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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Have you ever taken a walking tour of New Braunfels? Whether with a group or self-guided with detailed maps, the tours are basically a clever way to learn history while you exercise.

While digging in the archives, I came across a 1969-version of a walking tour, which is more of a “driving tour” of New Braunfels history and includes Gruene. It is full of photographs and frankly, bits of information that I have not seen before.

In comparing the old version to the walking tour currently listed on the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce website, I found the listings quite different. They both list big stuff — Courthouse, downtown commercial buildings, the Faust homes, etc., but many of the smaller older homes have been left off the Chamber list. Just like in real life, bigger, more beautiful homes draw attention.

So, let us explore some of those. Just as in fashion, architectural styles and influences change with time, providing natural time periods as dividers. Today, I will point out a few of those not on the current walking tour, dating from 1845 Colonial Texas up to 1860 (pre-Civil War) period.

First up is 354 W. Bridge. The home of Phillip Schmidt is perched on the bluff overlooking Comal Creek. The small 1850 house, built in the fachwerk style, is of adobe and hand-hewn logs. It was originally a one-and-a half-story building with a high-pitched roof and outside stairs up to the loft. It is still inhabited, but well hidden behind thick foliage.

Another remarkable building is the office building located at 259 N. Seguin next to the Comal County Tax Assessors office. One would never think that it is that old. It is a basic 1850 German Colonial Cottage of fachwerk and cut stone with a basement. Fachwerk (pronounced fock-verk) is the European building method that German immigrants brought with them.

Fachwerk consisted of hewn timber frameworks secured with treenails (wooden pegs). The open spaces were filled with bricks made of mud and grass, which served as fireproofing, soundproofing and insulation. Often the exterior was covered with cypress shingles or stucco. Porches much like those in Europe were added to homes to help survive the Texas heat. This structure is painted now, but in the 1970s, the exterior wood was stained/varnished wood.

Next on the list is the Julius Habermann house at 543 W. Mill Street. Although it was built in 1862, the house looks basically the same today. Julius Habermann was a shoemaker. He bought acre lot 12 to build the home. The fachwerk structure is built of hand-hewn cedar logs and cut limestone with wide plank board flooring throughout. His youngest daughter married William Tolle. The home stayed in the family until Mrs. Tolle’s death in 1958.

The house located at 189 Comal Av. is one of those that you have probably driven by unnoticed hundreds of times. It is constructed in a simplistic version of the Greek Revival style. The characteristics of Greek Revival include strict symmetry and balance of elements, prominent gabled roofs and columns supporting a gabled roof. The buildings are often painted white. Greek Revival style dominated the United States, especially the South, from 1820 to 1850, finally reaching Texas in the 1860s.

This original Comal Street structure was built in 1860. The first addition was in 1880; the rear addition was added in 1940. The front of the house is perfectly symmetrical with a small gabled porch on the front. It has 6-light or 6-over-6 paned windows.

The next couple of houses on the old historic home tour are located on Hill Avenue, the narrow street on the west side of the railroad tracks. Both are now part of the shopping village behind Huisache Grill.

The first one off W. San Antonio Street was originally at 178 Hill Ave., the home of August Wetzel. It is a little outside of the pre-Civil War era, but still an excellent example of early home. The residence was built in 1872 with a Greek Revival pediment and porch. Six-light windows, a single narrow front door and a basement. I am sure that Mr. Wetzel had no idea that the train tracks would be built along the path of Hill Avenue in 1881, slicing off his property and bringing the train to his front door. Even with the porch now removed, the building is in amazing condition.

The next one was the home of F.W. Tietze. The German Colonial style residence was constructed in 1852 by Mr. Tietze. It has very ornate double front doors, latticework ballustrade and columns on the porch. It basically looks the same today.

Now, comes the sad part of my tale. The last few of the homes on the 1969 list are no longer in their spots. Whenever you see newer or mid-century modern buildings in the heart of New Braunfels, you know that a piece of history was removed to make room for it.

The 1850 Victorian Cottage home, originally located at 488 Castell, had unique double doors and extravagant porch detailing. It was removed to make way for New Braunfels City property driveway (old City Hall), now the recycling exit driveway.

