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,

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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

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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

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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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