By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

By the time I sat down to write this story, we were several weeks into back-to-school ad campaigns for clothing, athletic gear, and school supplies. The term “back-to-school” made me think of popcorn, parakeets and Big Chief tablets.

Maybe your brain doesn’t track like this, but there is something oddly comforting about the smell of freshly made popcorn, the sound of tweeting parakeets, and a new Big Chief tablet. In New Braunfels, it meant shopping at Winn’s.

Winn’s was my favorite back-to-school shopping place. They had everything we needed and then some. Winn’s was what they called a variety store, a five-and-dime or simply dimestore. It was downtown across from the post office on Castell Avenue (now 2tarts Bakery and River Rose Boutique). I loved Winn’s. I can still smell the fresh popcorn and hear the parakeets twittering in the back of the store.

Winn’s, founded in 1926 by San Antonio businessman Murray Winn, opened its 55th store in New Braunfels in 1959. Winn’s Stores Inc. bought the North Castell Avenue property from Norman J. Henne in March of ’59. An 8500-square-foot building was built after they razed buildings previously housing Schumann’s Battery Service, real estate office of Hilmar Doehne, and the burned out remains of Fred D’s Sporting Goods Store.

Before that, school supplies were purchased at drug stores or places like Vollmer’s or National’s Five & Dime (now Antique Mall). It must have been somewhat competitive since the stores tried to entice school shoppers by offering coupons for ice cream sodas or a free pass to the movies. I am not sure that Winn’s ever had that type of promotion.
A typical list from my childhood mirrored that of the 1959 New Braunfels Independent School District first-grade supply list. On it were nine items: #2 pencils with erasers, box of eight crayons, pointy scissors, spiral composition books, mixed construction paper, tissues, jar of paste, a pencil tablet and a cigar box.

This year’s NBISD supply list for first grade has at least 20 items. The basic items are still the same today, including crayons, construction paper, spiral notebooks, tissues and scissors (but scissors are no longer pointy). Gone is the paste that came in glass jars and tasted like mint (so I have been told). Teachers today want glue sticks.

They have replaced pencil tablets with primary notebooks. The pencil tablets were 8 x 12 pads of wide lined newsprint writing paper with Big Chief being the favored brand. Easily recognizable from anywhere, it had a red cover with an image of a Native American chief on it. It was my very own new pad of writing paper for a fresh start.

Cigar boxes were the predecessors of today’s plastic pencil box. Everyone used what was available. Back when people smoked cigars, the pharmacies and stores would save the boxes to sell with school supplies. I loved the smell of tobacco when I opened the lid of my new cardboard King Edward cigar box. Later, as people smoked less, cardboard boxes were specifically made for school supplies in bright colors, but it just wasn’t the same.

As we grew out of the Big Chief phase, we got filler paper to put in our zippered 3-ring binders which we carried in our satchels (a dorkier, more cumbersome book bag). There were no Trapper Keepers or backpacks, but we did have lunch boxes. Mine was a shiny, black-patent-look Barbie lunch kit with matching thermos. Unlike today’s Yeti insulated cups and mugs, a thermos in those days was lined with glass. Yep! A thermos in the hands of a second grader was risky business. Just one bounce when dropped and you had instant crystal maracas (which every mother loved to hear).

As for school clothing choices, there was not a lot available in downtown New Braunfels. Some people ordered through catalog stores like JCPenney or Montgomery Ward. There was no Amazon or overnight delivery so it took weeks to receive it. We got one pair of school shoes that had to last until summer: saddle oxfords or P.F. Flyers or Keds. New Braunfels had B&B Poll Parrot (left side of the New Braunfels Art League next to Scores sports bar) for shoes but they were probably a little pricier than Winn’s.
Winn’s had blue jeans, shirts, socks and tennis shoes in stock for boys. For girls, they had petticoats and slips and socks. They also had a healthy stock of bobby pins, hair bands, clips, and Aqua Net. I really do not remember the dresses at Winn’s because my mom made dresses for my sister and me. But the fabric — there were tons of fabric and patterns and buttons and zippers. I would spend time looking at pattern books while my mom shopped for fabric until I got sent on a mission to find my brother.

My brother, and most of the boys, could usually be found in the back of the store looking at all the things my mother said no to: bubbling aquariums full of fish or the dozen blue-and-green parakeets in a cage or the turtles. He did talk her into a turtle once.

Beyond school supplies, Winn’s had a wonderful supply of anything found in a variety store including lamps, curtains, laundry baskets, toilet paper, garbage cans, kitchen gadgets, costume jewelry, candy, and the list goes on.

In May of 1968, a second location of Winn’s Variety Store was opened in the new Landa Plaza Shopping Center (Das Rec) that was designed to look like faux fachwerk. It was the 87th store. It was closer to our house, but we still liked to go to the downtown Winn’s.

