By Myra Lee Adams Goff “So, Indianola, has it been with thee, Thou once fair city by the moonlit sea! Thy fame is ended and thy beauty fled- Bleak memory calls them from the silent dead.” (Excerpts from “Indianola” by Jeff McLemore from the book, “Indianola” by Brownson Malsch) The

By Myra Lee Adams Goff A young German count, Arnold-Henkel von Donnersmark, came to the New Braunfels settlement in 1845 with Prince Carl. He built a large frame building where he lived and conducted his hotel and saloon business. In less than a year he had accumulated several thousand dollars.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Safety and protection of citizens and property have always been foremost in the minds of anyone involved in law enforcement in New Braunfels and Comal County and it goes way back. Law enforcement began with Prince Carl who was responsible for the safety of the

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Twenty-six-year-old Ernst Gruene applied for his passport to emigrate to Texas from Germany. He is described in his passport as a very tall, (over 6’2”) blond, handsome man. Later family accounts describe him as not only good-looking, but very charming. In Germany he was a

By Myra Lee Adams Goff A bank robbery in downtown New Braunfels? Yes, it happened on March 10, 1922, and reported a week later in the New Braunfels Herald. Hot news item? Well, remember that the Herald was a weekly newspaper. I’m sure that by that time local communication systems

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Sophie’s Shop at the Sophienburg is loaded with books about New Braunfels and native New Braunfelsers. There are novels, children’s books, as well as history books. The first “Meet the Local Authors” will be Saturday, April 17th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. All the authors

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Can you think of three words that would describe what was important to your mother’s generation? How about your grandmother’s? Go back one more generation and it’s easy because that generation of immigrant women spelled it out: “Küche, Kirche, und Kinder, or “kitchen, church and

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Now keep on writing what you know About the things you do, And share with us your memories So we can learn from you. Have you ever thought about the importance of writing in a diary and keeping a scrapbook and what this process has

By Myra Lee Adams Goff “Connecticut Yankees in Prince Carl’s Court” might describe the Torrey brothers, John F., Tudor, Abraham, George, David, and Thomas. They were indeed from Connecticut and three of them did end up in Prince Carl’s domain. One of them, John, stayed. If you look at the

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Next week is Valentine’s Day and the Sophienburg has a display of about 30 of their historic valentines from the early 1900s to the 1950s. The most elaborate and beautiful card is a zephyr (hot air balloon) decorated with a technique called “honeycomb”. Parts of