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 immigrants listed their profession in this way. They came for land and this was a way to survive. Ultimately Voelcker chose to be a pharmacist and opened his pharmacy next to his home on the north side of the plaza.

Julius Voelcker’s chosen field would spur on a family tradition, as six members would follow this profession in the next generations. He married Louise Karbach in 1857 who had emigrated to Texas with her family from Mecklinberg, Germany. Four sons and one daughter were born to this couple: Frank, Rudolf, Bruno, Emil and daughter, Emma. Emma’s life would bring the family much joy but also grief.

During the Civil War Julius Voelcker joined a company of State Troops, 31st Brigade as a 1^st Lieutenant. Norma Colley, granddaughter of Voelcker, in a paper written in 1990 told stories that her grandmother, Louise Voelcker, told of the family’s experiences during the war when Julius was away serving in the war. Her grandmother and the children moved to a hill over the Guadalupe River. Frank, the oldest son, was bitten by a water moccasin on the banks of the Guadalupe. His life was saved by his mother. Bruno fell from a cliff but survived. After the war when Julius returned, the family moved back to their home in town.

On July 22, 1874, a terrible tragedy befell the Voelcker family when 12 year-old Emma Voelcker was murdered in the Voelcker home by Wilhelm Faust of Seguin. Faust’s estranged wife, Helene, was spending the night at the Voelcker home as she had done before and she was sleeping in the same bed as Emma. During the night, Mrs. Faust moved to the floor and the assailant entered the home and attempted to kill his wife with an ax, thinking she was in the bed. In the dark he hit Emma instead, killing her. Mrs. Faust was blinded by a near-fatal blow. Faust escaped but was caught in November. It wasn’t until October of 1875 that he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Locally the populace was enraged by the sentence so he was moved to a jail in San Antonio. He was moved back to the Comal County Jail but a lynch mob attempted to assassinate him. He was then moved into the Comal County Courthouse. (Old courthouse where Chase Bank is located) On July 28, 1876, some unknown person shot Faust through the window of his cell and killed him.

Julius Voelcker was elected mayor in 1875 but died six weeks before his term expired in 1877. Louise lived 41 more years. When the New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Dept. conducted its “Soul Searching” program in November, the Voelcker gravesite was one of the sites featured in the Comal Cemetery.

Bruno Voelcker followed in his father Julius’ footsteps. His drugstore was located on the corner of San Antonio St. and Castell Ave. (Red Stag). Bruno’s two sons, Edwin and Julius were both pharmacists.

Julius’ youngest son, Emil, married Caroline Zuehl and they lived on the Karbach ranch for many years. Emil was also a pharmacist. Their children were Louise , Herbert, and Norma. In 1891 Emil purchased six lots in the Braunfels subdivision between Union and Washington Sts. in Comaltown. A small house was already on the corner of Union and South Sts. and added on to over the years. This house still belongs to descendants of the Voelcker family.

Louise Voelcker married Robert Wagenfuehr and both were very civic minded and active in New Braunfels. Their children were Esther May,(mother of Betty Kyle), Milton, and Harvey. The Voelcker pharmacy tradition continued in the family with Harvey Wagenfuehr becoming a pharmacist and eventually owning Peerless Pharmacy on San Antonio St.

Tracing the history of the Voelcker family is in many ways typical of other family histories of immigrants who made New Braunfels their home in the 1800s. But in many ways this family’s history is unique.

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(Encore of article that first appeared November 26, 2008.)

By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

Recently I went to the Comal Cemetery to visit family and friends. Don’t tell me that I’m the only one that does that; someone brings the flowers! Since I started writing this column I have greatly increased the number of people that I know in the cemetery, particularly those born in the 19th century.

Take an over-all look at the cemetery and certain things stand out. One is the number of obelisks, particularly in the old section of the cemetery. The dictionary describes an obelisk as a four- sided stone monument that rises to the point at the top. Ancient Egyptians used to place obelisks at the entrance of tombs.

The granddaddy of obelisks in the Comal Cemetery is the one dedicated to Senator George Pfeuffer. This monument is 24 feet tall and towers over all the others. It was given in Pfeuffer’s honor by the Granite Association of Texas. Here’s the story:

In 1877 George Pfeuffer was appointed Comal County Judge, filling the unexpired term of Dr. Theodor Koester and was elected to that position in 1880. In 1882 he was elected to a seat in the Texas Senate. During his tenure, he led the fight within the Senate to have the State Capitol in Austin built of Texas granite instead of Georgian marble.  The obelisk is made of that Texas granite and that’s the reason for the memorial.

Pfeuffer had other irons in the fire besides politics; he owned a dry goods store in NB on the south corner of San Antonio St. and Castell Ave. After he died in 1886, the business was carried on by the family until the 1920s. The building is the one with the mural of Prince Carl on the side. Pfeuffer also owned a lumber yard in NB and other lumber yards elsewhere.