Another sad removal, the home originally located at 545 Comal Avenue was constructed about 1855 for early immigrant Johannes Heinrich Hohmann (Heinrich). The fachwerk structure was built as two separate buildings covered in wood siding. The kitchen was separate. The Hohmann House, was removed to make way for one of the huge mansions above the Comal River. Others along Comal Street suffered a similar fate. The particular house at 575 Comal was saved by Carola Davis, having been dismantled and then reassembled elsewhere.

The house previously located at 231 S. Seguin across from the Faust Hotel is another missing gem. Actually, there were two fachwerk houses on the site, one behind the other. The houses were once the residences of the Henne sisters and were thought to be built by early New Braunfels businessman Louis Henne.

In 1969, Bob Warnecke, then a student at the University of Texas, dismantled the two houses. He saved boards, windows, beams and square-headed nails, storing the materials for restoration.

The last lost gem was the building formerly located at 290 S. Seguin Ave., which is now the landscaped corner next to Johnson Furniture (Ludwig Building). The store was built in 1850. It served as the Rudolph DuMenil General Merchandise Store in 1860, then as the Ludwig Furniture Store and later Johnson’s Furniture warehouse. Fortunately, you can still see it, as it was moved to Gruene and last served as Hunter Brothers store at 1254 Gruene Road.

We are so fortunate to live in a place with such wonderful history. I am grateful for the still present examples of that history every day. I know that maintaining a historic building is not easy or cheap, but THANK YOU to those preservationists, especially now in what seems like disposable world.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Bob Warnecke; Carola Davis.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Let me tell you the story of First Founder Joseph Wersdoerfer. He came to Texas with the Adelsverein on board the brig Ferdinand in 1844. He travelled from Hahn, Nassau, with his wife, Anna nee Schmidt and two children. Joseph received Town Lot #8 on West San Antonio Street just half a block between Castell and Hill Street. Joseph also got a ten-acre lot south of town in the Live Oak Street area. He added a neighboring lot to his holdings. Three sons were added to the little family in 1846, 1849 and 1851.

And then life changed for the family.

In June of 1851, Joseph Wersdoerfer was shot through the window of the Comal County Courthouse where he was being held for shooting Mrs. Wilhelm Klinger in the face with a shotgun. It was said that “citizens dragged him out of town on a cowhide.”

That’s quite descriptive … and telling.

I need to backtrack for you. I found a news article from the Colorado Tribune out of Matagorda, Texas, for July 7, 1851. I couldn’t find anything in the Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung because Ferdinand Lindheimer did not start publishing the newspaper until November 12, 1852. I will let you enjoy the lovely editorial nature of the Colorado Tribune’s story in its entirety.

A Man shot dead in the Court-House

New Braunfels, June 7, 1851

To the Editor of the Western Texian:

Dear Sir — An incident of rather a singularly serious character took place here on the evening of the 3rd. A German of the name Wersdoerfer, well known in this and the surrounding counties as an old offender, was shot dead while bound in irons, and in confinement in our Court house. As customary, this Wersdoerfer was conspicuous in the suits tried at our last District Court, and more particularly in a suit brought against him by the State for stealing horses on the Cibolo, the property of Mr. Perryman.

His guilt seems to have been clearly proved, but from reasons not easily to be defined, two of the jurors disapproved of awarding any punishment. The consequence was, that the old offender, depredator and thief, was allowed once more to prowl at large, to the infinite danger of the community and the indignation of every well-meaning citizen. The common brag of this notorious delinquent, at each offense, was that he had still plenty of gold pieces, (accumulated by his dishonest practices) wherewith to win over the exertions in his behalf of some pettifogging and pitiful lawyer, who would think low enough of himself to accept, thereby showing little respect to himself or the community in which he may reside.

As was to have been foreseen by every thinking mind, from the unpunished catalogue of crimes which this man has committed, his offences would not stop here. He made an attack for some trifling cause, upon an unprotected woman, in the absence of her husband, with a pistol loaded with cut-lead, and discharged the contents, which took effect in the head and upper part of the body. This done, he absconded. This took place on the 2nd, about a mile from town. His own dwelling is about twelve miles distant, in the Santa Clara settlement.

On a report of this cowardly and unprovoked act having reached this place, a general state of excitement ensued, and energetic steps were taken for his capture. With this intent, the officers, with a few citizens, went in search of him and succeeded in bringing him back the evening after the deed was committed. The first stopping place on arriving was the smith’s shop, where he was secured in the most effective manner.

