By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Yesterday (Feb. 9) a historic event took place for New Braunfels Masonic Lodge No. 1109. The cornerstone leveling of a new lodge building at 1353 Wald Rd. took place. This is the fourth home for this lodge.

It is believed that the history of the Freemasons goes back in antiquity to the worker organizations formed into guilds of like trades, particularly the building trades. A group of members is called a lodge. Today members wear aprons that look like the working clothes of the old stonemasons. The term “free” possibly refers to the freedom to move without the restrictions of the feudal lords.

Although it is not a religious organization, nor does it take the place of religion, members must believe in a Higher Being. Freemasonry accepts worthy men and seeks to make good men better. Members work through degrees, the highest being the 33^rd degree. Lodges support all good works, and believe in the equality of people, freedom, and democracy.

The first Grand Lodge was established on June 24, 1717, in London, England. The first Grand Master in America was appointed in 1730 by the Grand Lodge of England. Fourteen U.S. presidents were Freemasons, plus other Revolutionary notables, such as Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere. The cornerstone of the National Capitol was laid by Mason George Washington on Sept 18, 1793. The well-known painting of him wearing his Masonic apron was given to him by the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat fighting for the American cause.

Closer to home, the Grand Lodge of Texas was formed during the time of the Republic with Sam Houston presiding at the formation. This Grand Lodge set aside 10% of their revenues for free public education. The Texas Freemason charter was received during the Battle of San Jacinto.

With this impressive background, let us get to the history of NB Lodge #1109. Remember that before the Texas Revolution the area that we now call Comal County was in the larger district of Bexar. The Texas Legislature created Comal County in 1846 after Texas became a state. The first Masonic Lodge in Comal County was actually in Twin Sisters on Curry Creek. Then when the final boundaries for Comal County were set in 1858, the western section of Comal County, where the lodge was located, was separated and the lodge was then located in Blanco and Kendall counties. Twin Sisters Lodge #216 was eventually moved to the city of Blanco and named Blanco Lodge #216 where it still exists.

The second Comal County Masonic Lodge, #276, was chartered in 1864 and demised in 1874. Some well-known early leading citizens belonged to this lodge, a few of which were Hermann Seele, Ferdinand Lindheimer, George Pfeuffer, Louis Henne, J.J. Groos, Joseph Landa, John Torrey, and Joseph Faust.

In 1915 the third lodge ,#1109, was chartered and met at the carriage house next to the Jahn building on South Seguin Avenue(building no longer standing). Fourteen Master Masons asked for a charter and chose R.E. Kloepper the first Worshipful Master, J.E. Abrahams the first Senior Warden, and J.E. Herd the Junior Warden. Celebrating the formation of this lodge in 1916, more than 200 Masons from neighboring counties marched with local candidates and guests from the Jahn Building to where the ceremony was to take place in the Knoke building (where the former Eiband and Fischer store was located). Some visitors came by train, but the majority came in automobiles. After the ceremony, they went to Tolle Hall for roast pig and sweet potatoes.

Then in 1923 the lodge moved to the Albert Ludwig building on the corner of W. San Antonio St. and S. Castell Avenue (present site of Phoenix Saloon). Being a Mason, Ludwig built a third floor to his building and offered it to house the lodge. Notice that the third story does not cover the whole building.

Forty two years later, the lodge was moved to its building at 1157 W. San Anonio St. where it remained until the new lodge was purchased and dedicated yesterday. This building is also home of the New Braunfels Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and the New Braunfels Assembly of Rainbow Girls, affiliates of New Braunfels Masonic Lodge #1109.

Worshipful Master Riley Miller, who jokingly says that “real men do wear aprons”, invites all to come visit the lodge with its Museum and Library any Tuesday evening.

In 1916, Richard Kloepper was the first Worshipful Master of N.B. Masonic Lodge No. 1109, A.F. & F.M.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

A flurry of activity and preparation is engulfing organizations that involve themselves with Wurstfest activities. The ten- day celebration is from Nov. 2nd through the 11th. One organization, the Conservation Society, located on Churchill Drive, utilizes their grounds to hold a major fundraiser during Wurstfest. Carrying out the theme of early historic New Braunfels, they operate a German Kaffee Haus for lunch from 10:30a.m. to 2:00 p.m. from November the 7th through the 11th. The place is Forke Store.

This year’s lunch includes German potato soup, Koch Kase, Wurst, homemade desserts and features a sauerkraut cake. It actually does contain sauerkraut and the recipe comes from Mrs. Ben Faust who gave it to the Conservation Society. They, in turn, submitted it to the Sophienburg to be included in their book, “Guten Appetit”. I made this cake once and it’s delicious, but I no longer want to spend half a day baking it; I’ll get it at Conservation Plaza.

