Voelcker family history unique
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Immigrant Julius Voelcker arrived in New Braunfels in 1845 and at age 25 became one of the First Founders of the city. Before arriving, he had studied pharmacology and medicine at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. His profession in the 1850 census was listed as “farmer”. A majority of […]
City’s “soul searching” program helps understand history
By Myra Lee Adams Goff They walked (some rode on golf carts) through the Comal Cemetery at the City’s Parks Department “Soul Searching” program. About 360 people met eight “souls” who were buried in the cemetery. The land for this cemetery originally belonged to John F. Torrey and was managed by trustees Ernest Gruene, J.J. […]
Kindermaskenball leads crowd to Folkfest
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Step into the past this coming Saturday and Sunday at the Folkfest put on by the Heritage Society at the Heritage Village on Churchhill Drive. The whole event kicks off with the annual children’s masked parade, known as Kindermasken (children’s masks) or the old way, Kindermaskenball (children’s masked dance). Doesn’t […]
Artist Iwonski part of Civil War exhibit
By Myra Lee Adams Goff On May 19th the Sophienburg Museum and Archives will present a Civil War Exhibit about what was happening here in Comal County during the war and the period of Restoration which followed it. One segment of the exhibit, sponsored jointly by the NB German American Society, will feature the art […]
More Meriwether story revealed
By Myra Lee Adams Goff After writing the column about the digging of the Comal Canal by William Hunter Meriwether, much personal information has come to light about this man about whom we knew so little, but was so important to the development of New Braunfels. Refresh your memory in the sophienburg.com website for Sept. […]
Historic market of New Braunfels
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — In this day and age, most everyone has heard of “planned communities.” They are essentially little towns (or subdivisions) that are perfectly engineered to have just the right ratio of houses to businesses to green space, carefully packaged to attract more people to a region. We see the advertisements all […]
Cotton gins in Comal County
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Who invented the cotton gin? Many of you learned the answer to this question in elementary school. If you said “Eli Whitney” you are correct, but like me, back then you really didn’t understand that the invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the American economy and made cotton a major […]
Weather reports from New Braunfels
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is pull up the weather app on my phone. I want to know temperature and precipitation possibilities in order to get dressed appropriately. Humans have always watched the weather. Where to settle, when to plant and harvest, what […]
Rancho Comal at Spring Branch
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — A Princely Estate — We learn that Maj Leland of New York, has settled among us, having purchased the Comal Ranch of Col. Sparks, fronting the Guadalupe River 9 miles, and laying 22 miles west of New Braunfels … all one body of some ten thousand acres with improvements thereon, […]
Joske’s of Texas and the Guadalupe River
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Joske’s of Texas. For many of us, hearing the name “Joske’s” conjures up memories of trips to downtown San Antonio for a day of shopping at the well-respected department store. My favorites were the trips during the Christmas holidays to visit the Fantasyland exhibit on the 4th floor and ride […]