Pfeuffer as a young man worked for Ferguson and Hessler Dry Goods store. He was sent to Corpus Christi by Ferguson to tend to businesses in that city. There he met and married Susan Gravis. In 1861 when the Civil War broke out, they returned to NB because he felt his family would be safer here.

When Pfeuffer became County Judge, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of A&M College in Bryan. He is given credit for putting the finances back in order, allowing A&M to build its first dormitory, Pfeuffer Hall. Sophienburg President David Pfeuffer is George Pfeuffer’s g-g-g-grandson.

So many families have plots in the Comal Cemetery and if you know NB history, you will recognize the names of Ferdinand Lindheimer, Hermann Seele, the Hennes, Guenthers, Fausts, and the list goes on and on. Many of the older family plots have ornate iron fences and elaborate tombstones.

A practical and decorative grave covering can be seen scattered around the old cemetery section. I’m referring to the shell-covered graves. Made by H.T. Mordhurst, I found about 10, most of who died in the early 1900s. Mordhurst, born in Germany, came to NB in 1900 and began a business of producing concrete blocks for buildings, several of which are still in NB. He went into this business with Emil Heinen.

In the meantime, Mordhurst developed this technique of decorating graves. Using a wooden form to create a mound, he covered it with iron mesh, and then poured concrete into the mold. Cockleshells from the Texas coast were brought to NB by train in barrels. They were filled with cement and a wire was twisted inside before they were attached. Mordhurst died in 1928 and that was the end of the shell-covered graves.

There’s a lot of history out there — some we know and some we don’t.

“May they rest easy in their final abodes beneath hallowed soil, these hardy pioneers, these staunch characters who built a nation.” (From a Centennial editorial, Chas.W. Scruggs, Editor, New Braunfels Herald, 1946,)

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

I love driving the streets of downtown New Braunfels on a crisp, clear October morning. My favorite streets are the those laid out by Nickolaus Zink and the streets of Comaltown/Braunfels. Some of the oldest buildings in Comal County are located along these streets.

As with anything old, there is likely much more to those buildings than meets the eye. Some are old buildings refreshed with multiple exterior facelifts to keep up with the latest trends, leaving them looking much younger than they really are. Then, there are old buildings that remain the same (historically correct) on the outside, even though the inside has been updated and made more functional by adding electricity and indoor plumbing. These buildings, are the most beautiful. My favorite buildings? Those with hidden secrets, of course. Imagine learning that the building you own holds a treasure underneath!

One such treasure is Eagles Hall. From the outside, it looks like a plain stucco, sort of art deco building with a hodgepodge of multiple additions marked with the year “1922.” But there is more to that story.

In 1870, New Braunfels celebrated the 25th Anniversary of its founding. The parade wound through town and across the Comal footbridge, continuing the festivities on open lots located on South Street in Comaltown. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Heinrich Paul Weichold, an 1845 immigrant, purchased two lots facing South Street. He built a 54-foot by 100-foot hall out of Comal County limestone, complete with a 38-foot by 30-foot stage. It was the largest public place for merriment anywhere around. Did you get that? 1870! That is at least eight years before Gruene Hall was built. Weichold’s Hall served both as a community meeting place and center of entertainment, hosting Turnverein (gymnastics club) events, dances, concerts, meetings, 4th of July celebrations, masquerades, and theatrical performances. The hall even held a performance of Japanese aerialists. Since most of his patrons came from across the Comal River, Mr. Weichold had railings installed on the footbridge for their safety. On the evenings of performances, he also stationed two men with lanterns at each end of the bridge to light the way. Weichold fell into financial difficulty and his property was sold on the courthouse steps on June 16, 1874.

The hall sold to the Matzdorf’s and became known as Matzdorf’s Hall. The hall was leased and run by numerous managers throughout its years of operation. In 1877, Matzdorf took over again from Rheinlaender. He made repairs to the building and put in a new dance floor. Rudolf Brandt took over as manager in 1890. He promoted the venue as “Comal Concert Hall.” In 1893, Mrs. Matzdorf became the sole owner. Other managers of the hall were Moritz Schutz, Hermann Klein, and H. Lenzen. Matzdorf Hall continued hosting touring companies, balls, lectures, operas and more.

In February of 1922, the Echo Home Association was organized solely for the purpose of buying and remodeling the Matzdorf’s Hall property. The group had 300 subscribers (paid members). By April, they hired a San Antonio architect to draw up plans and let bids to build a new building. All of the bids were rejected as too expensive. The Association bought materials in May to renovate the building themselves and dedicated the building in July. Renovations included a layer of stucco over the building’s exterior. They marked the building with “1922 Echo Halle” over the South Street entrance. The original windows and doors were left open with ceiling fans overhead. Over time, additions were made to the long side of the building, including a bar and meeting areas, and at some point, indoor bathrooms were added to the rear. There was a large porch constructed on the front, perhaps in the early to mid-40s, with multiple arched openings. Echo Halle had events going all the time, hosting firemen’s benefits, precinct elections, singing festivals, speeches by governors, bridal showers, church programs, graduations, and dances with all sorts of orchestras and bands every weekend. Many a dancer found their life mate on the Echo Halle dance floor.