Winn’s Stores continued to expand in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico under other ownership, reaching 230 stores in 1987. Then things went south. Walmart and other major national retailers began moving into cities with their discount department store model. Then the dollar stores began popping up.

Winn’s sold off stores, closed others, and filed bankruptcy before finally dissolving in 1995. It was a great ride that made a ton of memories! Especially the popcorn, parakeets and Big Chief tablets — and I almost forgot, the ICEEs!

The post Remembering popcorn, parakeets, and Big Chief tablets appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

This is the story of two mark­ers. One was put up at Co­mal Springs in 1968, and the other was placed out­side the yard of Franz and Mary Joyce Coreth on Hwy 46 (it now stands in front of Chick-fil-A). They both mark the lo­ca­tion of Mis­sion Nues­tra Señora de Guadalupe.

So the ques­tion is, why? Some back­ground on the mis­sion is needed to un­der­stand.

Very ba­si­cally, the es­tab­lish­ment of the mis­sions in Texas be­gan in the 1630s. Spain needed to hold the land, and they wanted to Chris­tian­ize the na­tive peo­ples. Fran­cis­can monks were tasked to set up and over­see mis­sions across Texas which would gather the mi­gra­tory tribes into per­ma­nent set­tle­ments with the hope of con­vert­ing them to Chris­tian­ity, as well as teach them agri­cul­tural tech­niques and trades.

Spain usu­ally sent sol­diers along with the Fran­cis­can mis­sion­ar­ies to es­tab­lish pre­sidios (forts) for the pro­tec­tion of the mis­sions and set­tle­ments. The pre­sidios and the mis­sions were hardly com­pat­i­ble, both with dif­fer­ing agen­das. Trou­ble be­tween the sol­diers and the Na­tive Amer­i­cans led to fric­tion be­tween the mis­sion­ar­ies and the sol­diers. The monks ab­horred the abuse and an­tag­o­nis­tic mea­sures the sol­diers used against the na­tive peo­ple they were try­ing to be­friend.

Our mis­sion, Nues­tra Señora de Guadalupe was born out of this strug­gle.

Three mis­sions were es­tab­lished on the San Xavier (San Gabriel) River in Milam County in the 1740s: San Fran­cisco Xavier de Hor­c­a­sitas (1747), San Ilde­fonzo (1748) and Nues­tra Señora de la Can­de­laria (1749). These were re­ferred to as the San Xavier mis­sions. The pre­sidio San Fran­cisco Xavier de Gigedo was set up to guard all three mis­sions.

The re­la­tion­ship be­tween these mis­sions and the neigh­bor­ing pre­sidio broke down over the mis­treat­ment of the Na­tive Amer­i­cans. The con­flict went on un­re­solved for sev­eral years, cul­mi­nat­ing in the mur­der of Friar Juan Jose Ganzábal and a civil­ian at the Can­dalaria Mis­sion in Feb­ru­ary 1752. Sol­diers, Na­tive Amer­i­cans and civil­ians were gath­ered and held for ques­tion­ing. Of­fi­cial pro­ceed­ings held at Pre­sidio San An­to­nio de Be­jar (the fort pro­tect­ing the San An­to­nio mis­sions) took place from May 13 to June 14, but reached no real judg­ment and with­out con­vic­tions or any­one pun­ished.

By 1753, the San Xavier mis­sions were full of fear and faced the added tragedy of drought which led to bad wa­ter and “pests” which brought sick­ness; the mis­sion­ar­ies were plead­ing to be re­lo­cated to the San Mar­cos springs. San Ilde­fonzo no longer had priests or Na­tive Amer­i­cans and Can­de­laria was left with only one friar. San Fran­cisco Xavier man­aged to hold onto 70 con­verted Na­tive Amer­i­cans and one friar. Even the pre­sidio cap­tain was re­quest­ing to move to the San Saba River.

In 1755, mis­sion­ar­ies and re­main­ing Na­tive Amer­i­cans fled with­out Church or Span­ish sanc­tion to the San Mar­cos River. Some of the na­tive peo­ple moved to the San An­to­nio de Valero mis­sion (Alamo): Co­cos, Xaraname, Te­jas, Bidai and Or­co­quiza tribes were among them. The May­eye peo­ple re­fused to go to San An­to­nio and stayed with the friar of San Fran­cisco Xavier at San Mar­cos. He re­quested and was given per­mis­sion to es­tab­lish a mis­sion on the Guadalupe River. He also re­quested and was given per­mis­sion to not have a pre­sidio but civil­ians “of good fam­ily” to help pro­tect the mis­sion.

In 1756, the mis­sion San Fran­cisco Xavier de Hor­c­a­sitas was re­lo­cated and reestab­lished in New Braun­fels as Mis­sion Nues­tra Señora de Guadalupe. The site cho­sen had been scouted out by sol­diers and priests from San An­to­nio and de­scribed in records:

There are sev­eral large springs flow­ing from a rocky hill nearby, and ad­van­tages for an ir­ri­ga­tion ditch on the west side of the river a short dis­tance from the springs; there is ex­cel­lent lands for crops, plen­ti­ful tim­ber, pas­ture lands, and the ridge north of the stream is thought to con­tain min­er­als.

