By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

When I was 6 years old, I remember proudly being able to finally count to 100 without messing up. I counted 100 pennies. I counted 100 M&M’s (though I rarely made it through that without eating some). Those were tangible. It is still very hard for me to wrap my head around counting 100 of anything intangible … like 100 years. What was it even like 100 years ago in 1926?

Well, World War I ended in 1918. The U.S. economy was humming along, and automobiles became common place. Queen Elizabeth II was born, and the magician Houdini died. The famed U.S. Route 66 was established, connecting Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. Closer to home, the towering Comal Power Plant (LCRA, now The Landmark Apartments) was built, and, believe it or not, the Women’s Civic Improvement Club funded the installation of a women’s restroom under the bandstand on Main Plaza.

As New Braunfels grew, the number of churches grew to serve the needs of people moving into the community. In August of 1925, an announcement appeared in the New Braunfels Herald touting Rev. H. Schliesser, a field missionary of the Lutheran Texas Synod, was in New Braunfels to organize a Lutheran congregation. The first services, conducted in German, were upstairs at Mergele Hall.

The Mergeles of Harry Mergele’s Hall are founding families from France. They were merchants. Their home is the little green building that sits behind the store at 166 Comal Avenue (now the chiropractor office). Mergele Hall may not ring a bell with you because the building has had so many other occupants. The two-story building, now the home of Water 2 Wine at 185 S. Seguin, has housed many entities over the years, including a place for the militia to drill, a dance studio, piano studio, and an assembly hall, part of Denson-Dedeke Gifts (downstairs) in the ‘80s and the original retail space for Celebrations Bridal (upstairs). St. Paul Lutheran was one of many churches that got their start upstairs at Mergele Hall.

The new Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul Congregation was established and officially recognized March 21, 1926. The church continued to grow under the guidance of the Rev. H Schliesser. The services were conducted in German in the morning and English in the afternoon with Sunday School in between.

By October 1926, the Lutheran Mission Board of the Iowa Synod voted to contribute to the St. Paul congregation, helping them purchase a house and lot on San Antonio Street for a parsonage, along with two adjacent lots to build a church on Santa Clara. They operated out of those few buildings for a while as they continued to grow their services.

Within a year, they added a St Paul Lutheran Ladies Aid and St. Paul Luther League (for teens), and the St. Paul Lutheran Brotherhood. 1928 saw more opportunities to participate in worship with the creation of the sanctuary and junior choirs. Then, the Great Depression hit.

In 1939, Rev. H.A. Heineke formed a building committee to begin planning a new church building. The church, designed by noted architect, Jeremiah Schmidt, and built by C. R. Roessler, was built of native fieldstone with beautiful dark wood interior beams/trim and stained-glass windows. The $6,000 ($110,000 today) note covered the building and furniture. The church, now known as the Chapel, was dedicated on April 14, 1940. The Chapel is one of the only Jeremiah Schmidt buildings in New Braunfels without a Texas State Historical marker.

St. Paul’s congregation continued to grow, much like churches across the U.S. in the 1960s. This growth prompted the congregation to expand their footprint. In 1962, a new, larger sanctuary was built. The new church building wrapped around the original Jeremiah Schmidt chapel, with its modern design incorporating similar stone, wood beams and colorful stained-glass windows.

With New Braunfels being 180 years old, you might wonder why it took 80 years for a Lutheran church congregation to be established. Well, there is a whole backstory to that. The Lutheran denominations began in Europe and arrived in Texas with German, Swedish, Czech immigrants. In 1850, Pastor Kleiss of Baden, Germany, arrived in Texas to check out the possibilities for new Lutheran congregations. He established himself in the Hortontown and Neighborsville communities across the river from New Braunfels.

In 1851, the German-speaking congregation erected St. Martin Church, the oldest Lutheran church in Texas. A school building was built in 1870 (still standing across from New Braunfels Conservation Society gate). The congregation grew until the turn of the century. St. Martin’s was part of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas. It became difficult to supply churches with German-speaking pastors who were of Evangelical or Reformed faith. When services were discontinued, the congregants attended nearby German-speaking churches, First Protestant Church in New Braunfels or Friedens Church in Geronimo.

St. Martin’s Church was taken over and restored by the St. Paul Lutheran Congregation in 1963. St. Martin’s Church was moved to its present place in the Hortontown Cemetery when Loop 337 was built and is marked by a Texas Historical Marker. St. Paul Lutheran Church still holds special services in St. Martins.

One hundred years ago, St. Paul Lutheran began a journey in Christ and extended itself to not only take care of future congregants, but to honor the history of Lutheranism in Texas. Here’s to counting 100 more years!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

On February 16, 1963, San Antonio Express and News staff writer Jerry Deal ran a story in the San Antonio Express and News about Laredo, Texas. This is an out take: “… the friendly city of Laredo is not only the oldest independent town established in Texas (1755) — it is one of the most famous. The only Texas city to have been under seven flags.”

Laredo’s seventh flag was the flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande. This republic, fighting against Mexico, lasted from January 1840 to November 1840.

For those not blessed enough to be born-and-raised in Texas, Texas has had the flags of six nations fly over it. An unknown author penned, “It has not been a simple plot that has unfolded to produce the Texas of today…(one) that brought a succession of six flags while sovereignty over Texas changed eight times….” (yes, we used to speak and write this way even without AI).

The sequence of the six flags follows: 1. Spain (1519-1685) and (1690-1821), 2. France (1685-1690), 3. Mexico (1821-1836), 4. Republic of Texas (1836-1845), 5. United States of America (1846-1861) and (1865 to present) and 6. Confederate States of America (1861-1865).