In 1958, the Echo Halle was sold to the Fraternal Order of Eagles. They removed the words “Echo Halle” from the stucco but left the year 1922. They also added an inverted star/crescent emblem. Eagles Hall was ‘the’ place to have a dance, wedding reception, anniversary celebration, graduation dance. Bands like the Hi-Toppers, Cloverleaf and more filled the air with music. The well-worn dance floor is smooth as glass, due in part, to the trillions of kids who polished it with their knees or stockin’ feet during intermissions. Kids were part of the celebrations… no baby-sitters. Being the child of a Hi-Topper, I learned to dance back-stage. Others remember being put down on a palette under the tables while parents danced the night away. Eagles’ Hall has been painted a few hundred times, and paneling conceals the original windows and doors, but the bones of the structure are the same. 150 years of life and music is ingrained in every beam and every wall that surrounds the dance floor, because it really IS the old Weichold Halle.

2021 is the year that the Eagles sold the hall. Only those who have purchased it know what is to become of this historic structure that is older than Gruene Hall. In New Braunfels, we are surrounded by the historic buildings that define our heritage and city timeline. It ties us to our beginning. We have three Historic Districts established to protect old homes and buildings, including Downtown Historic District, Mill Street Historic District and Sophienburg Hill Historic District. Within these areas, rules are in place so the property owners will maintain the integrity of the original buildings, whether 50 years old or 150 years old. Eagles’ Hall is not in a historic district. New Braunfels Conservation Society has done an amazing job saving and caring for the buildings at their museum, although moving some buildings is not really an option. Eagles’ Hall is historic because of the site, the provenance and the meaning to the community. Would Gruene Hall be as wonderful sitting somewhere else? Only you, citizens of New Braunfels, and our County Historical Commission and City Council can protect the historic buildings of our metropolis. Once gone, these structures cannot be replaced. Help us preserve what makes New Braunfels special, like dance halls that are 150 years old. Older. Than. Gruene. Hall.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives

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(Encore presentation — Originally appeared February 8, 2011)

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Waggoners or Teamsters were important to early New Braunfels. They not only led the wagon trains of the early German settlers but they hauled freight to and from the frontier, especially the Gulf coast.

G. Fred Oheim, editor of the Zeitung’s Jahrbuch in 1943, named 340 teamsters who “transported merchandise to New Braunfels from Indianola, Lavaca, Victoria, Cuero, Kingsbury, Luling, Marion, Austin and San Antonio from 1860 to1877 for Ernst Sherff alone.”

Sherff was owner of a large merchandise business in New Braunfels that he purchased from Ferguson and Hessler in 1858. By that time, Waggoners were using mules to pull wagons. Sherff’s store later became Eiband and Fischer.

Oheim related that when there were no factories in Texas providing necessities of life and the state’s wealth consisted solely of produce off the land, transportation was an indispensable part of daily living.

Early Texas transportation consisted of ox-drawn wagons, then stagecoaches and finally railroads. One group started to build a railroad from San Antonio to Lavaca but the tracks were destroyed at Victoria during the Civil War.

In 1865-66, the U.S. Army placed that stretch in operation again. Before and after the Civil War and up until a hurricane wiped out Indianola in 1886, oxen and mule wagons hauled imported wares and food up to New Braunfels from the coast.

From the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, July 1955: The wagons had bodies shaped like sled runners drawn by four, five, or six oxen. “The Germans west of the Colorado had a better wagon and drove better mules. Like the desert caravans of old, they wound in long lines over the rolling plains.”

Poets like Fritz Goldbeck glamorized the Waggoner’s life. Mrs. Ernst Kapp in a letter written in 1850 and translated by Oscar Haas described the trip from Indianola to New Braunfels in glowing terms, like “green undulating prairies shimmering in the bright sun” and “from out of the distance slowly papering into view, long rows of heavy laden prairie schooners come rolling on”.

She describes wonderful food, and the men smoking short pipes engaged in conversation around the campfires. “Someone strikes up a song”. Then finally there is the sound of the whippoorwill.

Mrs. Kapp’s description sounds a lot more appealing than the other stories that I have read relating to the trek inland just five years earlier.

The first Waggoner of note in New Braunfels was George Ullrich who accompanied the first group of emigrants to New Braunfels and was named wagonmaster by Prince Carl. The Ullrich family was one of the few families that was already in Texas by the time the emigrants arrived.

Ullrich was born in Lindenau Meiningen in 1813. Family sources say he and Margaretha nee Decker were married in 1839 in New York City. Their first child was born in Frelsberg, Texas in 1842 and this is where they were living when Prince Carl was making arrangements to move the emigrants inland.

George Ullrich was consequently hired by the Adelsverein as the wagon master. He, along with his wife and 3-year-old child, guided the first group of emigrants from the coast to the interior. He subsequently guided the second group as well.