The new mis­sion was vis­ited in 1757 and said to be com­prised of a small mis­sion build­ing (most likely of wood con­struc­tion) with two fri­ars, 41 Na­tive Amer­i­cans (May­eye) of which 27 were bap­tized, and sev­eral huts in which lived four civil­ian fam­i­lies.

At this point, in­for­ma­tion on Nues­tra Señora lit­er­ally van­ishes from records. All that is ref­er­enced is a re­quest of the fri­ars for the re­turn of San Fran­cisco Xavier’s equip­ment (6 bells and some uten­sils val­ued at $1804.50. The equip­ment even­tu­ally went to the new San Saba mis­sion. There is also a state­ment in 1762, that says at the time of the San Saba mis­sion’s de­struc­tion in March 1758, Mis­sion Nues­tra Señora de Guadalupe had al­ready been aban­doned due to its in­abil­ity to sus­tain it­self against mul­ti­ple en­e­mies.

Know­ing all of that, we can re­turn to the dilemma of two mark­ers. Based on the de­tailed de­scrip­tion of the site in 1756, it seems the short-lived mis­sion could have been down by the Co­mal Springs (1968 marker). And al­though the mis­sion name in­cludes “Guadalupe” we need to re­mem­ber that early Span­ish ex­plor­ers of­ten called the Co­mal, from the springs to the con­flu­ence, the Guadalupe. This seems to be a good fit.

The 1936 marker up on Texas Highway 46 claims Nues­tra Señora to be near or on Mis­sion Hill. Was it likely that they would es­tab­lish a set­tle­ment on the hill and travel through Pan­ther Canyon to Co­mal Springs? Would they have used the spring at Alt­gelt’s pond be­low Mis­sion Hill? Per­haps Mis­sion Hill held some sort of sig­nif­i­cance as the high­est point? Could it have been named be­cause of its just over a mile lo­ca­tion from the mis­sion down by Co­mal Springs? It seems a less likely lo­ca­tion.

Also, who gave the hill that name: Na­tive Amer­i­cans? Span­ish? Texas Rangers? The early Ger­man im­mi­grants called it by that name and there are two maps that rec­og­nize it as Mis­sion Hill from 1878. Af­ter scour­ing the So­phien­burg Archives and talk­ing to archivists at the Texas Gen­eral Land Of­fice and at the Span­ish Col­lec­tion of the Bexar County Archives, hard, prov­able ev­i­dence of the lit­tle mis­sion’s lo­ca­tion just has­n’t been found.

So, the mys­tery around Nues­tra Señora de Guadalupe will re­main — a mis­sion lost but not for­got­ten.

Sources: Roemer’s Texas in 1848 by Ferdinand Roemer; “Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century” by Herbert E. Bolton, “Proceedings Year of 1752” by Don Torivio de Vrrutia (Bexar County Archives); Handbook of Texas; Texas Almanac 1936; Texas Historical Commission; Texas General Land Office map collection; Sophienburg Museum & Archives map collection and Liebscher and Haas manuscript collections; https://www/texasalmanac.com/articles/the-spanish-mission-in-texas.

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

The post Tale of two markers appeared first on Sophies Shop.

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.

The post New Braunfels treasures — social, fraternal and otherwise appeared first on Sophies Shop.

Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Ninety years ago, on October 8, 1933, New Braunfels celebrated the grand opening and dedication of the new Sophienburg Memorial Museum and Library, erected in honor of those pioneers who founded New Braunfels.

It was a grand affair for the entire community. There was a morning parade from Main Plaza to the Sophienburg, headed by the American Legion Drum & Bugle Corp, Boy Scouts and fire department. All were treated to the music of the Old Heidelberg Band while lunch was served by pretty girls in German costume. After the official dedication and customary speeches praising the pioneering spirit of our ancestors, the beautiful new museum and library building was opened to the public for the first time. The party continued into the evening with entertainment by the Music Club String Ensemble, the Echo Singing Club and a musical pageant depicting the important events in the founding of New Braunfels.

You may have raised an eyebrow upon reading the word “Library” with Sophienburg Memorial Museum, but the Sophienburg has long been entwined with the public library. For several years, in a series of locations, people could pay a membership fee to use a local small library (see Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library, April 1, 2018, Sophienburg.com). It was not until the new museum built a dedicated library room in 1933 that there was truly a free public library.

By 1937, it was clear that the library needed its own space. A new public library building for the city of New Braunfels became a reality in October 1937. Mrs. Emmie Seele Faust, daughter of Hermann Seele, offered a large donation to build a memorial library. The Sophienburg Memorial Association donated a parcel of the Sophienburg Hill property for the new library, with the understanding that when it ceased to be a library, it would revert back to the Association. Built in the same rock style, the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library opened adjacent to the Sophienburg Memorial Museum on W. Coll Street in the fall of 1938.