Upon reading the SA Express and News article, Oscar Haas, local NB historian and record-keeper, promptly informed New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce Manager Tom Purdum of a major oversight — New Braunfels had also had a seventh flag. He asked Mr. Purdum to address the egregious statement in the SA Express and gave him “ammunition” to fight with. Tom Purdum wasted no time in sending staff writer Jerry Deal a short concise letter three days later (Feb 19).

“This is in reference to your article on Laredo appearing in the Saturday Feb. 16 edition of the San Antonio Express. We wish to offer you a correction concerning your statement that Laredo is the only Texas city to have been under seven flags. If you will refer to an article appearing in the San Antonio Express Monday, July 2, 1962, entitled “New Braunfels Once Under Austrian Flag”, you will notice there are two cities boasting seven banners in their history. Also, New Braunfels is probably the only Texas city founded by a prince of a foreign power.”

Brilliant gentleman. Referencing the paper to its own published article — an article which states that Prince Carl of Braunfels raised the Austrian flag up on Sophienburg Hill on April 27, 1845. Why the Austrian flag? A German flag could not be found among the immigrants. Why? Because a unified Germany did not exist until 1848; before that, it was just a collection of independent states. My question is who brought an Austrian flag with them?

But Oscar knew even more about that ceremony. The black and yellow Austrian flag was hoisted by Prince Carl under cannon salutes with lots of pomp and circumstance, including a banquet for his friends. Seems the new immigrants had different ideas. Those in opposition to the reminder of a feudal system they had chosen to forget, met at the newly plotted-out Main Plaza at the same time to hoist a flag of their own — the flag of the Republic of Texas. They also formed their own citizen-based militia to protect the new settlement from possible Native American attacks. It didn’t take these new Texans long to feel the pull of this great state and the power of new freedoms.

Did Jerry Deal respond to Mr. Purdum’s letter? I didn’t find a response per say. I did find another article published a year later in the San Antonio Express on Monday, Feb 17, 1964. It is almost the same article about the history of Laredo, and its title, “Texas Seventh Flag Flew Briefly for Rio Republic” didn’t bode well for our miffed letter-writing townsmen. In fact, it seemed that the San Antonio Express ignored the letter. But, as I read through the article several times, I noticed that the words, “the only Texas city to have been under seven flags” had been omitted. I guess they did sort of get the point.

Now I know you will be saying, “But NB has only been here since 1845, so really only four flags have flown over it.” Yes, that is true, but if Laredo can claim seven flags, so can we. As part of Texas, the land we love living on has been under the flags of seven nations.

Thank you, Oscar and Tom, for standing up for our fair city of New Braunfels and letting the San Antonio Express, nay, the world know that we, too, have lived under seven flags. Proud to be a Neu Braunfelser! Proud to be TEXAN!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives, #0009 Oscar Haas collection.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Reaching a certain age and lifespan in New Braunfels entitles me, and others like me, to call buildings/places by other names and not sound crazy. It is like a secret code. We can use the “old” name when referring to a current building, and not many will know what we are talking about. Recently, we were talking about the New Braunfels Social Club building located at 353 S. Seguin Ave., which has nothing to do with the current establishment by that name on West San Antonio Street.

As you know, New Braunfels is known for being a social city, thanks to our founding fathers. When German immigrants came to Texas, they brought more than just tools and clothes to start a new life, they brought their culture, work ethic, music, and family values. They also brought their desire for socialization. They participated in organizations of all kinds — singing societies, shooting clubs, athletic clubs.

Eventually, athletic clubs became less about physical fitness and more about social activities — billiards, card games (skat) and nine-pin bowling. Bowling teams from various clubs around town would compete with one another, as well as travel to other towns to compete for prizes. One of the earliest organizations was the New Braunfels Social Club founded in 1864.

Unfortunately, much of the New Braunfels Social Club organization history has been lost. From what I can tell, they were more of what we now think of as a bowling team. They had no “lanes” of their own, so they bowled at established bowling alleys. They may possibly have taken their name from a hosting bowling alley. Advertisements posted in the Zeitung all-German language paper in 1890 noted that the Social Club Saloon Beer Hall and Bowling Alley, owned by Mangliers, was formerly known as Hasenbeck’s Saloon. The ads of the day gave no addresses, but Karl Hasenbeck showed up in the 1890 census as a barkeeper on Seguin Street.

In 1910, the New Braunfels Social Club organization built a building for their members at 353 S. Seguin Ave. The 1907 Sanborn maps indicate that two bowling lanes, a separate smaller building, and a beer garden had existed on that same property. The one-story Social Club building has many characteristics of the Richardsonian Romanesque period, including grand architectural elements of a heavy stone façade with columns, arched windows and stained-glass detail more like one would see on a large three-story courthouse. The new building had room for club activities and enclosed bowling lanes.

Nine-pin bowling was a team sport. As New Braunfels Social Club membership increased, their support for the community grew, holding fundraising events for Red Cross donations and to buy War Bonds. They did well. In 1930, they expanded, installing first-class billiards tables, card tables, and more bowling lanes for members. Initially, the lanes were set up for nine-pin bowling. Ten-pen bowling became more prevalent with the invention of mechanical pin setting machines in the 1950s. New Braunfels Social Club voted to install pinsetter equipment in 1959. They enjoyed success until a public bowling alley opened in the early ‘60s. Club membership dropped by 75 percent over an eight-year period and they could no longer keep up with expenses. The New Braunfels Social Club made the painful decision to close their doors for good in October 1968 due to overwhelming debt, a good deal of which was attributed to pinsetter equipment. The building would not sit empty for long.

