By Myra Lee Adams Goff

At 12 noon on October 12, 1920, an airplane crashed into the New Braunfels Brewing Company, one of four breweries in New Braunfels at the time. The NB Brewing Co. was located at the end of N. Guenther St. (NB Smokehouse).

Two pilots from Kelly Field in San Antonio had landed in NB, eaten lunch, and taken off again. Suddenly the pilot seemed to lose control of the plane and was heading straight towards the brewery. When it seemed certain that the plane was going to crash, one of the pilots unfastened his safety belt and jumped out, landing safely on the galvanized roof. The other pilot perished when the plane hit the third floor of the brewery. The impact created a large hole and the heavy motor dropped to the cement floor in a blaze of blue flame.

As if the NB Brewery didn’t have enough problems! In January the federal Prohibition Amendment (18th) made the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal and this brewery resorted to making a weak beer called “Busto” just to stay afloat and not drown.

The question of Prohibition had been in politics for a long time. Drinking alcohol was thought to be one of the main reasons for wide-spread social problems.

When Texas was a Republic, Prohibition was dealt with by “local option”. (Decisions of law would be left to towns, counties, even neighborhoods.) I have read that Texas banned saloons in 1845. I don’t think the Germans knew that here. Obviously the law was never enforced.

The state constitution of 1876 had required the legislature to enact a local option law. Eleven years later the “drys” (those in favor of Prohibition) presented a state Prohibition referendum, but lost. Add another eight years and 53 counties were dry. Can you guess which category Comal County fell into? A very strong push by the Anti Saloon League in 1908 to put all of Texas under Prohibition failed, but slowly the number of dry counties was increasing.

Locally in 1908 the Republican Club of Comal County organized for the purpose of fighting Prohibition in Comal County and Texas. They would send delegates to the next Republican State Convention and demand a straight-out anti-Prohibition plank “to protect personal rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States”. (Source: Sesquicentennial Minutes, Roger Nuhn )The NB photo from 1908 with the message, “Farewell to our Local Self Government” appears to be bearing a casket.

Then in 1916 under the leadership of Texas Senator Morris Sheppard the campaign in favor of national Prohibition successfully passed the 18th Amendment. The Texas legislature ratified the federal Amendment in 1918 and Texas voters approved the state Prohibition Amendment in 1919.

Organized crime sprang up, especially in large cities and the controversy continued in Texas about how to use the amendment. Did it mean strict enforcement or not? In 1925 Prohibition opponents were in control of Texas and refused to support enforcement measures. When the Great Depression of 1929 happened, the federal government, needing liquor tax money, repealed Prohibition with the 21st Amendment. Texas reverted to local option where it is today. Presently there are 51 dry counties.

Was NB affected? Yes and no. Some of the liquor production went underground. I’ve heard some crazy stories, including chases by the “feds” and underground tunnels, but none substantiated. It wasn’t illegal to drink liquor, only to manufacture and sell it. It was ok to ferment fruit (wine?); ok to provide communion wine; and ok for doctors to prescribe liquor for medicinal purposes.

Headlines in the Herald August 19, 1933: “Comal County Lays Plans to Dance Prohibition ‘Out’ in Monster Street Demonstration on Plaza August 19th”. A giant dance with Judge Klingeman and Mayor Fischer leading the grand march. Prohibition was over and so was Busto Beer.

A 1908 anti-Prohibition parade. State wide Prohibition would mean the end of local option legislation.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

A very important agreement has been reached between the Sophienburg Museum and Archives and First Protestant Church, one of extreme historic significance. The church will allow the Sophienburg to copy all early church records, including minutes, birth records, death records, and many more papers of significance.

The First Protestant Church has been the caretaker of the earliest records of New Braunfels. All original records will remain stored in a vault at the church. This will allow individuals to do family research at the Sophienburg using all their resources. The project is estimated to take two years.

One of the promises that Prince Carl made on behalf of the Adelsverein was that the religious needs of the emigrants would be addressed. When the Prince was on the Texas coast in 1844, he met Rev. Louis Ervendberg who was preaching at Cat Springs, Industry, Blumenthal, and other small settlements going from one to another. The Prince offered Ervendberg the job of being the pastor for all the first emigrants and to then minister to the Protestants. Prince Carl was unable to secure a priest immediately, so the first Catholic Mass was celebrated under an oak tree on March, 1846, on the site where Sts. Peter and Paul church now stands. The site was given to the church by the Adelsverein in November of 1846.

When the first emigrants arrived on the coast, Ervendberg greeted them and on December 23, 1844, he conducted the first religious service there. He then accompanied them as they made their way to what would later be called New Braunfels.

Upon arrival inland, Ervendberg established the German Protestant Church (now First Protestant Church) whose first official meeting was October 5, 1845. Established while Texas was the Republic of Texas, it is the oldest corporation in New Braunfels. The church has that original charter.

In order to construct what came to be known as the log church, all members who were able were asked to bring hand-cut cedar logs. The floors would be of caliche and clay. The Adelsverein would finance the building. This original church and the original Sophienburg building on the hill were the only buildings in New Braunfels that were financed by the Adelsverein.

In 1879 the church decided to tear down the log church and build a stone building. The logs of this old church were bought by a church member at that time to be used to build a barn. So it remained for many years until recently the barn was purchased and stored temporarily, waiting for the right time to reconstruct it properly. The Heritage Society has taken on the project of reconstruction.

Rev. Ervendberg was originally responsible for the hand-written records. These records, written in German (Fraktur) contain church minutes, birth and death records. The third pastor, Rev. August Schuchard, elected in 1858, began a 19 year pastorage in which his long-term plan was to complete a compilation of a family register of church members, plus all members of the community. He began compiling this three volume register in the spring of 1859 and when he died in 1876, he had recorded 539 families, including approximately 20,000 individual births and baptisms. (Source: “Journey in Faith” by Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Myra Lee Adams Goff. This book is available at the Sophienburg and First Protestant Church)

In First Protestant’s collection are the original hand-written German records, the transcribed typewritten records, and the translated typewritten records. These records were mostly transcribed and translated by Gene Mornhinweg, son of long time pastor, Gottleib Mornhinweg. Historian Oscar Haas has added to the original records.

The project of copying the records will be time-consuming but when complete, all people will have easy access to them at the Sophienburg. This is a real step forward in family research and something to look forward to.

Rev. Louis and Luise Ervendberg in front of the log church, 1840s. Artist - Patricia S. Arnold