As it is with the ebb and flow of life, so it goes for organizations. The Sophienburg Memorial Museum grew and flourished in place, filling the empty space left by the library room vacancy. In 1968, the city built the Dittlinger Memorial Library on property once the site of the Ernst Gruene home, located directly behind Emmie Seele Faust Library and Sophienburg Museum buildings. Since the Emmie Seele Faust building was no longer used as a library, per the agreement, it reverted back to the Sophienburg Memorial Association and became the Archives building.

The collection and archives continued to grow. By 1975, the Museum’s need for space prompted renovations and addition of the Cedar Room. In 1992, the Association purchased the 1929 New Braunfels City Hall building on the corner of North Seguin Avenue and Mill Street to house the ever-growing Archives. At that time, the old library building became storage for the artifact collection.

Now, all these years, the museum was run by one or two employees and a whole host of members and volunteers spread out in three buildings. Money was derived from memberships and a small Weihnachtsmarkt fundraiser, but it was almost always a struggle to have a steady income. The museum gift/book shop helped contribute to the coffer a little, but the page turned in 1998, which was the first year the museum participated in Wurstfest. Any items, mostly German themed, that were left over from Wurstfest and Weihnachtsmarkt came back to the museum, taking the gift shop to new heights. Our beloved Sophie’s Shop was born… but it didn’t get that name until 1999. Whether in the museum, online, or at Wurstfest, Sophie’s Shop serves to make money for the sole purpose of supporting the non-profit museum operations.

Following the completion of a new city library, the City of New Braunfels gifted the Dittlinger Memorial Library to the Sophienburg Memorial Association in 2001. Renovations to the Dittlinger Library building, creating an archives library and museum exhibit hall, would take money, so a capital campaign was held and the Old City Hall building was sold.

In 2004, Phase I is completed and the Archives, which has been closed for a couple of years, opens in their portion of the renovated building. The Museum exhibit space opened a year later. The original museum building became storage for the collection.

The Sophienburg Museum and Archives was created by the community as a memorial to our founders. She has always given back as a supportive community partner. She has been there to not only support New Braunfels’ anniversary celebrations, she captures and catalogues the history to share with future generations. The Sophienburg Memorial Association presents the annual Fourth of July Patriotic Celebration in partnership with the City of New Braunfels. The Museum presents programs such St. Nicholas Eve and Fiesta Patria celebrations.

In 2009, Sophienburg Museum and Archives proudly became the anchor for the Sophienburg Hill Historic District to help protect the rich architectural history of New Braunfels. As proof of the Association’s dedication, the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library was fully restored to its original historical splendor.

The Sophienburg continued to be recognized for excellence in protecting the history of New Braunfels. In 2017, the Sophienburg received two Texas Historical Commission honors: a Historical Site designation for Sophienburg Hill, and a Recorded Historical Landmark designation for the Emmie Seele Faust Library.

This year, the Sophienburg Memorial Association celebrates 90 years of preserving New Braunfels History. The Sophienburg Museum and Archives is an integral and vital part of New Braunfels. “Guardians of History, Keeper of the Treasures and Stewards of the Stories”.

Join us in celebration, Sunday, October 8, 2023, on the campus of the Sophienburg Museum and Archives, 1-4 p.m. All are invited.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; LaVerne Pearce; Nancy Classen; Anna Lee Hicks.

The post Sophienburg — guardians of history for 90 years appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Oscar Haas was well known as the historian and record-keeper of New Braunfels and Comal County. He documented a hundred years of our community’s progress through twenty years of newspaper articles and a published book. Now in its fourth printing, The History of New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas 1844-1946, a book by Oscar Haas, set the standard for historical documentation about German immigration. It has been the “go-to” for generations of researchers, but there is nothing like hearing his voice as he tells his own story.

“I was born on October 12, 1885, on land which is now at the bottom of Canyon Lake…. We moved to Twin Sisters. My parents decided to move to New Braunfels so that their children could have more education than they would have gotten (in Twin Sisters).” He attended the New Braunfels Academy but dropped out in sixth grade. “I could get a job selling groceries and delivering groceries at $12 a month. That was a lot of money. They taught me to ride a bicycle and go out once a week and ride around town and take up orders from the housewives, then come back and fill those orders and put ’em in baskets and then hitch up a horse and deliver the groceries around town.”

He clerked in another general merchandise store for several years. “We had to have conversations in English and Spanish, and of course, German. They wanted the clerk to speak their language or they wouldn’t buy from you.” Haas opened his own store in the 1920s. “We handled ready-to-wear, men’s and boy’s and children’s ready-to-wears and shoes and hats, millinery, and dress materials, by the yard and all kinds of trinkets. It was in the Richter Building. I had a partner, Walter Wiedner, so we called it Oscar Haas and Company. When the Depression hit, then we lost. It was loss, loss, loss, and finally you lost everything, ja.”