He was then conveyed to the Court house, and there fastened, with a guard of six men around him. The community waxed in excitement, and each mind was absorbed in recapitulating the many crimes of which he had been guilty, and the manner he had escaped all. The want of a jail, & etc., presented obstacles to keeping him in custody until the next term of the Court. No fixed plan seems to have been adopted, but the determined feeling to keep him fast was unanimous.

The streets were noisy with the discussion of this subject until a late hour, when the above mentioned act of the prisoner being shot dead through the window from without, in the immediate presence of his guard, caused some reaction on the subject.

Wow. I get the outcome; he seemed to mock the whole town about his ability to buy his way out of difficulty. He genuinely did not seem to be a very good man which makes me sad for his little family that travelled all the way to Texas for “a better life”. Was he already running from the law in Nassau and just continued his life of crime in Texas?

There is a suggestion in the family history that he shot Mrs. Klinger because she asked him about a piece of land he had said he was going to sell her and then didn’t — but to shoot her in the face for that question? I can understand how people were incensed at the unjustice of it all. As always in these stories, the vigilante who dispensed justice was never identified by the community — out loud.

I found the reference for the story of his body being dragged out of town on a cowhide; it is recorded in Greek letters, not German, in the record books of First Protestant Church. It also has the Latin words Latro & Homicida (robber and murderer) with Joseph Wersdoerfer’s name, followed by words of Psalm 130. Verses 3 and 4 are poignant: “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O LORD, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee.” That says a lot. Wersdoerfer’s cumulative record of crime was not condoned, but mercy was shown towards the man and his family. I cannot find where or if he was buried.

Poor Mrs. Wersdoerfer. She rose above this family catastrophe and remarried. She had more children and got on with life. They made them tougher back then.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives: Wersdoerfer Family Genealogy; New Braunfels: The First Founders, Everrett Fey, 1995; The Colorado Tribune, Monday, July 7, 1851; Eternity at the End of a Rope: Executions, Lynchings and Vigilante Justice in Texas, 1819-1923, Caldwell and DeLord, 2016.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

One evening last week, as I sat on the porch with a glass of sweet tea, pondering my day and hoping for rain, I heard the low metallic groan of the windmill as the head turned around to catch the wind. I saw the shadows of the windmill blades spinning on the ground before I heard the rhythmic, musical clanging of the rods going up and down in the pipes. It made me smile, to think about the thousands of windmills I have counted on long car rides through the South Plains in Texas.

It also made me sad to realize that windmills, the iconic symbols of pioneer survival across America, are fading away. A much-loved subject of artists and photographers alike is becoming a relic of the past.

My Gran, born to ranchers in the Texas Panhandle at the turn of the century, told me more than once, “Water is life. Without windmills, there would be no water in vast parts of Texas.” Windmills have allowed people to live and raise livestock in places where surface water was limited.

The first windmills, machines powered by the force of wind in sails, were used as early as 17th Century B.C. in Mesopotamia. Windmills were engineered to mill grain and pump water away from low-lying areas in Europe (think Dutch style) and around the world.

Windmills were used in North America to bring ground water to the surface. They were instrumental in settling the Great Plains (the middle third of the US from Arctic Circle to the Rio Grande), to have enough water for themselves, their crops and their livestock.

European windmills were big, expensive and very impractical. Daniel Halladay developed a new, smaller, less expensive wooden windmill and tower in 1854. By the 1870s and 1880s, there were hundreds of companies manufacturing windmills in various designs including solid wooden blades.

The first successful all-metal windmill (water pumping windmill) was designed in 1876, but metal windmills were not popular until the 1890s. Metal windmills were engineered with curved blades, allowing them to capture more wind than flat wooden blades resulting in more water with less effort.

Early water pumping windmills had open-gear boxes that required monthly oiling of the mechanical parts (can you imagine riding outposts on a ranch in summer or dead of winter?). Self-oiling mills came out in the 1920s, making life much easier. The enclosed gearbox only required cleaning and new oil about once a year. Windmill brands at that time were sold exclusively by designated dealers. Each brand came with various size blade diameter — 6 feet, 8 feet, 10 feet, 12 feet, etc. The depth of the well or the amount of water desired dictated what size fan blade was needed. Railroad windmills with giant cisterns for steam engines spanned 24 feet in diameter.

