the store held a spectacular opening, even allowing other merchants to display their goods. After a few years this staircase was torn out, the mezzanine closed, and the basement was opened up.

Finally the store was incorporated and run by Eiband’s sons, Ernst Jr., James, Anselm, and daughter Mrs. Max Wommack. Also in that management team was Fischer’s son, Carlo. Marijane Fischer Stafford is the daughter of Carlo and has been researching the store history for the last few years.

Up until March 2, 1947, Eiband and Fischer Store was a thriving business. Then came that fateful day of the largest fire downtown since the Seekatz Opera House burned. Beginning in the basement, the fire raged undetected during the night until the early morning hours when a salesman called on Naegelin’s Bakery next door and noticed smoke. By the time the fire department got there, the damage was done to the building, and one fireman, Ernst Alves, was killed. Stafford says that the cause of the fire is still not known but that there was speculation of a defective small motor in the basement.

A small part of the store was left (where the Utilities building is) and the corporation continued business for a few years. The gaping hole on the Plaza sat there for years, ugly and empty, a reminder of that fire.

Now Wurstfest enters the picture fourteen years later in 1963. The basement hole was cleared out, colored lights hung in the air and for three years, it was a popular place for that celebration. The old Eiband and Fischer vault left in the hole was an innovative, cool place for food and beer storage.

Certain times and places conjure up pleasant visions, and in my memory bank is Wurstfest in the hole. Resembling a WWII bombed out shelter, it was transformed by the magic of music, lights, and celebration. With a little bit of imagination, you could look up and visualize what Eiband and Fischer had been. Wurstfest only stayed in the hole for three years and then moved to Landa’s cottonseed storage building, now known as Wursthalle.

In 1969 the entire Eiband and Fischer property was purchased by local investors and eventually sold to the New Braunfels Utilities.

After you’ve been to Wurstfest, polka on up the hill to the Sophienburg and learn some NB history. The collection ladies have put together a dandy display of beer steins. They are empty, of course. Some dating back to the late 1800s, they are mostly gifts from Walter Faust, Jr., Emmie Grube, and the Eiband family. Steins often have little tidbits of wisdom on them and I like this one: “Trink was klar, Lieb was rar” or “Drink what is clear, and love what is rare “(exquisite).

A fireman was killed in the March 2, 1947, blaze at the Eiband and Fischer Store. The store was located next to Naegelin’s Bakery on the Plaza.