That loss prompted him to run for Comal County Treasurer in the 1934 election. He served as Treasurer for 28 years, unopposed. That is when the history bug bit him. “Yes, I just got stung in 1934, and fortunately, men like Herman Seele, the first schoolteacher” were still around. “He was a tall, pleasant faced, full-bearded man and always interested in greeting the people as he came walking down the street, particularly children. He always stooped down to shake hands with the children.”

“One day, I was in Otto Rohde’s — who was then County Clerk of Comal County’s Office — I saw on the shelf where the first book of the minutes of the Comal County Commissioners Court. I asked Otto, could I look at it? As I opened it up, I saw the recording of the very first session of the Comal County Commissioners Court in 1846. I found it so interesting that I took it down to the editors of the New Braunfels Zeitung, the German-language newspaper, and to the New Braunfels Herald, the English-language newspaper.” They both told him that if he wrote weekly installments from the minutes, they would print it. It took about three years. “After that was finished, I went through the minutes of the first church in New Braunfels, which also took about three years. And then after that, went through the City Council minutes.” All of them were in German and required translation to English to be published in the New Braunfels Herald. In 1961, he and his wife wrote a history series in 144 weekly installments, “Comal County in the Civil War”, translated from Ferdinand Lindheimer’s German-language newspaper articles of the 1860s.

Haas retired from his job of county treasurer in 1962 to devote time to compiling his vast collection of historic materials into the definitive History of New Braunfels and Comal County, 1845-1946 first published in 1968. The knowledge and information gained from all the years of going through official city, county and church minutes was a tremendous foundation for his book. He did further research into translated writings of Carl, Prince of Solms-Braunfels, Dr. Ferdinand Roemer, and others to fill in the earliest parts of New Braunfels’ history.

Other published works include Chronological History of the Singers of German Songs in Texas (1948); The First Protestant Church, Its History and Its People:1845-1855 (1955); and a translation of the Civil War diary of Capt. Julius Giesecke of New Braunfels. He contributed multiple articles to the Handbook of Texas History and received numerous honors for his devotion to history. Not bad for a sixth-grade dropout.

While going about my research for this story, I looked for something different than what others had written about him. I looked for his voice. Among the treasures that are held by the Sophienburg Museum and Archives is a stash of oral histories, the “Reflections” program, professionally recorded since 1976. Oscar Haas was number three. He was 90 at the time of the recording. I pulled the recording from the studio and played it for Don Cooper, the volunteer that has faithfully been cataloging the Oscar Haas Collection for at least two years. It was entrancing. Don’s face lit up as he actually heard the voice of the man that created boxes and boxes of notes written on scraps of paper and backs of old ballots. I could hear the impish demeanor and twinkle in the eye of a man I only saw in photos. His voice took me back to childhood, when my grandparents and many of the store clerks spoke with a little German accent and a “ja” on the end.

“Reflections” is still recorded and airs 9 a.m. Sundays on KGNB. Copies are available for purchase. Is your parent or grandparent recorded as they talk about New Braunfels? Wouldn’t it be great if you could hear their voice again? We also want to record your stories about growing up and living in New Braunfels. Call us at the Sophienburg, 830-629-1572.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Handbook of Texas Online.

The post The voice of Oscar Haas appeared first on Sophies Shop.

The articles of the Verein zum Schutz detscher Einwandrer in Texas (also known as the Society of Noblemen or the Adelsverein) required that the spiritual needs of the immigrants were to be met. The calendar and customs of church life were an important part of the Germanic culture. After their arrival and founding of New Braunfels on March 21, 1845, it is said that the people broke into two groups, Catholic and Protestant, and gathered under the shade of trees to literally say, “Thank you, God, for getting us here.”

And now, a little more info on the congregations. Please use the numbered photos for reference.

The Protestants chose to meet in a grove of elms at the foot of what became known as Sophienburg Hill. By 1846, a wooden church (1) with an onion-shaped dome (Zwiebelsturm) had been constructed on the corner of Castell and Church streets (Church later became Coll). The first pastor was Rev. L. C. Ervendberg. The present limestone First Protestant Church, at 296 S. Seguin St., was begun in 1875 and dedicated in 1889. The stately church has seen several renovations but remains alive and well.

The Catholics elected to worship under an oak tree near Comal Creek. The legendary Catholic Oak still thrives. The congregation moved into a small wooden chapel in 1847. This was quickly replaced in 1849 by a larger church built of black walnut (2); Father Claude Dubois led the first Mass. The present limestone Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church, at 386 N. Castell St., was constructed around the black walnut church so that masses were not interrupted during the building process. It was dedicated in 1888. The church added a school in 1871 which educates young New Braunfelsers to this day.