The City of New Braunfels was looking for a site on which to build a new civic center. The City Master Plan recommended a convention site on IH 35 at Walnut (across from H-E-B). The city placed a bid of $35,000 for the Social Club property, only to have it rejected by the club’s membership. The city withdrew the offer but let it be known that it was prepared to initiate condemnation procedures to acquire the property. The Social Club received one other bid for $40,000 and accepted, even though the purchase price would not cover the club’s entire $51,000 debt. So, who outbid the City? The Elks!

A local chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was chartered in 1963. The New Braunfels Elks Lodge No. 2279 leased the old Oasis Club property (current location of Microtel Inn & Suites on Business 35) for their new home. This fraternal organization, built on the tenets of “Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity,” fit right into the fabric of New Braunfels. Their membership grew quickly over the next five years and sought to build their own lodge building. The Elks had already purchased a piece of land on Highway 46 South for their new lodge. When the Social Club building came up for sale, they jumped on it and closed in January of 1969.

The Elks put in over 5,000 volunteer hours to remodel the old Social Club, including removing the bowling lanes and transforming the area into a dance floor. The eight maple bowling lanes weighing 56,000 pounds were painstakingly taken up and reassembled, pegged, glued and refinished to create an 1,800-square-foot dance floor. Think giant jigsaw puzzle. That’s commitment! The new Elks Lodge No. 2279 was dedicated in August 1969. The 114-year- old lodge building has been and continues to be one of the most popular venues in New Braunfels.

On a side note, the New Braunfels Social Club decision to accept the Elks’ bid over the city’s, to some was controversial, but ultimately, it was the membership’s call. They basically saved the 1910 treasure. Had the vote gone the other way, the Social Club bowling alley would have been torn down and the Civic Center would have been built on the other side of the street.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

I recently found a note in Oscar Haas’s archive collection, “Zeitung, Thursday, July 6, 1899. Use story some time concerning a jailbreak.” He never published the story.

I felt like he was “speaking from the grave” and I should look into it.

The first purpose-built Comal County Jail was a log structure constructed at the location of the current Elks Lodge’s parking lot on South Seguin Street. It was used until 1854, when a new jail was built at what is now 509 W. Mill St.

The earliest reported jailbreak in the New Braunfels Zeitung was from the Mill Street jail in February 1859. The prisoner, William D. Harris, had committed a brutal murder in Seguin. Eight days prior to the escape, the sheriff heard unusual sounds from the cell. Opening the door, he discovered that Harris had broken free of his chains and that an attempt had been made to break through the cell wall, from both the inside and the outside, with a crowbar and a file. Two men were put on constant guard outside the building. At 11 p.m. on the night of the breakout, about 15 men on horseback descended on the jail and broke the boards and one lock of the two oak doors. The chain and cuffs attached to prisoner Harris were broken off with a heavy hammer.

Don’t know if Harris was ever caught. That’s research for another time.

In 1866, a suspected horse thief and another prisoner attempted an escape by creating a hole in the cell wall. Fortunately, the sheriff arrived before the hole was big enough for the escapees. The two men were put in irons.

An extremely inventive jailbreak was attempted in July of 1874. Two prisoners used the bacon they had been given for supper to grease and set fire to the heavy oak planks of the door that separated their cells. One of the escapees got through and began working to make a hole in the outer jail wall. The second man began coughing from the smoke and got stuck in the burned opening. Prisoner One soon went back and pulled his comrade through. The process scraped quite a lot of skin from the man’s torso; he refused to help make the second hole in the outer wall. Daylight brought the sheriff and ended their creative jailbreak.

Eventually, the Mill Street jail proved inadequate both in size and reliability. In 1879, a new two-story cut-limestone jail was erected behind the 1860 Comal County Courthouse (located where the Chase Bank building is on Main Plaza). This jail was built with an iron roof and doors and cost the county about $10,000; it could hold 20-30 prisoners.

Crime must have been on the rise.

In a humorous, Andy Griffith-like moment, a prisoner escaped from the brand-new jail by simply walking out of his unlocked cell and through an unguarded front door. He was caught later across the bridge in Comaltown. The editors of the newspaper printed the question, “Why don’t we close the doors?”.

The year 1866 saw another jailbreak. James Alexander, incarcerated for the involuntary manslaughter of Walter Krause, simply disappeared from the jail. On the morning of the escape, he was heard playing his flute. When lunch was brought in to him, he was gone. The sheriff, who was in Seguin at the time of the jailbreak, located Alexander in San Antonio the next day. The newspaper never shared how the jailbreak was accomplished.

Now the 1899 story that motivated me to check out this subject. The Neu Braunfels Zeitung article is quite tongue-in-cheek.

Three prisoners escaped from “our break-in and escape-proof county prison” in the wee hours of the morning when the sheriff was away. The men had not been sentenced so were not locked in a cell. Having freedom to move in the corridor between the cells and the prison wall, they managed to fashion an axe with a piece of iron attached to a broken broom handle. With this implement, and the use of a water hose used to clean the cells, the three “very cleverly” used the water hose to soften the mortar and then scrape it away so that the stones of the wall could be pulled in or pushed out without much effort. The last paragraph is priceless:

“These guys really deserve recognition for their job. They probably didn’t want the free room and board from the County any longer… But rumor has it that the intelligent escapees, after celebrating July 4th outdoors, will want free quarters and will decide to break into the prison again. However, all precautionary measures have been taken to prevent this…”

I do love a journalist with a wicked sense of humor.