For those of you who are not familiar with Conservation Plaza, you should come and familiarize yourself with their grounds. Entrance is free and there is much to see. The Kaffee Haus is once again at Forke Store. New Braunfels has held many events in this building over the years. They estimate that the building is rented close to 200 times a year.

Forke Store was moved from the corner of Seguin Ave. and Jahn St. out to Conservation Plaza when the Becker family bought the property in the ‘60s. They gave the building to the Conservation Society. Arno Becker remembers a ten-foot wide trail from Seguin Ave. to the Comal River known as the “water lane”. It had been the property of the city and was used by early emigrants to walk down to the Comal to get water. This water lane ran across the property that Becker purchased and the city deeded the lane to the property owners. Somewhere under Bluebonnet Motors is that water lane. Sorry, you’ll have to turn on a faucet to get water.

The construction of Forke Store is interesting. The framework is of the “fachwerk” or half-timber style which means that the spaces are filled with bricks, stone or mud. When the emigrants arrived in 1845, they noticed that the building method that had been used in Germany would be well suited locally. The materials were all here – limestone for the foundation, cedar for beams, and sun-dried adobe bricks which could easily be made in Texas. Adobe would be poured into a wooden mold and even children could do this. A shingle roof was installed and siding was attached. The bricks were covered with mud plaster mixed with straw. Fine mud was smeared over and then painted.

The Forke building was moved in two parts and put back together with the original floor and ceiling. Doors and window sashes are also original. The store was a mercantile store and objects within the store reflect that. Old display counters are from Henne Hardware and the original handmade Forke walnut desk is displayed.

Originally the property belonged to Victor Bracht, author of “Texas in 1848”. He belonged to the nobility in Germany, was highly educated and trained for a mercantile career. In 1846 the German Emigration Company sent him to New Braunfels to look after the emigrants. He stayed a year, went back to Germany, and in 1848 returned to New Braunfels. That same year he married Sibilla Shaefer. One lot was given to him by the Adelsverein and he purchased another next to it for $35.00.The first store building and house next door was built in 1852. Bracht was a merchant at this location from 1846 to 1855 after which he moved to San Antonio. The first building described by Bracht was later used by Jacob Ludwig Forke as a “feather house” where feathers were sold by the pound.

From 1855 there were several owners and in 1865 Jacob and Caroline Forke bought the property from Joseph Landa. They ran the mercantile store and raised 10 children. In 1902, the property was left to their youngest son, Louis, who continued the business until he died in 1966. The Becker family purchased the property from the Forke estate and this is when Forke Store moved to Conservation Plaza. Becker Motor Company was sold to Bluebonnet Motors in 2002.

Thanks to the Becker family and the Conservation Society, Forke Store lives on.

Louis and Hedwig Forke sit outside the Forke Store when it was located on Jahn St.and Seguin Ave. The store is on the right and the time is possibly in the late 1940s.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

The Sophienburg’s Civil War exhibit will open this coming Saturday, May 19th.  and that day has been designated as a “free museum day.” The exhibit will focus on Comal County’s part in the war and will be on display until spring 2013.

Here is a thumb-nail refresher course in Civil War history before you come:

The conflict between the industrial north and the agrarian south had been going on for years. Ferdinand Lindheimer, editor of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung wrote editorials in the newspaper in favor of secession. He was an advocate of state’s rights to the end.  Even  Gov. Sam Houston didn’t have as much influence as Lindheimer in the county.

A state Secession Convention was held in Austin on Feb. 1, 1861. Representing Comal County were Dr. Theodore Koester and Walter F. Preston, native of Virginia, who had bought the Meriwether farm on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels. The majority of the convention voted for secession.

A statewide election was to be held over the issue. Comal County Chief Justice Hermann Heffter called for an election to vote “for” or “against” secession on Feb. 23, 1861. Of the total voters (men only) 239 voted “for” and 89 voted “against”. Comal County was the only primarily German community to vote to secede.  Do you think the vote would have been different if women also had the right to vote? I don’t know.

On April 26, 1861, the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung published the Constitution of the Confederate States of America on its front page. In keeping with a resolution of the Feb.1

Convention in Austin, 10,000 copies were to be distributed across the state, 1/5 of which were in German and Spanish.

Ultimately, the secession bill was ratified and Texas once again became a free sovereign and independent state with its capital in Montgomery, Alabama.