Oscar Haas has an interesting story in his History of New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas, 1844-1946. He states that “The story has it” that the first two women to cross the Guadalupe were Mrs. George Ullrich and Mrs. Frederick George Holekamp. Mrs. Ullrich crossed on the first wagon with her husband and Mrs. Holekamp crossed on horseback with Prince Carl.

The Ullrich family stayed in NB where he was elected a city alderman and sometime after 1850 was elected sheriff. Ullrich and his wife are both buried in the Adelsverein Cemetery.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

In May I traveled to Mason, Texas, with my mom and dad and met with some aunts, uncles and cousins to watch a 45-minute documentary: “Herman, der Apache: Ein Deutscher unter Indianen” (“Herman the Apache: A German among Indians”). The film, made by a German film crew for TV viewing in Germany, had been dubbed in English and was shown by the Mason County Historical Society. It is the incredible true story of Herman and Willie Lehmann’s capture by an Apache raiding party in 1870. The meet-up was a reunion of sorts. My mom’s family and the Lehmann family are cousins. I’ve always been proud of this blood connection.

I remember reading Herman’s autobiography, “Nine Years Among the Indians” (1927), and writing a book report on in it grade school. I read it aloud to my kiddos when we did a Native American unit (I homeschooled). I list it as suggested reading to teachers who visit the Sophienburg. According to J. Frank Dobie, it is “the finest of the captive narratives of the Southwest.”

Years ago, I attended a lecture on Native American tribes in our area. The archaeologist mentioned Herman Lehmann’s book with a definite snicker and said it was completely made-up. I took him aside afterwards and informed him that not only was the story true, but that I was related to the family — my mom being cousins with Esther, Herman’s niece. The archaeologist got really quiet and then apologized.

You really need to read Herman and Willie’s story to understand why this narrative is so compelling. I cannot condense the detailed memories of an 11-year-old German boy captured and raised by Apache and Comanche, nor will I really try. I will simply give you a taste of what is in store when you read the book.

Imagine that you, your brother and two little sisters are out in a field a little way from the house to chase the birds out of the ripening wheat. You look up to find there are eight Apache on horseback at the fence and, frightened, all begin to run, except for your baby sister who is hidden in the wheat. The Apache shoot at your other sister and she falls; they think she is dead. They get your brother and go after you. You are finally subdued after you have been slapped, choked, beaten and your clothes torn off.

You and your brother are each tied up naked to the back of a horse behind a warrior and spirited away from the only world you know. The group separates, each taking one captive. Totally alone you are made to catch a calf your group comes across. Your captor slits its throat, cuts open the stomach and drinks the soured milk out of it. He offers some to you which of course you refuse, so he pushes your face into the open stomach.

That’s just part of day one. Have I piqued your interest? It gets better, or worse, before it gets better again. Willie escapes after about a week and makes his way home. Herman isn’t returned to his family until he is 19.

I am fascinated at just how completely Herman becomes Apache. It wasn’t easy — not all captives survived — but he does and he does well. He is adopted into his captor’s family and initiated into tribal life. He describes being burned, beaten, tortured, whipped and other things that he cannot even talk about.

Herman eventually finds affection, respect and acceptance. He forgets his mother tongue and learns Apache. He is taught their customs and rituals: how to hunt with bow and arrow; raid, steal, fight with lance and shield, kill and scalp. He becomes a warrior tested in fights with Texas Rangers, Mexicans, white settlers and other native tribes. By age 16, the only thing that does not seem Apache about Herman are his blue eyes.

He spends six years with the Apache and a year alone in the wilderness before he is adopted into a Comanche tribe. He is Comanche in 1877, when he takes part in the Buffalo Hunters War, the last major fight between Native and Non-Native Americans in Texas. It is Quannah Parker who gets him to go to the reservation in Oklahoma and who adopts him as his son. In 1878, soldiers take Herman from Fort Sill and bring him back to Loyal Valley.

He was home. But he was no longer a German boy.

He knew Apache, Comanche and Spanish, but no German. He hated sleeping inside a house, so his brother Willie slept outside under the stars with him. He hated “paleface” clothing and often changed back into leggings and breach clout and painted his body. He stole the neighbors’ cows and horses. It took time to learn to be a white man, but the same character that allowed him to become Apache, served him well once again. Eventually he “fits in,” somewhat — even gets married and has children. But the “Indian” never left him.

My mom’s cousin Esther knew her “Uncle Herman” really well. She and her sister, Gerda, made an oral history recording about Herman for the Sophienburg in 1992. Herman came to live with his brother Willie in 1927, when Esther was three-and-a-half years old. She told us stories of sitting next to him as he told his Indian tales. She loved it when people would be over and he’d let out a war whoop just to make them jump. She helped him sneak fresh-killed deer down to the cellar when it was out of season, and watched him eating his deer meat raw, ground up with onion and salt. “He loved that life,” she would say. “They should have brought him back and let his mother know he was OK, then left him with the Indians. He would have been happier.”

And that is exactly what I took away from that documentary. Herman was perpetually caught between two worlds. That he was able to move between them at all is a miracle. That he found any happiness is amazing.