The 1879 limestone jail was replaced by an addition to the Comal County Court­house in 1931, although it wasn’t torn down until 1958. I found several references to jail­breaks from this newest jail. A rather spec­tac­ular one occurred in 1963. Two prisoners joined forces and escaped via a large steel trapdoor to the third-floor roof. The trap­door was chained to a steel ladder which was bolted to the concrete ceiling of the jail. The two prisoners worked the large steel bolts out of the concrete enough to slide the ladder and trapdoor over to give them space to escape. From the roof, they used an angled corner of the court­house to climb down the rock face to the roof of the first floor. There, they connected a rope made from two blankets and a jacket to the downspout of the gutter. Once on the ground they each went their own way. The other jail inmates said the breakout occurred around 9:45 p.m. The jail­break was not discovered until morning at 8:30 a.m. by a passer­by who saw the blankets fluttering on the building and informed the jailer. The alarm was sounded and by 9 a.m., one of the fugitives was rearrested at his home in Comaltown. The other, who had served time for murder, had been waiting to be trans­ferred to Mexico by immigrat­ion authorities. It is thought he may have made his way home on his own.

Thanks for the nudge, Mr. Haas. It really did need to be used in a story.

(“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.)

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

The world is full of magnificent works of art and sculpture, some of which are centuries old. New Braunfels is even home to one, featuring a female figure and gargoyles. Now somewhat obscured by trees and traffic, the 19th-century Victorian fountain was actually the beginning of our Main Plaza.

In 1845, surveyor Nicholaus Zink was contracted to lay out the town of New Braunfels. He allowed for the Plaza at the junction of San Antonio and Seguin Streets. It has always been oval-shaped. The Plaza was known for many years by New Braunfels citizens as “our park” because no other was available. It was simply a large, flat, clean space in the crossroad where the townspeople gathered for concerts, parades and community events.

The only mode of transportation at that time involved horses or oxen, which both required water. The idea for a central watering hole/fountain on Main Plaza initially came about in 1887. The idea was quashed after complaints by local merchants.

New Braunfels celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1895. In September of that year, Hermann Seele, president of the anniversary celebration committee, approached the city council for permission to erect a water fountain to beautify the Plaza, utilizing surplus funds from the celebration.

The committee chose the fountain design from the J.L. Mott catalog. The cast iron structure, said to be 19 feet tall, features a female figure in Greek-style robes atop two lower pans and a basin. The figure is holding a vase above her head with water that sprays from the top of the vase into the pans below. She is listed as “The Vase Bearer” in the catalog. There are two types of gargoyles (carved faces with spouts that drain water). The top pan is round, decorated with leaves and flourishes, supported by a center column. Water flows into the lower pan from the mouths of stylized sea horses (or maybe griffons) that adorn the center column. The lower pan is octagonal, adorned with eight sheep’s heads spouting water into the octagonal basin made of concrete and metal.

The natural-colored cast iron fountain was purchased from J.L. Mott Company of New York for $3,000 with anniversary funds and donations. After all was said and done, there was a remaining balance of $58.05, which the city paid. It was installed on the Plaza in 1896.

By 1897, there were problems with people watering their stock at the water fountain. To discourage the practice, the city spent $342 to have the fountain area high curbed. Later in 1897, the city began planting shrubs and trees to beautify the Plaza. The Band Stand came along in 1905.

The beautiful work of art took center stage on Main Plaza for years without issue. In 1963, the New Braunfels Lions Club took on the project of refurbishing the fountain and landscape improvement. The fountain was sandblasted and received new lighting, additional sprays and a new off-white paint job. A new rock wall enclosing a planted area was also added. It was indeed a beautiful sight at night.

For many more years, the fountain survived freezing temperatures and drought. It also survived pranksters that found “soaping of the fountain” a novel idea. Soap seriously damages the workings of fountains and is no laughing matter.

1976 brought about a flurry of improvements to go along with the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration. The complete renovation of Main Plaza was the project of the Rotary Club. Eighteen months of planning and $100,000 of work later, Main Plaza was completely redone. The fountain received a new watering system sending the water up instead of down with indirect lighting installed around it. At 80 years old, the Main Plaza fountain was also designated a historic landmark by the New Braunfels Landmark Commission.

The grand fountain’s age began to show. In 1985, the fountain was turned off. The mechanics of the fountain were in good shape, but the cast iron structure was succumbing to sheet rust on all of the interior surfaces. She was slowly rusting to death.

In 1992, Mayor Clinton Brandt formed the Plaza Fountain Restoration Committee. They were in for a shock when they sought restoration quotes. Yikes! That little $3,000 fountain needed $50,000 of work!

The two-year fundraising campaign raised $54,000. The Mott fountain was fully restored to her original cast iron color by Robinson Iron of Alexander City, Alabama. It took approximately four months. Robinson Iron had restored at least sixteen other Mott fountains previously. At the time, there were known to be about 35-40 Mott Company fountains left in the United States, with ours being one of the finest.

The fountain once again took her place on her pedestal in December of 1993, a full year before the slated Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1995, and all was right in the universe. Except — a drunk driver plowed through Main Plaza in November 1994, shattering the fountain and causing $50,000 in damages. The driver was not insured, nor was the car he was driving. Robinson Iron repaired the 100-year-old fountain and returned it to its rightful place by the end of January 1995 in time for the Sesquicentennial events.

Fast forward to today — our precious fountain is 128 years old. Sadly, due to water restrictions, the fountain is turned off. She looks a little rough but is still a treasure. Come see her up close and personal. No ticket required.

She will be waiting for you to join her on Main Plaza for the Ol’ Fashion Fourth of July Parade and Patriotic Program which has been presented by the Sophienburg Museum and Archives in collaboration with the City of New Braunfels since 1978. Wear your Star-Spangled-Banner best and be there!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database.

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Encore of November 1, 2006

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Get ready to celebrate New Braunfels’ heritage. Long before the Chicken Dance entered the city limits, the Wurstfest was held in a hole in the ground next to Main Plaza. Of course, this wasn’t the first location.

