Sophienburg Museum and Archives

Doeppenschmidt Funeral Home from 1923 to the present in the same family

March 8, 2015

By Myra Lee Adams Goff It’s the same business, in the same place, run by the same family for almost 92 years. That’s Doeppenschmidt Funeral Home, now involving the fourth generation. And it doesn’t look like they are going to run out of clients any time soon. In the early

Settlement of New Braunfels prompted by Republic of Texas Constitution

February 22, 2015

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff The banner year in the history of Texas was 1836, the year that the Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico, drew up its first constitution and declared itself independent. This constitution with its generous land policy would be the driving force leading to

Prince Solms Inn still boosting tourism

February 8, 2015

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff Besides the Plaza Hotel on the Main Plaza, another grand hotel was built around the turn of the century, the Comal Hotel (now Prince Solms Inn). What was the reason for more large hotels in the little town of New Braunfels? Hotels are built to

Honey Creek area becomes Honey Creek State Natural Area

January 25, 2015

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff Hermann Seele gave us a good description of the Texas Hill Country. I’m paraphrasing what he said and you can observe as you drive between Austin and San Antonio on Highway 35. In the distance, take notice of a low, dark green line of cedar-covered

Tenacity leads to progress

January 11, 2015

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff Recently in the “Smithsonian” magazine, consumer sensor expert, Kevin Ashton, talked about successful innovator skills. His observation was that they possessed tenacity. “The difference between successful innovators and everyone else is that innovators keep failing until they don’t.” He also said “For most of history,

Naegelin’s Bakery still baking

December 28, 2014

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff Let’s talk bread – white bread, rye bread, pumpernickel and even a variety of different yeast breads that are sweet. All these goodies come out of the oldest continuous bakery in town, Naegelin’s Bakery. Zuschlag In early, early, early New Braunfels, the bread that was

The queen and princess of buildings around Main Plaza

December 14, 2014

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff If the Comal County Courthouse is the “queen” of buildings around the Main Plaza, then the Plaza Hotel is the “princess”. In this case, the princess is actually fifty years older than the queen. Just think about what these two buildings could tell us about

Background of Bracken Bowling

November 30, 2014

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff “Rip Van Winkle” is a short story written by Washington Irving. Rip lives in a village by the Catskill Mountains. He is an easygoing, henpecked husband. One day he wanders into the mountains to go hunting and he meets and drinks with Henry Hudson’s legendary

Weihnachtsmarkt opens this Friday at the Civic Center

November 16, 2014

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff You have to admit that in South Texas it’s sometimes hard to get in the Christmas spirit. Where is the snow and the one-horse open sleigh, ho, ho, ho? The Sophienburg Museum and Archives tries its best to create the Christmas atmosphere in the Civic

Henne Hardware survives 148 years downtown

November 2, 2014

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff I walked into Henne Hardware and the bell rang above the door alerting the clerk that someone had entered. I was immediately greeted by two cats named Clifford and Eugene, so named by owner of the store, Paul Martinka. These cats, or at least their