First county fair was in 1894

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Next week will be the annual Comal County Fair which had its first event in 1894. When I was doing the research at the Sophienburg for the book It’s Fair Time for the Fair Association, there was one particular era in its development that intrigued me. It was the period

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Prize shoot at new location on Sept. 23

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Linking the past to the present, the New Braunfels Schuetzen Verein (shooting club) will hold its prize shoot on September 23rd, thefirst time in its new location off of Hwy 46 (next to Dietz’s Rifle Range).According to President Bill Wimberley, prizes are for the best

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Many learned at Mill Street school

By Myra Lee Adams Goff The beautiful two-story New Braunfels Independent School District’s Administration Building on Mill St. brings back high school memories, especially in August. Shortly after Hermann Seele taught school here under the elm trees beneath the Sophienburg hill, the city took over the responsibility of educating its children. In 1853 the

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German communities affected in wars

By Myra Lee Adams Goff When my parents went to school in NB, they were taught all subjects in German, including the German script. It had been that way for three generations. Suddenly, as a result of possible war with Germany in 1916, it was against Texas law to teach children

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Hermann Seele came to Texas in 1843

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Several months ago, sitting at the back of the Archives, I saw what appeared to be a wolf and a child at the front door. The sun was behind them so I got up to investigate. In the front foyer were two almost life-size plaster

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Hats were a must in town

By Myra Lee Adams Goff An interesting change took place recently in one of the Sophienburg Museum’s displays. Switching from one end to the other, the shoe display was changed to hats and all details of millinery. The hats on display belonged to NB women, made of straw, horsehair, and

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Patriotic celebration part of NB lore

By Myra Lee Adams Goff “Stars and Stripes Forever”. Thirty seven stars, that is, for in 1876 when the United States commemorated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, NB celebrated a glorious old-fashioned 4th of July. There is an article in the Sophienburg archives translated from

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Oral family history is hard to maintain

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Doroteo Rodriguez and son Dagoberto have been doing research on their family that goes back to Mexico, where records are hard to find. To this point most of their history has been passed on byword of mouth, but as family members moved away from NB.it became

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Landa has been longtime destination

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Imagine that it’s the 1920s and you have reservations at Camp Placid at Landa Park in New Braunfels, Texas. Camp Placid was a two storied summer resort on the banks of the spring-fed Pool at Landa’s Park. It was called Landa’s Park because it belonged to

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Landa Park is site of many historical events in New Braunfels history

By Myra Lee Adams Goff “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Hamlet), meaning that the obvious is not the only thing there, and that’s true in Landa Park as well. I went to the park looking for historically unobvious, little known

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