The brainchild of veterinarian and city meat inspector Dr. Ed Grist, and organized by Grist, Joe Faust and Tom Purdum, Wurstfest had its beginning in December of 1961. Herb Skoog recalls that the first celebration was going to be in Landa Park, but because of rain it had to be moved to the National Guard Armory.

Two years later in November of 1963, the celebration moved downtown. This is where the “hole in the ground” comes in. It was located where the Utilities parking lot is and here’s the story:

At first a store owned by Gustavus Conrads was located in this spot and in 1864 it was bought by Ernst Sherff. He enlarged the store, even adding a campground out back for those who came to town from the country.

The store was eventually bought by George Knocke and George Eiband and became Knoke and Eiband. In 1907 the store was sold to Ernst Eiband, brother of George, and Emil Fischer. Under their leadership, Eiband and Fischer opened a modern establishment in 1912. Sporting a skylight in the middle of the roof and a grand staircase to the mezzanine, the store held a spectacular opening, even allowing other merchants to display their goods. After a few years this staircase was torn out, the mezzanine closed, and the basement was opened up.

Finally the store was incorporated and run by Eiband’s sons, Ernst Jr., James, Anselm, and daughter Mrs. Max Wommack. Also in that management team was Fischer’s son, Carlo. Marijane Fischer Stafford is the daughter of Carlo and has been researching the store history for the last few years.

Up until March 2, 1947, Eiband and Fischer Store was a thriving business. Then came that fateful day of the largest fire downtown since the Seekatz Opera House burned. Beginning in the basement, the fire raged undetected during the night until the early morning hours when a salesman called on Naegelin’s Bakery next door and noticed smoke. By the time the fire department got there, the damage was done to the building, and one fireman, Ernst Alves, was killed. Stafford says that the cause of the fire is still not known but that there was speculation of a defective small motor in the basement.

A small part of the store was left (where the Utilities building is) and the corporation continued business for a few years. The gaping hole on the Plaza sat there for years, ugly and empty, a reminder of that fire.

Now Wurstfest enters the picture fourteen years later in 1963. The basement hole was cleared out, colored lights hung in the air and for three years, it was a popular place for that celebration. The old Eiband and Fischer vault left in the hole was an innovative, cool place for food and beer storage.

Certain times and places conjure up pleasant visions, and in my memory bank is Wurstfest in the hole. Resembling a WWII bombed out shelter, it was transformed by the magic of music, lights, and celebration. With a little bit of imagination, you could look up and visualize what Eiband and Fischer had been. Wurstfest only stayed in the hole for three years and then moved to Landa’s cottonseed storage building, now known as Wursthalle.

In 1969 the entire Eiband and Fischer property was purchased by local investors and eventually sold to the New Braunfels Utilities.

After you’ve been to Wurstfest, polka on up the hill to the Sophienburg and learn some NB history. The collection ladies have put together a dandy display of beer steins. They are empty, of course. Some dating back to the late 1800s, they are mostly gifts from Walter Faust, Jr., Emmie Grube, and the Eiband family. Steins often have little tidbits of wisdom on them and I like this one: “Trink was klar, Lieb was rar” or “Drink what is clear, and love what is rare “ (exquisite).

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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. They bought a new ice machine in 1875 and, with partner L. Paggi, they opened and ran an ice cream/soda water parlour until 1881. Imagine how amazing an ice cold soda was back in the days of no air conditioning and dusty streets.

Others soon jumped into the increasingly popular drink business. Dr. Grube teamed up with Bruno Voelcker to start their own soda water factory in 1881 but it was short-lived.

Eduard Naegelin Sr. (Naegelin’s Bakery opened in 1868) added soda water, candies, cigars and ice to his bakery enterprise in 1883. According to his grandson, C. F. “Buddy” Naegelin, Eduard also had a license to produce wine. He used 50-gallon barrels and sold one gallon bottles for 25 cents to 50 cents. Now we’re talking!

Naegelin bottled “Squeeze” brand soda waters and IronBrew. IronBrew tasted a bit like a full-bodied cream soda and sported a label of a man with his arm raised showing off his bicep. Several New Braunfels doctors are said to have prescribed IronBrew to their anemic patients. I can’t verify its efficacy.

“Squeeze” brand syrups, used in Naegelin’s soda water, were mainly citrus and fruit flavors like lemon, lemon-lime and orange. A case of bottled soda sold for 40 cents. Naegelin made his own ginger flavor to bottle ginger ale. In those days, ginger ale was a seasonal drink for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Naegelin handed the bakery/bottling business over to his son, Edward Jr., in 1924. The bottling business was kept until the building was remodeled in 1937.

Back in 1886, John Sippel opened St. John’s Bottling Works. No one remembers why, but people called John Sippel, St. John, and so the company got that name. Sippel bottled soft drinks of all flavors and a seltzer (sparkling water) called Sippel’s Water. St John’s Bottling Works was first located on the property where the old Main Fire Station stands. Sippel also acquired the Anheuser-Busch beer franchise for the area.

In 1894, St John’s Bottling was put up for sale. Robert Posey bought it at auction in 1903. He sold the business to the Neuse brothers in 1906 who moved it to the corner of Castell and Church (Coll) streets. At this time, there were three bottling works in New Braunfels: St John’s, Naegelin’s and Feltner’s Comal Crown.

Albert Staats bought St. John’s from the Neuse’s and turned around and sold it to his brothers Edwin and Walter in 1914. The Staats’ sold soda and seltzer water. (Seltzer water could be bought and taken home to make your own flavored soda or ice cream sodas.) Trade was brisk. They were selling to 20 local saloons. Their top flavors were “Cherry Blossoms” and “Orange Julep”. Naegelin’s was selling “Orange Squeeze”. Feltner had sold Comal Crown to Hugo Weidner who had franchised “Orange Crush.” Apparently, orange was popular.

