By Myra Lee Adams Goff

When the Faust St. Bridge received the prestigious Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Award recently, all attention was on the bridge itself. But the Faust St. Bridge was more to New Braunfels than that; it was the way that hundreds of NB citizens got to the textile mill.

The bridge was the first high-water bridge in Comal County. On April 5, 1887, when the County took bids for the bridge, it was not in the city limits. The King Iron Bridge Mfg. Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, got the contract and the total cost including land for right-of-way and engineering costs was $33,269.The bridge built along the Camino Real provided an access across the Guadalupe on State Hwy. 2 from San Antonio to Austin. (Source: Comal County minutes and Oscar Haas)

In 1921 the trustees of Planters and Merchants Mill of San Antonio bought the land on the other side of the Guadalupe River located in the Esnaurizar Eleven League Grant from Louis and Bertha Meyer. A charter was granted two years later for the construction of a mill. The trustees built the local textile mill for the manufacture of fine cotton ginghams. Eventually the Planters and Merchants Mill became the New Braunfels Textile Mill, then the Mission Valley Mills s and then the West Point Pepperell.

The interest in textile mills flourished after WWI when materials became more plentiful. During the war, all textiles were devoted to the war effort. Major S.M. Ransopher set up the mill and brought with him R. B. Vickers and Howard McKenna with experience from textile mills in New England to help him run the mill. Both Vickers and McKenna became lifetime citizens of NB.

In 1929 Planters and Merchants declared bankruptcy and closed for about a month. In receivership, it was operated by Col. Ralph Durkee. The mill reorganized in August of 1931 under the name of New Braunfels Textile Mills. The William Iselin Co. of New York plus local citizens purchased stock in the plant. One of the new directors, Harry Wagenfuehr, sold stock locally. Reopening the mill was a real boost to New Braunfels.

In 1977 Herb Skoog from Radio Station KGNB-KNBT and the Sophienburg Reflections programs interviewed well-known business man in town, Haney Elliott Knox, about the history of the textile mill. Most of you know that Elliott Knox Blvd., which used to be Hwy. 81, was named after him. Active politically, Knox was elected mayor of NB in 1967. He and McKenna both served as chairmen of the McKenna Memorial Hospital.

H.E. Knox came to New Braunfels right after graduating from Texas Tech University in 1935 with a degree in textile chemistry. Knox said the primary reason for Tech’s offering this degree was the large cotton and wool crops in Texas at the time. Walter Dillard was running the mill and Howard McKenna was plant superintendent. Knox began as a laborer in the dye house at $12 a week.

In those early ’30s, patterns of the materials were determined by artists or customers. Styles changed rapidly and there was always a spring and fall line. There were about 300 employees. Over the life of the mill, thousands of families had textile mill connections.

After WWII the mill was expanded. They even started a retail operation about 1946. Bluebonnet Ginghams was the trade name and principal product. The operation moved into the Dacron business about 1955. Polyester, nylon and cotton blend changed the original product to a blend. Another change was Sanforizing ,the mechanical process of shrinking goods, thereby getting rid of the pre-wash of the past.

Big customers were Montgomery Ward, Sears, and J.C. Penney. In 1932 H. Dittlinger Roller Mills began sacking their flour in Bluebonnet Gingham. The sacks were in many colors that could be made into all sorts of articles of clothing. Because of the high quality of the cotton, these pieces of clothing made good “hand-me-downs”.

The bridge and the mill are a history lesson in themselves. From the center of the Faust St. Bridge, look up river and see the dam leading to the mill. Above the dam, submerged by the higher water was the settlers’ crossing at the foot of Nacogdoches St. The dam changed the Guadalupe forever.

The textile mill dam during its construction. A.C. Moeller got the contract for the dam and the electric generator F building.

Google Maps: Faust Street Bridge

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Icons are very important. When we think of the iconic Dirndls and Lederhosen, what do we think of here in NB? Wurstfest, of course, and that will be Nov. 4-13.

Both items of clothing have been around in Europe for a long time, particularly Austria and the Bavarian part of Germany. Old- time German native dress, known as Tracht, was made of natural materials such as wool or linen and any embroidery or lace embellishments were handmade. There were traditional forms of clothing given to different regions, and now found mostly in museums.

The Dirndl which actually means “girl” started out in antiquity as clothing worn by female servants. This folk style dress was not worn by others until the mid-1800s. The dress became a sign of national pride of Germany, hence the icon. Certain colors, hat styles and embroideries on aprons also denoted different regions.

The Lederhosen (leather pants) for workmen came from the Alpine regions of Austria and Bavaria. They were worn by riders and hunters. These rugged Hosen were either short or long and made of goat or sheepskin. Prince Carl was a hunter, but somehow I can’t picture him in the sheepskin Lederhosen.

In 1870 Emperor Franz Joseph helped the folk dress along by making it popular among the aristocracy, but of course, made of silk. The material for Lederhosen changed from sheepskin to soft deerskin. Like the Dirndl, there was embroidery on the pants and suspenders, denoting different regions.

All kinds of Dirndls and Lederhosen can be seen at the Munich Oktoberfest and if you want to see a large gathering here in NB, go to Wurstfest. Of course, you will also see traditional blue jeans, incidentally invented by a Bavarian, Levi Strauss, when he emigrated to San Francisco during the Gold Rush.

Another icon of Wurstfest is the beer stein. Read my column of Oct. 20, 2009 found on the sophienburg.com website. A beer stein and mug has been produced every year since 1969.

An interesting side story to Wurstfest icons: Local collector of Wurstfest memorabilia, Dexter Gillespie, has a vast collection of items. He has playing cards with the Wurstfest logo and 300 beer mugs. He has all but the first mugs made from 1971-74. He also has a 1998 mug, the year of the flood, which has become rare because of its significance and availability. Gillespie has an original beer bucket- a paint can with handle- when beer was sold in that container at the beginning. My favorite of his collection is a 12 inch figurine of the late J.C. Reagan made in 1989, complete with Lederhosen, stein, accordion, sausage and pins on the hat. The cartoonish character was created by artist Douglas Lee Harris. Another of these figurines was made the following year of Ed. Grist, but Gillespie does not have one. Both men were good ambassadors for Wurstfest.

Let’s not forget the food items, the most prominent being sausage, potato soup, potato pancakes, pretzels, and all those delicious sweets like strudel and German cookies. Beer is the most sold drink on the grounds. Of course there are other “not so German” food items for sale.

To celebrate 50 years of Wurstfest, two Opas, Alton Rahe and Darvin Dietert, were commissioned to write the history of the organization. Both are 5th generation New Braunfelsers. Rahe wrote the history and Dietert collected the photos of which there are 160. The hardcover book of 140 pages chronicles the history of the organization from its beginning to its present site in Landa Park. Rahe speaks of the unpleasant year that prompted the organization to make improvements. Wurstfest is called the “Giant Fundraiser of the Community” and he tells of the many organizations that benefit from selling food and other items. Wurstfest contributes most of its profit to worthy groups in New Braunfels. The book will be for sale at various booths.

When you’re at Wurstfest, polka over to the Sophienburg booth where there are lots of German items for sale plus our Sophienburg New Braunfels Christmas ornaments.

Left to right: Ed and Betty Grist clowning around; Herb Skoog Family — Cara, Claudia, Herb and Kathy — dressed for Wurstfest.