Pittman’s Red & White Store

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — I always looked forward to our weekly trip to the grocery store. Although it was only a short twelve or so blocks from our house (and about the same from the Plaza), it felt like we were traveling to an exotic place with odd sights, sounds and smells. It was […]

Getting “pop” in New Braunfels

Keva Hoffmann Boardman – Soda pop? Soft drink? Soda water? My family just says “soda.” Whatever you call it, the soft drink industry is huge. When did New Braunfelsers first get a taste for the sugary yet satisfying beverage? As early as 1872, Otto and Theo. Simon were bottling ice cold soda at their home. […]

Names of places tell a cultural story

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman – I discovered something interesting the other day. In a 1954 New Braunfels Herald column called, “The Melting Pot,” the writer, Gordon Rose, discusses the names of nearby localities known by both German/Anglo and Mexican citizens. The names these two cultures chose give us insight to how people thought about things. […]

The stories behind our grottos

Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I mentioned in an article that I needed to look into the history and creation of the grottos at our city’s lovely Catholic churches. A grotto is a small mountain – El Cerrito or Die Grotte – which is created from concrete or stone and includes openings or niches that are […]

Morales Funeral Home early business in Comaltown

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Dr. Ferdinand Roemer in his book “Roemer’s Texas,” when he arrived in the village of New Braunfels in 1846, wrote that a speculative American had laid out a new city in between the fork of the Comal and the Guadalupe within view of the city of New Braunfels and it […]