The Staats brothers obtained the coveted Coca Cola franchise in 1915. Basically, soda water is a flavoring syrup mixed with carbonated H20 which is capped to keep in the fizz. Edwin Staats reported that in the first year he bottled Coca Cola, he used less than one 55-gallon drum of syrup; by the time he sold the bottling business in 1972, he was using three 55-gallon drums of syrup each day. In 1921, the company was moved to 203 S. Castell. Edwin bought out his brother Walter in 1932; Walter became NBFD fire chief and fire marshal.

Lucky for me, a born and raised Texan, the Weidner’s Orange Crush Bottling Works obtained the franchise for Dr Pepper and became the Dr Pepper Bottling Works. They bottled that “nectar of the gods” for New Braunfelsers. In 1963, Edwin Staats also bought this franchise and boosted his soda water sales by 30 percent that year.

Edwin Staats provided a few aneccdotes to the NBHerald in 1966. Staats would take orders for ginger ale prior to the holidays. Harry Wagenfuehr (Pearl Beer distributor) would delay returning empties to the brewery and loan the bottles to Edwin for use. These were picked up after the holidays and returned to Wagenfuehr and THEN back to the brewery in San Antonio.

Staats also explained about the old bottles. A spring stopper was attached to the bottle and was put into place when the bottle was filled (so you could refill it). The popping sound it made when opening inspired the term “soda pop”.

And speaking about “pop” … My kids made root beer once. All the filled capped bottles went into the pantry cupboard to process. Several weeks later, what sounded like a gunfight came out of the pantry. The entire experiment ended up coating the two bottom shelves with a sticky brown liquid.

At least it did taste like root beer.

Sources: “Reflections” oral history recordings: #80 – Buddy Naegelin; #209 – Preston Staats; #180 – Homuth “Lops” Weidner 100th Anniversary edition of the New Braunfelser Zeitung, Vol. 100, No. 53; NB Herald – Dec 29, 1966, “Edwin Staats Celebrates 50 Years of Coca Cola”.

Photo Caption: Robert Posey, right, looks over damage to St. John’s Bottling Works after severe freeze on Feb 13, 1905.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

The summer I graduated from high school, I think the New Braunfels city limits signs boasted a population of 19,000. The county had a whopping 34,000. Since then, the city limits signs have moved further out, taking in the wonderful little communities that existed peacefully “in the country” for more than a hundred years. One such community is Freiheit.

Freiheit was first known as the San Geronimo School community. The school was in operation before 1883. In 1891, for the sum of one dollar, Henry A. Rose donated land for a school about three and a half miles northeast of New Braunfels. Located on the east corner of Prairie Lea Road (now Freiheit Road or FM 1101) and Barbarossa Road, the San Geronimo School was named for the nearby San Geronimo Creek. It was also known as Rose’s School. It was originally a one-room school, expanding to two rooms that taught first through 10th grades. In 1949, the San Geronimo School was consolidated into the Goodwin Rural High School along with Austin Hill, Church Hill, Hunter, Thorn Hill, and Watson schools. The San Geronimo school house was moved to the Goodwin Rural High School campus. It now resides at Conservation Plaza. That still doesn’t explain the Freiheit, but hang with me.

Near the San Geronimo School, at the crossroads of Eberling Lane and Prairie Lea Road, a store was opened in about 1898 or 1990 by Robert Schuenemann, the son of pioneer Fritz Schuenemann, to serve the farmers of the area. The community was known as Schuenemann Settlement. The store changed hands among Schuenemann family and ended up with Ernst Schuenemann. In 1906, Alonzo and Bessie Nolte bought the store. In January of 1910, the Noltes leased to the Freiheit Kegel Verein (Freheit Bowling Club) a 22-foot by 108-foot strip of land adjacent to their store at the cost of one dollar for 99 years. The Freiheit Kegel Verein drew up formal by-laws and elected officers in August of that same year.

This is where I tell you that the Freiheit Kegel Verein was a 9-pin bowling club. There are many differences between 9-pin and 10-pin bowling. Bowling began in 200-300 A.D. when German monks introduced bowling as a religious ritual, whereby one’s ability to knock down cones (Kegel in German) representing sins determining the need for penance. Martin Luther called the game “Kegels” and standardized it to nine pins. Nine-pin bowling was popular up until the late 19th century. Nine-pin was outlawed to stop people from gambling, but a tenth pin was added to get around the law and now we have 10-pin bowling.

In 10-pin bowling, each individual bowler throws ten frames, in the same order each time. The individual scores count. Pins are set up in a triangle where the goal is to knock down all pins. In 9-pin, it is a team sport with six team members who throw six frames. The pins are set up in a diamond configuration with the goal to knock down all but the center “kingpin”. The team captain decides the order based on the skill of each member since the frame is not reset until every pin is down. Only the team score counts. 10-pin alleys were found mostly in saloons and places frequented by men. 9-pin bowling alleys were most often built by clubs that catered to families. Freiheit Kegel Verein became synonymous with the area, and Freiheit, Texas was born.

The first Freiheit bowling building was built by club members of wood on cedar post foundation with wood shingles. The two lanes were constructed with 1-by-8 maple lumber purchased from Henne’s Hardware. Lighting was by kerosene lamps. Heat was provided by a potbelly stove. Cooling was provided by opening hinged push-open board windows.

