Another rip-roaring July 4th celebration

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Historically the first July 4th celebration in New Braunfels goes back to 1846.The  emigrants had arrived only three months earlier on March 21, 1845 when Texas was still the Republic of Texas. Now in 1846 they could celebrate the national festival commemorating the signing of

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Tribute to Luise Ervendberg

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Hey you NB history buffs out there, can you name some early founders? OK- Prince Carl, von Coll, Zink, Ervendberg, Lindheimer, Koester, Seele. Good. Now name some of the early women. Stumped? That’s because there is so little written about them. Recently I ran across

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Singing helped keep German language alive

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Das deutsche Lied  (German song) bound the early settlers together, kept their language alive, and was a constant companion through good times and bad. This love of music came with the emigrants from Germany to Texas. Just imagine what the music must have been like

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Jahn Furniture dates back to New Braunfels beginnings

By Myra Lee Adams Goff On this exact day in 1944, the Jahn Furniture Co. properties on S. Seguin Ave. sold for the very first time by the Jahn family to J.D. Nixon. Since then the beautiful brick building changed hands many times, at one time a Piggly Wiggly grocery

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‘The Other Place’ celebrates 100th birthday next year

By Myra Lee Adams Goff In 1910 Professor F.  E.  Giesecke was teaching architecture at A&M College. He was the son of Capt. Julius Giesecke who was at one time former owner of the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung”. Intending to buy property for a summer home, Prof. Giesecke bought 60+ acres 

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New book will detail county’s Civil War history

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Did you know that April was declared “Confederate History Month” by the Texas Legislature in 1999? I have little knowledge of Comal County’s involvement in the Civil War. That, however, is about to change because Wilfred Schlather has written a book about that very subject

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Rabbits, eggs become mainstay Easter traditions

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Children don’t question whether it’s possible for rabbits to lay eggs. They just know that when they build a pretty nest of grass and flowers, the Osterhase (Easter rabbit) lays these beautiful multi-colored eggs. It’s the miracle of the beginning of life. Research says that

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Book brings back shared memories of home

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Common denominators sometime bring people together who don’t expect to be. The common denominator in this tale is Sophie’s Shop at the Sophienburg. The people are Jane Felts Mauldin, Maurice Schmidt, and me. Here’s how it happened: I was in Sophie’s Shop when NB artist

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Meusebach persevered despite pestilence, poverty

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Baron Ottfried von Meusebach dropped his aristocratic title and became John Meusebach when he came to Texas in May of 1845. He was to be the Adelsverein’s second administrator of the German settlement of New Braunfels succeeding Prince Carl. The prince had departed just two

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Museum showing collection of of ‘bizarre’ objects

By Myra Lee Adams Goff You are invited to see some out-of-the-ordinary objects at the Sophienburg Museum. When? Tues.-Sat.10am-4pm. Some things could even be described as “weird”, “unexpected”, “rare”, “unusual” and even “bizarre”. In the pharmacy exhibit is a hanging glass show globe. It holds about five gallons of colored water

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