As more immigrants settled in the area, other churches began appearing that reflected more specific denominations and congregations. In 1851, Theobald Kleiss, a German missionary, organized St. Martin’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Neighborsville area across the Guadalupe River (roughly the Milltown area). A wood church building was constructed in 1851, on Church Hill Drive, to house the growing congregation. In 1880, the main door was moved to the end of the building, the pitch of the roof was increased and the bell tower was added (3). The neighboring Church Hill School met the needs of the parish children. St Martin’s was moved to its present location in Hortontown Cemetery in 1968. Visible from Loop 337, St. Martin’s, the “oldest Lutheran church in Texas”, watches over its past congregation.

The New Braunfels German Mission, based on Methodism, was founded in 1853 in the Comaltown home of J. Hirschleber. In 1858, the first Methodist church building was erected at 124 N. Union Street (4) and held services until 1912, when the Karbach Memorial Methodist Church was constructed at 572 W. San Antonio Street. The present First United Methodist Church building replaced the Karbach church in 1952.

By the 1860’s, German-speaking Jews began to establish businesses in the area. Families usually worshipped privately in their homes but made several trips each year to celebrate with the larger Jewish community in San Antonio. There has never been a Jewish synagogue in New Braunfels (5).

The Colored Methodist Church, built in 1900 at 225 E. Commerce Street, was organized in 1890 by H.P. Evans. Though born a slave, Evans could read and write and had a desire to begin a congregation for the African American community of New Braunfels. The church first used a house on the corner of Comal and Castell. In 1907, the church took the name Allen Chapel A. M. E. Church (6).

Rev. Lucky McQueen organized The Colored Baptist Church under a live oak tree at the corner of Houston and Camp Sts. in 1900. By the end of that year, the 14 original members were worshipping in a new church building at 355 N. Washington Avenue (7). The church was built by Sam and Tim Williams and was renamed Live Oak Baptist Church in honor of its founding. Eventually, a cast steel bell was purchased and hung in the bell tower. During renovations in 1983, the weight of the bell was found to be too much for the historic structure and it was removed. The congregation gifted the bell to the Sophienburg Museum in 2008. This small church still holds services and is a testament to the faith of the families which have called it their spiritual home for generations.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church was organized in 1926 by Sts. Peter & Paul as a mission church to serve the growing population of Mexican farm workers settling in the Comaltown community. By December 5, 1926, 40 Spanish-speaking families celebrated Mass in a new church building at 138 W. Austin Street (8). Two years later, a fire destroyed the first church. It was rebuilt along with a school building. The present O.L.P.H. Catholic church was constructed in 1969 near the original location. In 1944, the old O.L.P.H. “Sisters’ House” was dismantled and moved to the corner of Hidalgo and San Antonio Sts. to be used as the first building for Holy Family Catholic Church.

Obviously, these are not the only churches in New Braunfels, but they are among the earliest founded within the city. Other churches, founded around the same time in townships and settlements in Comal County, will have to wait for another time. You can see photographs and artifacts from these early churches in an exhibit at the Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

Today, New Braunfels residents can worship in churches reflecting many denominations and faiths. The Adelsverein did well to uphold the right of freedom of religion in their new colony which was destined to become part of this great country we call home.

Sources: Newspaper collection, Sophienburg Museum & Archives; History of New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas 1844-1946 and First Protestant Church Its History and Its People, Oscar Haas; A Journey In Faith, Gregory and Goff; The History of Sts. Peter & Paul Church and Parish 1844-1974, Monica Fuhrmann

The post Religious needs of the colonists appeared first on Sophies Shop.

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

The post Panthers in the park appeared first on Sophies Shop.

Kids of all ages gravitate to superheroes. I come from a time when the superhero list was relatively short: Superman, Mighty Mouse and Sky King. My favorite was Sky King, of course. But my real heroes — the ones I pretended to be in the backyard with all my neighborhood friends — were firemen. When your family members and your friends’ family members are firemen, it seems kind of a natural thing to play. Perhaps that’s why I find the history of the New Braunfels Fire Department fascinating.

Back in January 2017, Myra Lee Adams Goff covered the early history of the fire department (from 1874 up to about 1918) in her Around the Sophienburg article, “New Braunfels Fire Department — years of service”. In 1918, the city built and outfitted a new state of the art fire station, complete with three engine bays and sleeping quarters upstairs for the first paid firemen. That station became known as Central Station. It was the heartbeat of the firefighting community, for both paid men and volunteers. As a child, Central Station WAS the fire station to me. It held the shiny red engines in its neatly painted bays with pressed tin ceilings. The bay doors were almost always open and the firemen would often sit on the metal benches out front. This station also had a tower with a siren that went off exactly at noon every day without fail (or some poor young fireman would catch heck). That siren was the signal that my Opa would be home for lunch in 5 minutes. The tower isn’t there anymore, but the original 1918 station stands ready right next to the new Central Station. That building, located at 131 Hill Ave. is now the Fire Department Museum, and you can see all the cool history inside.