In 1946, the club built a new, bigger building using the two old maple lanes installed in the new building along with two lanes that were purchased and moved from a San Antonio church basement. In 1963, the club broke ground on a third (current) building on adjacent acreage. Even though it is a modern facility they still use human pinsetters.

And the store? Noltes sold the store to Max and Bertha Meyers. After Hermann Ludwig returned from World War I in 1920, he and his wife Linda purchased the store from the Meyers and called it Ludwig’s Store. There was a store and a house with dance hall between. In 1927, the dance hall burned down. The store survived the depression and prohibition. In 1949, the Ludwigs tore down the old store and built the current Freiheit Country Store out of the salvaged materials. Both the store and the neighboring bowling alley often served as a polling place for Election District #16. In 1975, Kermit and Laverne Kraft bought the store, doing away with the dry goods part and promoting the bar. The next owners were Shorty and Rosie Haas in the ‘80s, who began serving burgers and promoting the family atmosphere. Freiheit Country Store was purchased by Mike Reimer and partners in 2006. They expanded the food menu and added music, becoming a restaurant and popular music venue. While being surrounded by the New Braunfels urban sprawl, the Freiheit Bowling Club and Freiheit Country Store continue to keep the community’s past alive.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Sophienburg Reflections Oral History Program #849; Freiheit Kegel Verein 100th Anniversary by Karen Saur Lackey; Rural Schools and Teachers in Comal County, 1854-1956 by Alton J. Rahe; www.tshaonline.org/handbook.

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Growing up on Kentucky Boulevard in the ‘60s, my “backyard” included Panther Canyon. All the streets in that hilltop neighborhood dead-ended at the canyon, including Kentucky before New Braunfels High was built. We called it simply “the canyon” and it provided many hours of imaginative exploration, old tires for us to make into tire swings, and a quick way down to the park. There were a few cave-like holes in the cliff face which we were certain were the lairs of panthers and bears, although we never saw any.

In 1853, Hermann Seele described an incident which occurred at Comal Springs in the local paper. It was reprinted in the 1906 Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung Kalendar and then translated into English by Oscar Haas in 1970. In the article, Seele described the humbling beauty of the springs and the crystal clear waters of the Comal. Then, he cut to the chase.

On a pleasant April evening in 1852, Maria Z. had taken medicine to an indigent family living in the forest and had come to the main spring. After having rested there for a length of time … she suddenly heard a scream which she at first took to be the voice of a woman. However, of this she was soon disillusioned when at the same moment there came out of the thick underbrush, a huge panther which rolled himself close to her side.

Maria was, understandably, so frozen in terror that she didn’t even call out. She and the panther locked eyes for several long minutes. The panther made no move to attack her and she had almost decided it was all her imagination when it began to whine loudly in pain. Maria then noticed that the animal could not close its jaws — at all — never mind having her for lunch.

Now looking more closely, she was astounded to discover that a large bone was wedged in between the molar and eye teeth, which prevented the animal from closing its jaws … the animal turned its head slowly closer as if to show the difficult situation it was in.

Could it be possible, she thought, that instinct tells wild animals that man can help them if he wants to? She recalled the story about the slave Androcles and the lion … but even if it had been in her power to dislodge that bone, would not the danger then be even greater?

Apparently, Maria and the beast exchanged a look that gave her the courage to move closer and relaxed the panther so that he moved his paws away from her. Picking up a nearby stone and wedge-like stick, she knocked the bone free from the panther’s jaw. Maria remained very quiet and still and watched as the animal moved over to the springs to take what could have been his first drink in hours, if not even days. As the panther drank his fill, Maria high-tailed it to the nearby cabin of George Klappenbach where she promptly fainted. Waking half an hour later, Maria told the family about her fantastic adventure.

The family hardly could believe it, but walking well-armed to the spring, found there the bone on which the impressions of strong teeth were plainly visible, also the slaver-covered wedge and stone, and in particular the impress in the grass where the panther had lain, and the still fresh footprints at the spring. The next day the footprints were followed far up into the hills; but the panther itself never was found.

Was this story responsible for the name “Panther Canyon” being given to the gorge behind the springs? Now, if only my brother Tobin and Randy Lohman and I had known that story back-in the-day. The adventures we could have made up!

While on the search for the answer, I came across some interesting ideas this community has had for Panther Canyon in the not-too-distant past. Did you know that the canyon was acquired by the city in the mid-’40s? That in 1958, the park wanted to have a pony ride concession down in the canyon? That in 1961, the Chamber of Commerce proposed building a replica of the Braunfels Castle to use as a museum somewhere in the canyon’s tree-shadowed bottom? That the Lions Club had looked into erecting a 1600-seat amphitheater under the limestone cliffs in 1963? That in 1968 and again in 1973, the city seriously considered building a bridge across Panther Canyon to connect California Boulevard to Fredericksburg Road in order to cut down the traffic through the park?

These proposals, products of their time, seem odd, even unthinkable, to us now. We know the area as a nature trail and truth-be-told, I’m rather glad none of them came to fruition and “the canyon” retains some of the wildness of my childhood memories.

I still don’t know when citizens began calling the gorge Panther Canyon. The Sophienburg has drawings and maps as far back as 1845 showing the canyon, but it doesn’t appear named on one until WPA plans in 1936. If anybody out there knows please let me know. Until then I’m going with Hermann Seele’s story as the source.

One more thing. In 1971, there was a resident on Panther Canyon who recorded big cat tracks measuring 2½ to 3 inches wide in the mud of the usually dry creek bed after a hard rain. Who knows what might still be lurking in the leafy, quiet depths of what we call Panther Canyon.