There were a number of different windmill brands in this area, like Aermotor, Fairbury, Flint & Walling, Dempster, Challenger, Baker and Sears & Roebuck beginning in 1915. Henne Hardware was a dealer for The Aermotor Company. Their fan tail carried the Aermotor name on both sides. The word “company” was abbreviated to Co. and stylized to look like a target, making it perfect for a little target practice. The great thing about Aermotor is that the same parts fit if it is 10 years old or 100 years old.

The Faust Company was a dealer for Samson windmills and the Flint & Walling brand (Star Model 12, etc.) which had a star on the tail. If you were to drive around Gruene and out old Hunter Road today, you would see several typical 8-foot and 10-foot Aermotor and Flint & Walling windmills, most of which are not working (pumping water). There are a couple of real treasures on private land. There is a Monitor in really bad shape, but still standing, and an open gear Flint and Walling over 100 years old. Then, at Conservation Plaza, there is an IDEAL windmill.

Kutscher Drilling, over the span of 100 years, have drilled, installed and maintained most of the windmills in a seven-county area. They used to service a lot of them. They estimated only about three dozen working water pumps left in Comal County and surrounding area. Compared to the technology available today, the windmill is antiquated and expensive. Electricity and solar power are much more economical. By the 1970s, only Baker, Aermotor and Dempster were building water-pump windmills.

Today, the use of windmills for more than just yard art is dwindling due to city sprawl, subdivisions (groundwater belongs to city), and the more efficient electric and solar power pumps. There are people who still restore them, but the windmills do not spin the same or sound the same if they are not pumping water.

I love our windmill. It is an Aermotor, pulled off a sulfur well nearby when we drilled our own well. The tower is 30 feet. The cypress cistern (with concrete liner) on a shorter tower was brought from the Kypfer farm in Geronimo. The windmill and both towers are stamped with the Henne Hardware name. I love how the mockingbirds perch on the highest fan blade to serenade us the morning. I love our windmill whether it is standing in a field blanketed in bluebonnets or snow. But I really love it when the windmill silhouette stands against a brilliant sunset. They may soon be relics. Enjoy them while you can.

Sources: The Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Baker, T. Lindsay. 1984. “A Field Guide to American Windmills”. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.; Mike Blanik; Danny Kutscher; Bobby Kutscher.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

On Sunday, October 12, 1884, Texas witnessed its very first Fischerstechen right on the Comal River. Earlier in 1882, Clemens Dam had been completed and destined as a source of power for a textile mill. That same year, a benevolent society, the Knights of Honor, had been organized and one of its enterprising members, Dr. August Berger, came up with an idea to promote the mill, the association and the city of New Braunfels. The Knights of Honor would host a Fischerstechen on the Comal.

A Fischerstechen — a fishermens’ joust — was an event the Germans were familiar with since the 12th century. It was and still is in many cities in Germany and France, a festival on land and water. Parades and jousts highlight the day or weekend events. Very basically, there are boats with rowers (the horses) and combatants with padded lances (the knights) who attack each other in order to fell the opposing team’s man. Two styles exist in Europe. The first has two boats propelled by 3-10 oarsmen at high speed towards each other with the aim to go past and strike the opponent’s “knight” off the board he is balancing on. The second has smaller boats, with the “knights” standing in the front of the boat, and the 2-3 rowers manipulating for position around the opposing crew to help stabilize their man so he can knock off the other “knight.”

Obviously, balance is the key to winning. But also important is being in full Medieval regalia! The lance used is 2.8 meters long and has a padded “button” or tip. Blows can only be landed around the shoulders and chest — and yes, bruising and broken ribs are inevitable. The knight not knocked into the water wins the match. After all competition is eliminated, the winners are crowned, including a jousting king who has somehow survived each showdown without getting wet.

OK… even today this would be something to watch, but put it all the way back into 1884 on the Comal River, and you can definitely see the appeal.

The Fischerstechen in the fall of 1884 was beyond incredible. The weather had cooperated and held at a balmy 80ish degrees. First, the Comal was dammed up beneath Clemens Dam to form a large river lake that was 20 feet deep. Man-made “islands” were constructed off the riverbanks to serve as stages for singers and musicians and places for scenery changes. Dr. Berger came up with and advertised an ambitious program that included: canon fire at 2 p.m.; a parade of costumed participants through downtown; maneuvering of gondola-style boats to the river lake; dramatic living tableaus of a Venetian fisherman’s life including a wedding, baptism, dance and funeral; the Fischerstechen, fishermen jousters; children swimming; river fairies; singers and musicians. And that was just the afternoon’s events.