Herman Lehmann died in 1932 and is buried at Loyal Valley. Esther passed on in 2016 and is buried next to “Uncle Herman.”

One more thing … it is said that Esther was the last person to have known an Indian captive. Wow.

More on This Subject

Sources: Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879, Herman Lehmann, 1927; The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier, Scott Zesch, 2004; “Nine Year’s with the Apaches and Comanches”, J. Marvin Hunter’s Frontier Times Magazine, July 1954; “Esther Lehmann: Herman’s Story”, Phil Houseal, Jan 8, 2014 and Feb 17,2016, Full House Productions; Esther Lehman and Gerda Lehman Kothman, “Reflections” #292, Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

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The multitude of seasonal well wishes received over the past month got me to thinking. Christmas cards and actual phone calls seem to be dwindling while texts, Instagram and Facebook posts (at least at my house) are on the rise. It’s amazing to consider just how far communication technology has come.

Long distance communication by man has taken several forms. Telegraphy is the transmission of ideas through symbols, unlike “pigeons” which deliver an actual message. Early examples include smoke signals, beacons, reflected light signals, and flag signals like on ships. The harnessing of electricity in the 19th century brought about the invention of electrical telegraphy, eventually leading to wireless telegraphy, the internet, and instant messaging. The first commercial telegraph system was installed in England in May 1937.

Closer to home, the first telegraph lines and poles were installed in New Braunfels in 1865. The telegraph office was located in several places around town during its tenure (see NB Herald-Zeitung article by Myra Lee Goff, Around the Sophienburg, May 17, 2015). Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first patent to “transmit sounds” on March 7, 1876. Bell Telephone was organized July 9, 1877. Finally, on December 10, 1895, when New Braunfels was 50 years old, the New Braunfels City Council passed an ordinance granting Southwestern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company the right “to erect and maintain on the streets, alleys, and public ways, poles, fixtures and wires necessary and convenient for the purpose of supplying New Braunfels citizens with communication by telephone.” New Braunfels came of age when the first telephone lines were actually installed on January 23, 1896.

The Southwestern Bell Telephone & Telegraph office was above Voelcker Store (now Red Stag) on the corner of Castell and Seguin Streets. Inside, “Telephone Girls” or “Central” worked in shifts at the switchboard. In an anonymous letter to the editor of the NB Herald on February 3, 1905, someone raved on the efficiency of the operators of Central, who answer each call on average within seven to ten seconds and processed some fifteen calls per minute or nine hundred per hour. The writer also calls out those who become impatient and “sass Central”, who by training and etiquette do not sass back. It seems the current habit of blasting an unseen person with rudeness online is not new.

“Even the butcher and the baker, the grocer and the clothier keep customers waiting minutes rather than seconds before asking: “What can I do for You?” Yet how rarely a customer thinks of “sassing” a store clerk for being dilatory or negligent or stupid, even though the indifference or the stupidity or the arrogance shown is exasperating? Why make this distinction: Is it because the clerk is a living entity whose resentment will be emphatic and Central (operator) is unseen”.

As New Braunfels grew, the number of telephones grew, as did the amount of business conducted by phone. In Reflections Oral History Program #32, recorded in 1977, guests Mrs. Emilie Feigerle and Mrs. Hedwig Bose shared their memories of working for the telephone company. Both ladies began their employment with Southwestern Bell Telephone & Telegraph in 1915-1916. They recalled that only women age 17 or older would be hired to run the switchboards. They reported the company being over Voelcker’s and then maybe in the Schmidt building. The operators would plug in whenever a shutter opened on the board and ask, “number?” before plugging into that slot. If someone wanted to make a long distance call, the local operator wrote out a ticket and then switched them over to the ‘toll’ operator. Twenty-four hour service was available… the night switchboard girl slept there.

The numbers in town were all plain numbers on single lines. The Zeitung’s number was 86. Out in the rural areas people hung their own lines. Several people would be on just one line, so they had to listen for their specific number of rings, like five or six rings. Sometimes it was a combination of short and long rings. The ladies explained that they knew a lot of what was going on in town. “We were not allowed to listen in but you know, sometimes the key would accidentally flip open a little bit. We didn’t have to listen much, because we knew every man that had three or four women on the string in town. We knew which numbers they called.”

The ladies also remembered the Armistice of WWI on November 11, 1918. “She and I,” recalled Mrs. Bose, “were the only ones there that morning when the Armistice was declared. Johnny Platz was the manager and he went down and brought in people from the street to show them how busy we were. There wasn’t a shutter that wasn’t flapping. People were calling each other to tell about the war. To talk about the War ending. All of the whistles were blowing. It was quite an event!”

In 1925, the Blumberg building was built (now housing the coffee shop and offices across the street from the Courthouse). On January 1, 1926, the telephone exchange moved to its second floor. Long-time New Braunfels residents still remember the telephone office at this location. If you are curious, the Sophienburg Archives has all the New Braunfels phone books dating back to 1906.