Now that Texas was part of the Confederacy, military forces had to be obtained. The first Confederate legislative act called for volunteers to serve 12 months and state militia volunteers to serve six months. By Dec. 1861, the Texas legislature passed a law for men from 18 to 50 to sign up for frontier defense. In Comal County, by March 15, 1861, three militia companies had been organized.

The July 4th parade was “dignified”. The home-guard militia and the bugle corps marched in the main streets to the beat of a single drum. At the plaza a military review was staged.

Now back to the exhibit: The Iwonski art exhibit that I told you about in my last column is part of the over-all exhibit. Outside, the Sons of the Confederacy in uniform are setting up an encampment with tent, cannon and many other archives.

Now go inside the museum. There are vast amounts of Civil War era artifacts in the Sophienburg collection and they will be displayed throughout the museum.

The first display that will catch your eye is the cabin reproduction. The story from the Landa family goes like this: Joseph Landa was in exile in Mexico as a result of his being tried by an anti-abolitionist secret society for freeing his five slaves in 1863. His wife, Helene, stayed behind to run the store and other businesses. A gang of “ruffians” invaded the store and Helene held them off with a six-shooter.

Every segment of the museum will display something that involves the Civil War period. The medicines in the Doctor’s office, alcohol  in the saloon, guns, clothing, and the Ladies Aid Society’s role in the war effort.  By the wall painting of the Comal Springs is an exhibit of saltpeter production used in gunpowder. There are panels of old photos and a vast amount of information about participants in the war effort, from the leaders Hoffmann, Podewils, Bose, and Heidemeyer to everyday people.

Sophie’s Shop has the largest collection of Comal County books for sale in town. There are three Civil War books, two about Comal County and also a beautifully illustrated Smithsonian collection.

It was a confusing time. Excerpts from this folk song by Irving Gordon tell it all:

Two brothers on their way…
One wore blue and one wore gray…
Two girls waiting by the railroad track…
One wore blue and one wore black…

Volunteers Janis Bodemann and Ann Giambernardi examine the clothing of the Landa mannequins inside the museum. The Landa story is part of the Civil War Exhibit beginning May 19 at the Sophienburg.

Related Articles

• July 8, 2008 — Cannon fire signaled news of Civil War’s conclusion
• Jan. 20, 2009 — Courthouse holding up pretty well after 110 years
• April 14, 2009 — New book will detail county’s Civil War history
• Nov. 3, 2009 — Many Texans were “Treue der Union”
• May 17, 2011 — New Braunfels newspaper has changed with the times
• May 1, 2012 — Artist Iwonski part of Civil War exhibit

Books Available in Sophie’s Shop

• War Between the States - Participants from Comal County, Texas
• War Between the States - Comal County Texas in the Civil War As Reported in the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung 1859 to 1865
• The Civil War: A Visual History

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Would you like to know what was on the property on which our present Comal County Courthouse sits? If so, read on.

When Nicholas Zink laid out the town of New Braunfels, with its main plaza and streets leading to it, he was given the town lot #32 by the Adelsverein for his efforts. Town lot #32 is the lot on which our present courthouse is built. Zink built a house on this lot in 1845. In 1847, the year that Zink and his first wife were divorced, he began selling his property in New Braunfels and eventually left altogether.

Zink sold lot #32 to Samuel Millet dated January 21st, 1847, who used the house as a hotel. Millet, in turn, sold the house in 1852 to Dan Wheeler and Wheeler sold it to Karl Floege in 1866. (Source: County Clerk’s office, book A, deeds p. 35) The family moved to a farm outside of Seguin.

Samuel Millet who was originally from Maine has a Texas Historical Marker at his gravesite in Guadalupe County. It states that he had come to Texas in 1827 and died in 1863. Records show his birth as 1801. He came to Texas as a member of Stephen F. Austin’s colony. During the Texas Revolution, he took part in the battle of San Jacinto.

In 1833, he married Clementina Bartlett and they had nine children. She was also with Austin’s colony and from Tennessee. She married her teacher, Samuel Millett, who was a graduate of Bowdoin College. Family tradition claims that Clementina at age 90 could recall early history of the Republic and those who were instrumental in its founding.

Harry Landa, in his memoirs “As I Remember” writes that his father, Joseph Landa, made this statement about the hotel: “Old lady Millett, mother of the well-known cattleman, Alonzo Millett, was operating a boarding house at the corner where the Comal County Courthouse now stands. The Landas boarded for a few months at Mrs. Millett’s establishment until they bought the adjoining property on the Plaza”.