The evening on the banks of the river lake and its “islands” was illuminated with Bengal fire, Chinese lanterns, rockets and Roman candles. The descriptions of this fantastic spectacle filled columns of newspapers in Austin, San Antonio and New Braunfels. Of course, they are mostly in German. But what I found out in the hours of translation is that the journalists were pleased with the event and very cheeky in their assessments of the festivities.

One journalist in particular describes the day in such illustrative words that it takes three full columns in his newspaper. Julius Schuetze was the editor of the Texas Vorwartz out of Austin. He was well known by most of our early founders and good friends with most of them. His day began on a train ride from Austin to New Braunfels on which he met and chatted with Governor Ireland of Texas, who was “coming to New Braunfels on business” but ended up participating in the day. The roundtrip ticket was around $1.45 from Austin and 95 cents from San Antonio. It was advertised in the newspapers for several weeks running.

Governor Ireland was joined on the day by Seguin’s State Senator Burgess. New Braunfels had been festooned with garlands and flags. Matzdorff’s Halle (Eagle’s Hall) was a sort of meet-and-greet place for visitors and dignitaries, who after “much hand shaking” and some beer drinking, walked to the riverbank. While watching the Fischerstechen, Julius Schuetze commented that not only were the young people on the gondolas getting wet, but so were their friends and neighbors shouting from the riverbank with their own “wetness” (beer). Lone Star beer was tapped and flowing thoughout the day.

Journalist Schuetze described in vivid detail each floating tableau of the Venetian fisherman’s life. He makes a snide remark about the bishop on the wedding boat performing the wedding in Lutheran vestments. He wonders aloud how a baby could be conceived and born within thirty minutes, unless of course, it had already been conceived and born prior to the wedding (wink wink). He describes with laughter the tableau of two monks kidnapping a young maiden and then getting dunked by the ferryman and his son who save her.

The night held its own attractions. Neptune made an appearance along with Aphrodite and her nymphs as they swam in diaphanous costumes under the man-made flares and fireworks. Schuetze and Governor Ireland agreed that “the inadequate lighting made the bathing scene uninteresting.”

When the festival had run its course, New Braunfels was still in a party mood. Men and women gathered at Lentzen Hall and the Guadalupe Hotel downtown for dancing, music and glasses of beer. Company F, Woods Regiment were holding their 20-year reunion at Lentzen’s and had the governor for dinner and a speech. When the governor retired to the hotel, Capt. Bose led a brass band into the lobby to serenade him. He came out, spoke again and bought a round for all in the room. Retiring to his room once again, Governor Ireland was recalled by a group of Geronimo Farmer’s Verein members who had come to sing for him. Another speech, another glass of beer, another song — this time he went to bed and stayed there.

You would think that the day/evening had finally come to an end, but you’d be wrong. The Geronimo guys could not cross the river in the darkness to get back to Geronimo. They had to wait for the moon to rise. So, they kept singing and drinking at the hotel until a pale sliver of moon came up at about 2 a.m.

New Braunfels finally went to sleep.

Oscar Haas found this story in the Neu-Braunfels Zeitung and wrote about it in the 1960s. In 1962, there was a Comal County Championship Swim Meet at Landa Park pool to which was added “a special feature … canoe jousting contests between teams composed of Rotarians, Lions and Jaycees.” In 1967, the Alamo Canoe Club conducted canoe racing, jousting and kayak races at Landa Park lake. And in 1971, the San Antonio Canoe Club planned to hold canoe jousting on Landa Park Lake in conjunction with Wurstfest. The event was cancelled because the participants failed to show up due to some of their members being injured at the bridge in Gruene.

If you know any information about these later Fischerstechen please contact me at the Sophienburg Museum.

How many of you want to see this again!?!?

Sources: New Braunfels Herald, 1962, 1967, 1971; Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, 1884; Freie Presse, San Antonio 1882, 1884; Texas Vorwartz, Austin, 1884; Oscar Haas Collection, Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

I have written many times about the treasures of New Braunfels, the people, places and things in our history that make our community so special. Some are prominently displayed — Main Plaza, the Plaza Fountain and such. Others are hidden in plain sight. Some are so well hidden that we do not even recognize it as a treasure.