Sources:

• Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung, New Braunfels Herald and New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung
• Oscar Haas Collection — Sophienburg Museum and Archives
• Historic Map Collection — Sophienburg Museum and Archives

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Remember the wonderful Sears or JC Penney Christmas catalogues that used to arrive in the mail each September? School had barely begun, the weather still hot enough to wear shorts, but I spent hours looking at the beautiful Christmas dresses. However, my Christmas dresses never came from a catalogue. When they weren’t sewn by my mother, they came from the Cater Frocks Company retail store.

The Cater Frock Company was a children’s dress manufacturer in New Braunfels. Mr. B.J. Cater and his wife, Guyrene, of Temple, moved to New Braunfels in 1936. According to the New Braunfels Herald, B.J. Cater and Company, Manufacturers of Women’s and Children’s Dresses, began operations in early 1937 on the second floor of the Forshage Building located at 472 W. San Antonio St. (now retail and upstairs apartment building next door to newest Miller & Miller building). They began with four seamstresses, adding 16 more within the first few months, to meet the demand for goods being shipped as far as New Orleans, Houston and towns in North Texas. B.J. Cater was the sales representative and his wife supervised the design and sewing. Soon the company had outgrown the downtown site.

By 1941, the phone book listed them as Cater Frock Company with an address of “Landa Park”. Mr. Cater leased space from the city of New Braunfels and moved the operation into an old Landa warehouse (now the old rec center).

During WWII, everything was rationed, including textiles. New Braunfels Textile Mills (later Mission Valley Mills) had a limit of five yards of fabric per day per person. It is said that each Cater Frock employee was sent to the mill daily to obtain their five-yard allotment of ginghams to be able to maintain production.

In 1946, Cater Frock was sold to a new ownership group – a men’s clothing factory representative, a lawyer and a housewife. Tobin Nathan, a men’s clothing factory representative, saw a clothing factory advertised for sale in the Houston Chronicle. He was surprised to find that the business made little girls’ dresses because women’s fashions used the term ‘apparel’, not ‘clothing’. In October of 1946, after several trips to New Braunfels with his attorney, Nathan bought the business. Nathan’s attorney, Irvin Boarnet, was in fact his son-in-law. The two, along with his daughter, became partners. The Boarnets made the original ‘long commute’, working weekdays in New Braunfels to learn the business from the Caters and traveling back to Houston on weekends. In January 1947, Mr. Boarnet, his wife Loyce, and their children, Bernie and Lou Ann, moved to New Braunfels.

Irvin Boarnet oversaw the manufacturing plant, literally, as his office was on the mezzanine above the cutting and sewing floor. Loyce was in charge of the designs for the first five years. Although she could sew, she had no training in design and pattern making. They eventually hired a couple of part time designers, including Lauris Priesmeyer. In 1954, they employed their first full time designer with a degree in Clothing and Costume Design. June Keith Voigt, my mom, was the first of many graduates they recruited from the Texas State College for Women (now TWU).

As production grew, it became necessary to expand into the neighboring building (front part of Wurstfest building that houses Spass Haus), allowing for the addition of more designers from TSCW, including Edna Fundis Bremer, Sarah (Sally) Jones Wetz, and Mary Jo Stratton Zipp. The new building housed a state-of-the-art design room with a veritable smorgasbord of tactile delight: walls lined with fabric swatches, buttons, lace and trims. It also housed the two ‘sample’ seamstresses, the billing office and my favorite part, the factory sample sales room.

The production and shipping departments were in the main factory building. The Boarnets had begun with 30 employees. By 1960, they ran two shifts of about 30 seamstresses, along with cutters and pressers that prepped for shipping. Of the 135 employees at that time, only four were men. They even hired a woman sales representative for Dallas, which was unusual at that time. Garments were made in a production line, no one person made a whole garment, only their assigned pieces… like zippers, button holes, sleeves, etc.

A number of women worked for Cater Frock for more than 20 years. Some started sewing as young as 15 and 16 years old and have fond memories of the ‘family’ atmosphere and the camaraderie of the workers, sharing lunches and dinners together. Some of the seamstresses were Linda Zuniga, Estefana Molina, Oralia Castillo, Virginia Castillo, and supervisors Janie Gonzales and Rosalie Brandt. These women worked tirelessly to leave a legacy of beautiful little girls’ dresses for “Little Miss America” in sizes 1-3 toddlers, 4-6x girls and even introduced a ‘Petite Elegance’ line that was a pre-teen/junior size ahead of their time. Cater Frock dresses were sold in better children’s specialty shops from East Coast to West Coast and all through the South. They also made the royal blue velveteen uniforms of the New Braunfels Royal Bluettes Pep Squad of the 1960s.

Bernie Boarnet joined the successful apparel company as vice-president of production in 1963 after completing his industrial and mechanical engineering degrees from Texas A&M University and a two-year tour of duty with the U.S. Army. At that time, Cater Frock produced about 4000 garments per week, used 200,000 yards of fabric a year, at least half of which came directly from the local Mission Valley Mills. The rest came from New York. By 1967, Cater Frock Company was noted as one of the top nine employers/industries in Comal County along with Dittlinger Roller Mills Co., Ol’ Bossy, Inc., Hadlock & Fox Mfg. Co., Servtex Materials Co., Comette Hosiery Mills, U.S. Gypsum Co., and Mission Valley Mills.

In 1969, Cater Frock Company merged with Santone Industries of San Antonio. Billing and design departments were moved to San Antonio, but the plant remained in New Braunfels. The company sold again to IBJ Corporation of Dallas in 1972. As a division of Jarrell, Inc. (or Lizann), women’s dresses continued to be sewn and sent to Dallas from the Landa Park buildings until the early 1990s.

Sources:

• New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung
• Sophienburg Archives
• “Reflections” oral history recordings
• Boarnet family

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