City and CC Fair celebrate centennial or “Spass muss sein” in 1946
By Myra Lee Adams Goff The year 1946 was a premium year for celebrations here in New Braunfels. From its beginning in 1845, the town had celebrated almost everything with parades, dances, festivals, (Spass muss sein, or fun must be) but 1946 was special. World War II had ended in
New Braunfels was “on the track”
By Myra Lee Adams Goff It seems to me that New Braunfels is one of those towns that have it all; beautiful rivers, good people, and a very interesting historic background. And NB was one of those fortunate towns that was not bypassed by the railroad and had a train whose
If forefathers could Google would they still have come?
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Would New Braunfels history be different if in 1840 there had been communication technology like Face book, Twitter, Google, e-mail, and texting? Would the Adelsverein and the immigrants have had a better picture of the whole situation here in Texas and more importantly for us,
Hermann Seele would have loved this fine arts class
By Myra Lee Adams Goff This week 164 years ago, on August 11, 1845, Hermann Seele called to order the first school in New Braunfels under elm trees at the bottom of Sophienburg Hill. Fifteen children were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, English and German. The picture shows Austin and Macy
First known view of early New Braunfels – 1847
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Hanging in the Sophienburg Museum is an original stone lithograph that is the first known view of early New Braunfels. The painting from which the lithograph was made was by an artist named Conrad Casper Rohrdorf in 1847. Most of you have seen this panorama,
A night in the Sophienburg Museum
By Myra Lee Adams Goff You know that new movie about spending the night in a museum and the characters come alive? That would never happen in our Sophienburg Museum. Or would it? What if I was accidentally locked in our museum at closing time? Everyone leaves and the lights
President Theodore Roosevelt stops in NB
By Myra Lee Adams Goff An unforgettable event happened here in New Braunfels in 1905. Of course you would have to be at least 104 years old to have been there. I heard it from my parents who heard it from their parents. I’m talking about the day the President
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
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
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