Searching for clues
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Researching your family? Maybe you want to know about who lived in/owned your home? The Sophienburg Museum and Archives has resources to help you! Research, of any subject, is basically detective work — analyzing the available records, searching through assembled stories and examining photographs and maps. The Sophienburg has been […]
Hermann Sons #21 celebrating 135 years
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — This year, the New Braunfels Hermann Sons Lodge #21 is celebrating 135 years. What sounded like a simple “Happy Birthday” article soon became a rabbit hole that I could not ignore. Hold on! First of all, who is Hermann and why do his sons have a lodge? I learned that […]
Cool. Clear. Water.
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — We are here because of the Comal and the Guadalupe rivers. We have drunk it, powered mills and made electricity with it, and played in the beautiful water since 1845. Farmers and ranchers in Comal County also used the waters of the Guadalupe and the many little spring-fed creeks that […]
History among the ‘stones — Comal Cemetery
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — When I was in junior high school, I sometimes would tag along with my dad when he drove my Oma to Comal Cemetery. She tended my Opa’s grave twice a month. While they were scraping the dirt and replacing the flowers, I would wander through the gravestones. It may sound […]
“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 given him in honor of […]
The Beckers of New Braunfels
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — I blink my eyes and the town is growing, changing, faster than ever before. That is why I’m drawn to write about the houses and downtown buildings that were old and classic when I was a child. These buildings have connections to people. I want others to know the importance […]
Images of history
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Some fifty years ago, New Braunfels was still a small town. You know, very Mayberry, where they pulled up the fire hydrants, rolled up the sidewalks and locked them in the bank every day at 6 p.m. At least they did from my child-eye view. One of the few things […]
Moving along
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — We have become somewhat accustomed to seeing motor homes, mobile homes, and tiny homes as they move down the highway to their new resting place. However, seeing a stucco building moving through downtown is more of a spectacle. That is exactly what I saw one morning in December. As I […]
The Toepperweins, Texas treasures
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — One of the things I really love about New Braunfels is the way folks have of helping each other and sharing information. I was recently contacted by the New Braunfels Public Library about two children’s books which had been pulled from the library’s general collection. Would the Sophienburg like them? […]
The cold facts of New Braunfels
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — New Braunfelsers were giddy with joy when snowflake clusters fell on December 7th. Waking up that next morning was a “blessed event” of sorts for us locals. Some newcomers amongst us wondered at our ecstasy over snow, and in trying to explain, I realized that just like people in ancient […]