As New Braunfels grew, so did the need to protect the city. A community’s fire rating (insurance rate) is based on the building codes and the fire department’s ability to reach and extinguish a fire in the shortest amount of time. In 1931, the city saw fit to build Station No. 2., the one-story building that stood on the corner of Coll and Sycamore (next to the water tower) enabling fire coverage without having to wait for a train. The station originally housed one truck (the 1913 American LaFrance moved from Central Station) and two firemen with their families. Yes, families. R. Ebensberger and Hilmar Voigt were the first to occupy the station with family living quarters. Hilmar H. H. Chili Voigt was my Opa. He and my Oma moved in for a short time when my aunt was 11 and my uncle was 5. The station was replaced with the current Station No. 2. located on Loop 337 near Solms in 1975.

Station No. 3 was in Comaltown which was annexed by New Braunfels in 1868. Comal did have a fire house on N. Houston Ave. near where Lamar school is now, but it was torn down in 1925.

In 1950 the city bought and refurbished a 2-story building on the corner of Union and Garza (now Christus’ parking lot). The building had housed Simon’s Garage & Service Station on one end and Dolle’s Saloon on the other with the Hermann Son’s Lodge upstairs. From 1925 — 1950, fire protection had to come from Central Station across the Comal River. Station No. 3 remained in service until 1983 when the current station was built on Hanz Lane.

The city passed a bond in 1968 that built Station No. 4 on Kerlick Lane. It came online in 1970, went out of service for a while and then came back into service. The current Station No. 4 was built on Alyssa Way in 2012. Stations 5 and 6 are relatively new. No. 5 was built on County Line Road before 2006 and No. 6, on Stone Gate, came online in 2008.

To give you an idea of the department’s growth, in 1918, the department operated with three to four paid men and four companies of 15 volunteers each. By 1973, there were 28 paid men and 60 volunteers. Today there are 135 paid firefighters. The volunteer organization dissolved in the early 2000’s.

My Opa started with the fire department as a volunteer in about 1922. He became a ‘paid man’ in 1931, made Assistant Chief in 1958 and retired as Fire Marshal in 1966 after 35 years on the job. He also was a house painter/paper hanger, as most firemen needed a second job to make ends meet. Both my dad and uncle were members and officers of the New Braunfels Volunteer Fire Department for over 20 years, as were many of their friends. It was a way to give back to your community. The “hero games” we played as kids revolved around what we heard and saw. We pretended that the “Plectron” would go off (an electronic notification system at each volunteer captain’s house). One of us would jump on the “truck” (bicycle) and the other would stay by the phone, activating the “phone tree.” We also practiced for Pumper Races with the garden hose. As we got older, we took pride in being able to identify any firetruck coming our way—without seeing it, just by the sound of its siren. My favorite story about Central Station involved my Opa and my uncle. During WWII my uncle had joined the Army and, after completing basic in San Antonio, the soldiers shipped out by train. No one was allowed to notify family of their new orders or duty stations. My uncle knew that the train would pass right in front of the fire station, where the men sometimes sat out front on benches. He wrote on a rock he had picked up before boarding. Just as the train pulled through downtown New Braunfels, he stepped out onto the platform and threw the rock towards the fire station. My Opa no longer worried about my uncle going overseas. The rock said, “Aberdeen, Maryland.”

Firemen were — and are — a brotherhood. They risk their lives daily to protect the community, buildings, and people from fire, flood and disaster. They work hard and play hard, but they alone know what they see in their work and they carry it with them. THEY are my heroes and their history lives in the 1918 Central Fire Station. She looks pretty grand for 100 years old.

Sources:

• Sophienburg Archives
• New Braunfels Herald
• Sophienburg “Reflections”
• New Braunfels Fire Department

The post Heroes and history appeared first on Sophies Shop.

Have you ever thought about how photography has changed your life? Photographs are a wonderful boost to your memory. Maybe you can’t remember a birthday party or who was there or pictures of friends you had long ago or what your great-grandparents looked like. But times have changed now that everyone who has a phone also has a camera. Think about how easy it is to whip out your phone and be a “Johnny on the spot” photographing everything around you. Immediately you can become a detective, a photographer or an historian.

No one in New Braunfels has a collection of photographs like the Sophienburg Archives. Naturally there are fewer pictures from real long ago. There are events that took place in our town of which there are no photos and there are thousands of photographs that we do not yet have in the collection. So when an old lost photo that we have never seen before shows up, it’s time to celebrate. That happened about a month ago when the archives was given a copy of an old photo of the ferryboat that operated in the area near Guada-Coma (Guadalupe-Comal confluence). The ferry transported many immigrants over the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers in New Braunfels. Doug and Penny Cooper, owners of the property at the confluence of the two rivers, shared a copy of an old photograph of the ferry and she and others believe that this is the only actual photograph found. There have been several paintings. Incidentally there is an historical marker on the Cooper’s property dedicated to the ferry operation there.