I have mixed emotions about those days. I long for that more personal connection between people, the face-to-face conversations, the slower pace of life – while I shoot off an email to my daughter and order that fantastic blouse online, on my phone.

Sources:

• Haas, Oscar, History of New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas
• Reflections #32, Sophienburg Museum and Archives
• Around the Sophienburg, www.sophienburg.com
• New Braunfels Herald

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Tourism has been an important economic facet in New Braunfels for many years. All can agree that the beauty of natural springs bubbling out of a rocky hillside to form the crystal clear Comal River, Landa Park, historic homes and businesses, music venues in century old dance halls, and the beer, sausage and Gemütlichkeit of Wurstfest are not really a difficult sell. But who started it all? Who was the very first tour guide of New Braunfels?

After a quick search through the Archives, I found that it might be a man by the name of Karl Klinger. Okay, so this might need a little background. In 1845, New Braunfels was settled by German immigrants led by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, Commissioner General of “The Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas” or Adelsverein. When the townsite was surveyed and laid out, the Prince chose a large section of land for the Adelsverein. According to the earliest town maps, the land was bordered by what is today Hill Street, Guenther Street, Cross Street and Butcher Street. A three-room log cabin with large doors was built on the crest of the small hill overlooking the settlement to serve as both the Adelsverein headquarters and guest quarters for visiting dignitaries. The building was also to be the beginning of a fortress to protect the colonists. Now, Prince Carl was already betrothed to Princess Sophia of Salm-Salm, so he did not stick around long in New Braunfels (actually only about 6 weeks). Before he left for his homeland, he dedicated the property and named the log structure “Sophienburg” (Sophia’s Fortress) in honor of his fiancée. A couple of other structures were erected on the site including a supply warehouse (or magazine) for foodstuffs and farm implements (thus the street named Magazine Avenue). After the Adelsverein went bankrupt in 1847, the whole Sophienburg Hill property was sold & divided to satisfy debts. The original headquarters building fell into disrepair, standing as a decaying memory of the Verein for over forty years until it was destroyed in a storm (that’s another story for another time).

For a good part of those forty years, the original Sophienburg building was occupied by Christian (aka Karl) Klinger as a sort of caretaker. Klinger had immigrated to Texas in 1845 as a servant of Prince Carl from the Province of Bavaria. He is listed in census records as a “joiner”, which is an antiquated term for someone who joins wooden building components like stairs, doors, and window frames. He also served during the Civil War in Captain F. Heidemeyer’s Company of Infantry, Texas State Troops, 31^st Brigade with the rank of Private. According to an 1888 New Braunfels Zeitung article, Karl Klinger lived in the “only rainproof corner” of the dilapidated old Sophienburg headquarters building until it collapsed (now that’s dedication!). So, what do you do when your historical hilltop home is blown away? What Klinger would do — build a small cabin to operate out of, keep on showing people around the site, keep telling the history of the Prince, Sophienburg Hill and stories about his time as a bugler in the Prussian Regiment of the Guards. To support himself, he sold such items as candy, soda drinks, homemade cider and postcards… the first tour guide and father of tourism in New Braunfels! Klinger was so well known that he was even included in an anonymous poem lovingly penned in German and submitted to the Zeitung in 1877:

The Sophienburg in New Braunfels

At New Braunfels on the hill
An old ruin perched;
There once dwelt the knight
Where now the Klinger lives.
He planes there all day
He tends to play the flute,
His beer is good, the cider clear
For Little money, one gets a lot.
And if you step out in front of the door,
One sees a friendly picture’
There lies the town in green adornment
Shrouded with gardens.
Prince Solms, a good knight,
Had this house built
Thirty-two years ago
To see something different.
After his much loved Lady
Did the Prince name it.
Sophienburg was its name,
So it is still known today.
There in the valley below swayed
The grasses back and forth,
Where you see the manicured farms
Was in those days, bare and desolate.
Wherever the eye turns
One sees today the fruits of Labor
What the parent’s diligence provided,
Was a blessing for their young.

Fast forward to 1928 and when S.V. Pfeuffer, along with a handful of very civic minded people, raised money during The Great Depression to acquire part of the Hill property and build a museum and library. The Museum, built on the original Hill Property, was dedicated on October 8, 1933. New Braunfels Herald accounts of the dedication reported “this was the first instance in the Southwest, at least, where a memorial has risen on the exact site where a city or town had its birth.”

Almost 84 years to the day, the Sophienburg Hill will be recognized by The Texas Historical Commission as a significant part of Texas history by awarding it an Official Texas Historical Marker. The designation honors Sophienburg Hill as an important and educational part of local history. As an added bonus, The Lindheimer Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas will also recognize the Sophienburg Hill as an Historic Site of the Republic of Texas.

A ceremony to commemorate these two events will be held on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at 401 W. Coll at 5:15 pm. The Comal County Historical Commission invites the public to share in and witness this exciting dedication of the historical Sophienburg Hill.