Today I will tell you about a lesser-known treasure in town, the old pioneer’s home on Coll Street. It is unremarkable in appearance and easy to miss. It sits on a large L-shaped lot that wraps around to Clemens Avenue, which is difficult to distinguish except on a map. The house is located directly across the street from Carl Schurz School and yet has remained fairly invisible to passersby. It has been hidden behind overgrown trees and underbrush until just recently.

The pioneer is Jean Jacques von Coll. You may have heard his name if you hang around in museums. So, who is von Coll and why is this guy with a French name important enough to have a street named after him in a German settlement?

Born Johann Jakob von Coll in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1814, he was a lieutenant in the service of the Duke Adolph of Nassau. At the age of 27, von Coll and a group of young officers attended a neighbor’s party while still being under the effects of their alcohol consumption the night before. An exchange of words left both the neighbor and von Coll insulted. A duel was called for, but was quickly called off as neither involved could clearly remember who threw the first insult.

Rumors flew about von Coll leaving town to escape a duel, impacting the future of his military career. The entire officers’ corps was commissioned to learn the truth. Von Coll, believing that he would be dishonorably discharged, resigned at the behest of Duke Adolph of Nassau who suggested that he serve in the military of another country. Von Coll eventually joined the French military and changed his name to Jean Jacques von Coll. Illness caused him to be discharged after six months.

He became involved with the Adelsverein (German Emigration Company), where he was assigned to help with the settlement of Germans in Texas. He led the first German immigrants from Galveston inland on December 29, 1844.

Von Coll was given town lot #25 on Main Plaza (now Schmitz Hotel and NB Coffee). He and partner Adolph Nevendorf operated a lucrative saloon and store at that location. Incidentally, the Sophienburg Museum and Archives currently has the original saloon doors on display. They also have the original matching double doors of his home on Coll Street in the collection.

Von Coll was appointed by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels as the financial officer for the Adelsverein. Not only responsible for keeping the accounts, von Coll was responsible for the new colony’s supplies (kept in the magazine on Sophienburg property) and how they were distributed to the colonists.

For this service, he received acreage adjacent to the Adelsverein Sophienburg property where he built his home. The original acreage encompassed several modern-day city blocks, from Coll Street to San Antonio Street and from Magazine Avenue to Guenther, which includes Clemens Avenue. We will connect these dots in a minute.

Von Coll is famous for stopping New Braunfels from being renamed “Comal.” In 1852, he was elected mayor but served only two months before he was murdered in his store by a discontented settler. Apparently, one of the immigrants walked into von Coll’s store arguing that the Adelsverein was not living up to the promises made in the old country. It resulted in von Coll being shot.

He left behind a wife, Margarethe Elisabeth Schertz, who had come with the Castro colonists, and two young daughters, Kathinka, age 3, and Elisabeth (Bettie), not yet one year old, to live in the home he had built on Coll Street.

The house is built, as many 1845 homes were, a basic house with multiple additions. The small center section is of fachwerk construction (exposed beam frame with straw/mud bricks and stucco exterior). The second, larger section is rectangular and built of stone. The third addition, on the opposite side of the fachwerk house, was built much later in the 19th century after von Coll’s death. The collage of building and window styles is cool to see in person.

And what of von Coll’s little family? Von Coll’s widow, Maragarethe, married Karl Heinrich Guenther. They continued to live in the home at 624 Coll Street. They went on to have seven children between them. Guenther had a brewery on the Comal River. After Guenther died, Margarethe ran the business, becoming the first women brewer.

Daughter, Kathinka, married Senator William Clemens, Jr. Their beautiful home stood on what is now the parking lot of Arlon’s Market at Clemens and San Antonio. Clemens served on the Texas Penitentiary Board and the Clemens Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is named after him. Daughter, Bettie, married Otto Simon.

This just goes to show you that just because something looks unremarkable does not mean that it does not hold a remarkable amount of history or that the history will always be there to see.

Comal County has more than 124 markers highlighting the historical significance of buildings, areas and events; however, for every marked place or building, there may be two or three times more that remain unmarked for various reasons and an unbelievable amount that have been lost. The Comal County Historical Commission works diligently to identify and mark as many historically significant places and buildings as possible before they disappear into a parking lot. If you know of something out there, let them know.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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