Affordable housing in the 1850s
By Tara Voigt Kohlenberg — Judging by recent headlines, good, affordable housing in the Austin-San Antonio area is hard to come by, especially in New Braunfels. As is my usual, I was on a mission looking for something else when I ran across this excerpt from the Herald Zeitung. It is a portion of a […]
What is pannas?
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Many of us grew up eating “pannas.” My grandmother made it often, especially when the menfolk were butchering and making sausage. She would take the hog head into the kitchen and put it in a big pot of water. I would come into the kitchen and see that big snout […]
All that glitters …
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — It’s been reported that Texas has more buried treasure than any other state. There are 229 sites within our borders with an estimated total of $348 million in unclaimed treasure. Generations of Texans and starry-eyed treasure hunters have sought for the hidden loot of famed robbers like Sam Bass, secret […]
A cycling trip
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — In 1975, Oscar Haas (known as the historian of New Braunfels) delivered a talk on things he remembered in his youth. Oscar was born in 1895, so by youth, he means somewhere between 1905-1915. One of the things he talked about was his cycling escapades. Bicycle trips were often made […]
Panthers in the park
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Growing up on Kentucky Boulevard in the ‘60s, my “backyard” included Panther Canyon. All the streets in that hilltop neighborhood dead-ended at the canyon, including Kentucky before New Braunfels High was built. We called it simply “the canyon” and it provided many hours of imaginative exploration, old tires for us […]
Potholes, paving and praise the Lord!
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Driving down Magazine Street the other day, I may have muttered some choice words when I bounced into a pothole that, I promise, a whole pig could have fit into. By the time I got to the Sophienburg, I was thinking hard about the streets in NB. Were they ever […]
Dressing Little Miss America
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Remember the wonderful Sears or JC Penney Christmas catalogues that used to arrive in the mail each September? School had barely begun, the weather still hot enough to wear shorts, but I spent hours looking at the beautiful Christmas dresses. However, my Christmas dresses never came from a catalogue. When […]
The Friedrich brothers (Part 2)
By Keva Hoffman Boardman — I ended the last article talking about Oscar Friedrich, the brother of the old naturalist, Otto Friedrich. I continued looking into this family of naturalists, artists, and come to find out, big game hunters. Oscar’s son, was named Frederic Louis, but he went by the name of Otto Jr. (Little Otto […]
The Friedrich brothers (Part 1)
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I should have known that receiving a scanned copy of a pencil sketch of “The Meusebach-Comanche Treaty” would send me down yet another historical “bunny trail.” The sketch was signed in block letters — “FRIEDRICH 1847” — and depicts hundreds of Commanche, horses, Meusebach, U.S. Indian agent Maj. Neighbors and others. […]
World War I Centennial and Weihnachtsmarkt
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — At 11:00am on November 11, 1918, the fighting ended. Bells tolled around the world to mark the end of the Great War. Over 4.7 million Americans stepped up to serve in uniform between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918. Two million of them were deployed overseas and 116,516 of […]