Sources:

• Neu Braunfelser Zeitung
• New Braunfels Herald
• The First Founders, by Everett A. Fey
• THC application for site status

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Rural communities in Comal County outside of the City of New Braunfels formed mostly around land for farming and ranching. Stores, post offices and dance halls sprang up around these farming communities. Around Comal County roughly 30 of these small settlements developed. One of those communities was originally called Fischer’s Store. It was one of the largest and luckily it still exists because it wasn’t swallowed up by Canyon Lake.

One of the reasons for the success of this community was a social but cooperative organization called the Agricultural Society of Fischer’s Store organized in 1875. As you will see, as time goes by, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for this group.

Go back to 1853 when two brothers, Otto and Hermann Fischer emigrated from Germany to Texas and made their land claim. A few other families made their claims in this area in the late 1850s but up to that point, it had no name.

Due to the difficulty of clearing land for agriculture in the hill country, the Fischer brothers started their cattle ranching business. They encountered many hazards, such as Indians, wild weather, wolves, and rustlers. This was a time of open ranges (no fences) and the cattle roamed from the Pedernales to the San Antonio Rivers. During the Civil War, cattlemen had to have a pass to move from one county to another to retrieve lost cattle. Neighbors worked together to round up cattle to send on the trail drives to markets in Kansas. A trip to Kansas took about three months. Trail drives did not last very long due to these hazards.

On their ranch, the Fischer brothers not only raised cattle but also Merino sheep, a breed that was introduced by George Kendall. When fencing became possible, they were able to raise a better brand of cattle. At this same time, Hermann Fischer began a general store and the area became known as Fischer’s Store and finally, just Fischer. Hermann Fischer eventually became a successful mercantile business man and Otto became a successful rancher. This store is still standing at Fischer.

The Fischer Agricultural Society was formed to promote agriculture and animal husbandry and to acquaint families in the area through social activities, like dances. Dances were held outside or in someone’s home. A mixture of alcohol and the ability to carry a fire arm resulted in sometimes violent behavior at the dances. The first incident was an altercation between attendees in 1877 at which time a fiddle player was killed by a stray bullet. Can you just picture the scene? This caused the Agricultural Society to close down.

A few years later, the Society reorganized but in 1892 when a dance was held at the Andrea Kuhn place, a few miles from Fischer’s Store another shooting took place, resulting in the decision for the society to try and find a permanent home.

While Hermann Fischer was busy with the mercantile business, Otto Fischer had become a very successful rancher and he eventually owned over 2,000 acres. Otto’s interest in having an Agricultural Society is easy to understand. He gave a portion of his property to the Society to construct a permanent home which they did in 1897. A building for the dance hall would provide more security for Society activities. Society minutes before the last 1897 tragedy were not found and so the society’s minutes officially began in 1897 even though the Society was much older. A dance hall called Fischer Hall was built and still stands.

It is thought that members built the hall with some outside help. It is positive that most of the lumber was purchased at Henne Hardware in New Braunfels, as that name can be seen stamped on the inside boards. Like other dance halls in the county, this hall was built utilizing a lamination of pine and curved into arches, vaulting the ceiling. The wood for the arches was soaked in water and then bent in the form of an arch.

Immediately, activities and dances were held and in the first two years there was a July 4 Ball with Guenther’s Band providing the music, a costume Ball, an Easter Ball with the Bird’s Band, a Festival Ball and the Fischer Store Band performed.

Everything went well at the dances. Right? Wrong! In 1917, at a society dance a Comal County Sheriff’s deputy was shot by a man named George Burkhardt whom the deputy had suspected of robbing a watch in a recent burglary. Burkhardt had a gun in his boot, pulled it out and shot the deputy. Ironically and sadly, the deputy Alfred O. Fischer was the son of Otto Fischer.

Fast forward. The dance hall didn’t close but became the site of weddings, anniversaries, reunions, plays, school functions and masked balls. Best of all the hall became famous because it was the site of some famous western bands. Adolph Hofner started his career at Fischer Hall and Bob Wills who was named to the Music Hall of Fame in 1968, played there. His songs like “San Antonio Rose”, “Take Me Back to Tulsa”, and “Ida Red”, spilled out of the hall into Comal County.

In 1978, a Texas Crossover artist decided that Hollywood would use the hall in the movie, “Honeysuckle Rose, starring Willie Nelson. Although the scene in the hall was only a few minutes long, everyone enjoyed being entertained by Willie Nelson after shooting the pictures, where he sang for the crowds that had gathered.

In 1897, the Society built a nine-pin bowling alley adjacent to the Fischer Hall. The alley has expanded to four lanes and is still in use today. The dance hall is still used today also.

Bryan Weidner has done extensive research on the Fischer family and the Agricultural Society of Fischer’s Store. He is the son of the late Homuth Weidner and Thelma Fischer Weidner. He lives in the Fischer homestead in Fischer, where his grandfather Arnold B. Fischer lived and his mother, Thelma, grew up.