Alonzo Millett, one of Samuel Millett’s sons, made a name for himself in the ranching business. In “The Traildrivers of Texas”, Alonzo Millett is described as spending his boyhood days in Bastrop County and Seguin where he attended school. When the Civil War broke out, he and his brothers volunteered in the Confederate army. Alonzo was only 16 and his twin brother, Leonidas, was killed. After the war, the surviving brothers returned to Texas and over the years that followed, gained wealth by accumulating ranches in several states. “Misfortune came and their wealth was swept away”.(Traildrivers…)  Alonzo persevered and when he died, he owned a large ranch in San Juan Valley, Colorado. He was killed by being thrown by a horse and then buried in San Antonio. Thirty-five miles south of San Antonio was a small settlement named “Millett” after Alonzo. Many local and Seguin Milletts are descendants of Alonzo Millett and his wife, Arlene Wilson Millett.

Now back to the present courthouse: Early on, Comal County conducted its business in rented rooms, then to a privately owned building on Seguin St. (Elks parking lot). In 1860 the first two-story courthouse was built on the corner occupied by Chase Bank. In 1999 the present courthouse celebrated its 100th birthday. (For more information about this courthouse, log on to Sophienburg.com, Jan. 20, 2009)

Our present courthouse was originally designed to sit in the middle of the Main Plaza with four easy accesses. When that plan fell through, the present location was chosen. The jail was added later, obscuring two entrances and another closed to add more office space. When this present restoration is complete, the original four entrances will once again be usable.

Nothing is left of the Millett Hotel, as the building was torn down shortly before the new courthouse was started. Behind the present courthouse where a parking area was located by the jail, a water well was discovered. The Texas Historic Commission evaluated the dry well and said that it pre-dated the Courthouse.  The well would have been in the right spot for use by the hotel. It was recently filled in with sand to protect its integrity and to prevent a cave-in. The last remnant of an era.

The Millett Hotel is shown in the top photograph left under the trees. The bottom photograph shows the area before the courthouse was built. The large home in both photos is the Landa House. Late 1800s photos courtesy of the Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

After writing the column about the digging of the Comal Canal by William Hunter Meriwether, much personal information has come to light about this man about whom we knew so little, but was so important to the development of New Braunfels. Refresh your memory in the sophienburg.com website for Sept. 6, 2011.

Through the Internet, Joy Alexander, who was responsible for the initial research about William Hunter Meriwether, made several connections with the Meriwether family. They were just as interested in what Meriwether did in NB, as we were in what he did before he came here.

Meriwether, (this is the correct spelling) nicknamed “Billy Fish” descended from families active in the American Revolution. The family hails from Albemarle County, Virginia. It was there that William Douglass Meriwether (father of William Hunter) bought 500 acres on the Rivanna River and constructed a large merchant mill and sawmill. He built a toll bridge and dam across the Rivanna. In 1840 the father and son greatly increased the business of the area by erecting the Charlottesville Factory for carding and weaving cotton and wool, sawing timber and grinding flour.  (Source: Rick Britton; “The Charlottesville Woolen Mills, Clothing a Nation”) The elder Meriwether died in 1845 and the business was sold.

Now look at what we know about William Hunter. He came to NB in 1846 and bought the area later known as Landa Park. He had married Frances Poindexter from a prominent family in 1821. Together they had two babies, both of whom either died at birth or as infants. There is no record of when Frances died except “before 1850”. She must have died or they may have divorced before he came to NB. In 1856, he married his cousin “Kate” Witing Meriwether from Virginia. She was 18 and he was 63.

An interesting story from the New York Weekly, Nov. 28, 1857:

A collision between the steamer Opelousas and the steamer Galveston. Opelousas came out of Berwick Bay and the Galveston out of Galveston, Texas. The Galveston struck the Opelousas midship causing her to sink in 20 minutes, losing several lives. The Galveston received little damage and all the passengers were saved. Listed on the ship list of the Opalousas were WH Meriwether and lady who gave his home as San Antonio. The freight was totally lost and had headed for the ports in Galveston and Indianola. From there it was destined to the Texas interior. About 300 barrels of pork, flour, corn, sugar, molasses, and coffee for Meriwether were headed for San Antonio, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Lavaca, Matagorda, and New Braunfels.

Now in 1859 Meriwether sold his holdings here in NB to Joseph Landa, and he and his wife moved to Shelby, Tennessee. In his will written May 15, 1861, he confessed to having much pain and leaving everything to his wife “Kate”. He died May 21, 1861, in Tennessee.

