Oscar Haas, the Battleship Texas and the “Spirit of the Spanish-American War”

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — How great is this photo of New Braunfels boys! The image was copied for Oscar Haas by Mr. Seidel in 1960, but it dates way back to March 17, 1900. The young men, dressed up for the Kindermaskenzug (Children’s Masquerade Parade), are standing in front

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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.

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Mueller family history tapestry

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Have you ever tugged at a loose thread only to find that the thread was not really loose, resulting in an irritating unraveling of sorts? I recently pulled at said “loose thread,” but the odd “thread” that I pulled exposed a beautiful tapestry with a

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History of the Moeller House

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — New Braunfels historians have told us that the first immigrants arrived with very little in the way of belongings. And, unlike today’s new arrivals in New Braunfels, our founding ancestors had a lot to do before settling into a house. They had to secure materials

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“Tante Emmie”

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Emmie was not just any little girl. Born Sept 15, 1867, she was the daughter of civic and cultural leader Hermann Seele and his wife Mathilde nee Blum. Much was expected of Emmie. Hermann Seele was known as “The Soul of New Braunfels”, a name

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Photo Caption: H.W. Schmidt cigar box with circa 1845 cigar cutter and meerschaum cigar holder.

A good smoke was a hometown cigar

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — So, I’m still in “cigar-mode.” Once begun, research on a subject takes me down many roads, each with their own questions to answer. For instance, I found out that early New Braunfels had cigar makers. These were not big outfits, but little factories which had

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Historic treasures hiding in plain sight

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Historic Downtown New Braunfels. It calls to my heart. The fascination for me is held by the details of the buildings and architecture, the part many people do not notice. Growing up, any business that needed to be conducted could pretty much be done within

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Prohibition unpopular in New Braunfels

The sharing of history comes in many formats including murals, oral storytelling, books, newspapers and sometimes social media. Recently a photo of the New Braunfels Brewing Company was posted on the “Remember in New Braunfels, TX when…” Facebook page questioning where that building was. The answer is the New Braunfels

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Goff Scholarship winner shares history

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Every child passing through the Texas Public Education System receives an introduction to history. I say an introduction, because they may not remember all of it, but they are definitely shown it. Elementary students begin learning about their own community history in third grade, eventually

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Troop 133 – the oldest established troop in New Braunfels

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — The year 2018 marks 75 years of Scouting for New Braunfels Troop 133 sponsored by First Protestant Church. Seventy-five years is a significant milestone… so my story topic is born. At the beginning of any project, we tend to use the “scatter gun approach,” which

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