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Hermann Seele gave us a good description of the Texas Hill Country. I’m paraphrasing what he said and you can observe as you drive between Austin and San Antonio on Highway 35. In the distance, take notice of a low, dark green line of cedar-covered hills. This line indicates the location of the Edwards Escarpment. Along this line, the earth split long ago and the coastal plain on which you are traveling fell away several hundred feet. This falling exposed a limestone strata. Subterranean waters gushed forth to the surface by pressure and found themselves exposed to the surface. Barton Springs, San Marcos Springs, San Antonio Springs (Brackenridge Park) and Comal Springs are examples. The springs fed streams causing an abundance of water below the fault.

Now go above the fault and you see the beautiful hill country where so many small communities were established soon after New Braunfels was settled. In the hill country, surface water is scarce and wells are essential. Most of the land is used for ranching and small farms. The Guadalupe River and small creeks were important sources of water in the hill country. The settlements outside of the city limits of New Braunfels were created where water was available. One of the areas about 25 miles Northwest of New Braunfels was settled in 1850 and called Honey Creek.

Back in the early 1840s, a man named Andrew Bechtold heard stories from friends and relatives in Germany that Texas was indeed the “promised land” found along the Guadalupe River. With that thought in mind, Bechtold, along with his wife Christina and their five sons, made the 32 day trip across the seas, arriving on the coast just about when the cholera epidemic broke out. Many immigrants died and the tragedy for Christina was that her husband and four of her five children perished.

Christina who was 27 years old at the time and her one surviving son, Michael, had no choice but to make the difficult trip inland by ox wagon. These immigrants were looking for unclaimed land. Christina was Roman Catholic so she joined others of that same faith.

Among those immigrants was a single man named George Friedrich Kunz and it was on this trip that Mrs. Bechtold met and married Mr. Kunz. Together they came to an area of unclaimed land outside New Braunfels belonging to the State of Texas where a stream emptied into the Guadalupe River. They chose a spot where a small spring bubbled from under a rock. They applied for a homestead and within two years the 160 acres would be theirs.

The land was mostly caliche and so they constructed a shelter until they could construct a cedar log house. Buildings of cedar were very strong. Cedar logs were an important resource. Do you know why chests were made of cedar? Bugs don’t like it. While the couple was busy building their house, her son Michael was sent to the creek to get drinking water. On the banks he came upon a large number of swarming bees hanging from a tree forming a large clump. Michael ran back to the parents to tell them of his find and they decided to return to the place and look for honey that they knew must be there because of the bees. The name of the place became Honey Creek.

Of course, there are more than one story of the origin of the name Honey Creek. Another version is that early settlers found swarms of bees along the Guadalupe River. The creek bank would become a source of honey, a welcome addition to the meager diet of the settlers. Some even connect the name with the unusual honeycomb rock found in abundance in the area.

George Kunz was a resourceful man. He chopped cedar for his house. The cedar that he didn’t use for construction, he burned. He noticed that the burned cedar produced a coal that lasted for several hours. These coals could be used for heating an iron for ironing clothes. You may wonder why anyone would bother to iron clothes used in the outdoors. If you wash the stiff material that work clothes were made of, hang them out to dry, they are extremely stiff. Ironing the garment makes it more comfortable. This charcoal was George’s first cash crop and he hauled charcoal to sell in surrounding towns such as San Antonio, New Braunfels, and Boerne.

On one of these excursions, George Kunz met Rev. John Kosspiel, a Catholic missionary priest stationed at a parish in Boerne. He was actually a circuit-riding priest covering several counties. Kunz invited the priest to spend the night and say mass in his home. Other catholic families invited were Kneupper, Acker, Lux, Moos, Scheel, and Kaiser.

From that initial meeting, Kunz’s house became the site of services, even weddings. In 1876 a small log chapel was built near the Kunz home. It burned in 1877 and was replaced by a second log chapel. A larger frame church was built in 1892 on the site of what is now St. Joseph’s Educational Building.

After years of struggle, St. Joseph’s of Honey Creek received its first resident priest, Rev. Virgillus Draessel. Parishioner Barbara Wehe states that Draessel was in poor health and spoke almost no English, which was all right with his parishioners. He supposedly made a promise to the Blessed Virgin Mary that if he was made well, he would build a chapel on the hill and then a church. Land for this big church was purchased from Hermann Scheel. Rev. Draessel started the construction in 1908 and soon there was conflict between the priest and the parishioners who were building the structure.

Discouraged, Draessel returned to Germany for a couple of years at which time no progress was made in the church construction. He returned from Germany and completed the St. Joseph’s building. Rev. Draessel died after serving the church 34 years and was buried inside the church beneath the floor near the altar.

The Honey Creek State Natural Area, across the highway from St. Joseph’s Church is now open by guided tours only. It had its beginning as the Jacob Doeppenschmidt Ranch. The Doeppenschmidts were members of St. Joseph’s Church. As members of the family added parcels of land, the area eventually became the Honey Creek Ranch. This well-preserved wildlife area has become the showcase of the Texas Hill Country.

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