Now here’s an interesting side-story: The family does not know where he was buried, but in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Lynchburg, Va. there is a marble shaft 10 ft. high with the following inscription: “To my husband William Hunter Meriwether; Thou art gone, but not forgotten; At Rest”.  To the left and right of the stone are two small stones, one with a dove with “N.D. Meriwether, age 16 months”, and the other “J.M. Meriwether” with a rosebud on it. The mystery is “Who were these children? Perhaps the children that he had with his first wife. Did the second wife move them or him there?

Our William Hunter Meriwether and the famous Meriwether Lewis were first cousins, once removed. In other words, Thomas Meriwether was the grandfather of Meriwether Lewis and the g-grandfather of William Hunter Meriwether. Meriwether Lewis was commander of the Lewis and Clark Exploration of the Missouri and Colorado Rivers from 1804-06. He was appointed by Pres. Thomas Jefferson. A mystery surrounds his death in 1809. He was either killed or committed suicide in Natchez Trace, Tenn. on his way back from Louisiana to Washington.

In my home office I have a sign reading “Circa Trova” meaning “Seek and you will find”. Wow, did we ever!

Meriwether Lewis as head of the Lewis and Clark Exploration of the Missouri and Colorado Rivers, 1804-06. Patricia S. Arnold, artist.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

What I knew about William Hunter Meriwether could be summed up as “That American from Virginia who had slaves dig the canal next to Landa Park Drive.” That’s changing, thanks to Joy Alexander who has been doing an extensive study of Meriwether.

Alexander first became interested in Meriwether when she and Laris Priesmeyer in 1976 bought the little house at 133 Landa that had been part of Meriwether’s property. They restored the house and opened a German import store called Das Spielhaus (play house).

One of my first questions about Meriwether was: “How did he even know about New Braunfels or the Comal Springs?” He was from an old Virginia family and had been in the mill business before coming to Texas. In Virginia in 1829, he purchased the right to build a dam across the Rivanna River. In 1846, the year he came to New Braunfels, he sold 150 acres and his interest in a dam and a toll bridge there. He definitely had experience and money.

The middle of the 1800s time period fits the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Perhaps through his connections with mill owners, he heard of this area and its springs. Regardless, Meriwether purchased a total of 680 acres from Rafael and Maria Garza and also from the German Emigration Co. in 1847.

On the 1850 Slave Schedule Census, Meriwether is listed as having 30 slaves. The slaves dug the canal so that he would have water power to run his sawmill, gristmill, and gin. He dammed the geyser springs locally called Los Fontanas to create a millrace (canal). The Comal Springs began above the Landa Estates, originally flowed through the lake area and made a turn going through the spring-fed pool, then under the Elizabeth Street Bridge, going through Schlitterbahn, and dumping into the Comal Creek (River). Landa Park Lake was a side product of digging the canal.

The canal was dug from the spring-fed pool end of the lake and then parallels Landa Park Drive going under the bridge into the mill pond, and out over the falls into the river.

Now the question of digging that canal. The majority of Germans were against slavery, but Meriwether was an American and used slave labor. It’s hard to imagine anyone digging the canal, but remember that Meriwether had done this before and he must have had some sort of implement to dig. How about a “buck scraper”, the forerunner of the Fresno? The buck scraper was a crude wooden tool pulled by mules. He was, after all, quite an inventor. He patented the fence wire. Local old-timers said that a fresno-like implement was used by the slaves to dig the canal.

In 1859, Meriwether sold his holdings in the Comal Springs Tract for $14,000 to Joseph Landa, as you might say, “lock, stock, and barrel.” Harry Landa, Joseph’s son, in his book “As I Remember,” wrote that Meriwether was a very old man (65) with a very young wife (22) and as he wished to comply with the desire of his wife, she wanted to return to their home in Tennessee and to her Mint Julips. They did leave and he died the next year in Tennessee.

Meriwether and his canal changed the scene in New Braunfels, as it opened up the area for industry. Those slaves about whom we have so little information, made a significant contribution to the town. Digging a canal of the magnitude of the millrace and then operating the mills required a large labor force.

The Landa family utilized the canal and mill pond to develop Landa Industries. Other industries developed like the Comal Power Plant. After changing owners and finally being bought by the City of New Braunfels, much of Meriwether’s original property including the canal and millpond has become the beautiful Landa Park.

The Meriwether Mill House at 133 Landa St., the only original Meriwether structure standing, continues to be preserved by owner, Joy Alexander.

Meriwether's millrace — A 1920s view of the bridge over the millrace and millpond. (Source: Sophienburg Archives)