Researching historical properties brings out some new facts about old places. Even looking at photos magnified on the computer reveals little details never seen before. The ferry was located up river from the Nacogdoches Street crossing that was originally shallow and had a limestone bottom. The remnants of that crossing can be seen while standing on the Faust Street Bridge. When the river was running high, the ferry up river was used.

Viewing the rivers from the confluence property, the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers each have different colors. One river is very blue and one is blue green. You can tell where they merge. Before Canyon Dam was built, I remember that the Guadalupe was warmer than the Comal and cloudy. Now they are both clear.

The property at the confluence of three acres was given to first New Braunfels settler Adolph von Wedemeyer by the German Immigration Company in 1845 to build and operate a ferryboat. The crossing of the Guadalupe River had been a busy spot for hundreds of years before the first settlers arrived in 1845. Caravans from Mexico hauled supplies to missionaries in the east crossing the river at the foot of Nacogdoches Street (or the Nacogdoches Road site of the Camino Real). When the river flooded, one had to wait a long time before crossing. When New Braunfels was founded, this old route was very important for supplies and settlers to be brought from the coast.

Wedemeyer sold the land in 1847 to Justus Kellner who died soon thereafter. His widow then married Carl Bardenwerper and they took over the ferry until 1866 when it was sold to Florenz Kreuz.

Historian Ferdinand Roemer describes arriving at the site of the ferry in 1846 in the evening. A horn hanging from a tree signaled the ferry operator on the other side of the river to come pick him up. After waiting for a quite a long time, someone finally called out that the river was too flooded to cross and to wait until the next morning. Roemer camped outside in a rainy norther and the next morning two young men arrived and guided the ferry across.

In June of 1872 the ferryboat washed away in a flood. The Kreuz family then built a larger ferryboat that they named “Flora.”

Back in the 1700s the Spaniards who owned Texas made treks through what became the state of Texas, using the El Camino Real (king’s highway) trail. Martin de Alarcon, governor of the province of Texas in 1718, crossed the Rio Grande and headed towards what became San Antonio. There he established the Villa de Bexar (San Antonio) and founded the Mission San Antonio de Valero (Alamo).

The diary of Martin de Alarcon was translated by Dr. Fritz Leo Hoffmann, who was in my mother’s graduating class of New Braunfels High School, 1924. In 1935, Hoffmann was Professor of Languages at the University of Colorado. He said that Alarcon fixed the Royal Standard (flag) of the King of Spain at the junction of the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers and took possession of them. He and his men camped in the area.

Oscar Haas discovered a story dating back to the early 1860s stating that a large elephantine beast was discovered in the area of the junction buried way beneath the surface. A well was being dug and a shoulder bone of the beast was discovered. He estimated it to be about 30-feet long and 20-feet high. Stories of remains of at least three mastodons were found on the banks of the Comal River.

In 1968, Mrs. James Haile, owner of the junction property at the time, received a Texas Historical Marker as a historical site, certainly an important designation.

The Cooper’s old photograph was enlarged on a computer and painted by watercolor artist, Patricia Arnold. It is unknown when the photo was taken but could be as old as 1860. It now becomes part of the Sophienburg’s vast collection.

The post Guada-Coma ferry photograph added to archives appeared first on Sophies Shop.

As a child, going to the library with my mother was an awe-inspiring event. We mostly went during the summer when school was out. I remember it being cool and quiet. I felt very grown up because they had children’s books in a gated area with little chairs just my size. My mother would pull her library card out of the little envelope in her wallet, and we would be out the door with two books each for the week… and it didn’t cost money. By the time I reached fifth grade, my sister and I would be allowed to walk to the library by ourselves from my Oma’s house on Academy. We would “tight-rope” walk the rock retaining wall to the museum corner, cross over the stone steps and walk the wall the rest of the way to the library. The library building had the coolest steps, stacked like a square wedding cake. It also had the loudest clanging bell hanging over the door to announce our arrival to the librarian. “My little library” was on the corner of Coll and Magazine Streets. Though built in 1938, the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library can trace its roots back to the 1920s.

Early libraries in Europe were mostly operated by churches and academic institutions. Commercial libraries were basically “members only” by annual subscription to the wealthy and privileged. Free public libraries were unknown. Benjamin Franklin founded the first subscription library in North America in 1731. The first free public library supported by taxation in the world was the Peterborough, New Hampshire library founded at a town meeting on April 9, 1833. As population grew and technology changed, the push for truly public libraries, paid for by taxes and run by the state, gained force. The growth of women’s literary societies and cultural clubs in the late 1800s provided the volunteer power needed to form public libraries. One such group, The Delphian Society, was a national organization founded in 1910 by a group of scholars from all over the U.S. and England that offered women in-home study courses. It soon became a group-study course, with chapters popping up in cities and small towns all over the country. Women met to discuss the recommended books and fine arts courses, including history, literature, philosophy, poetry, fiction, drama, art, ethics, and music. The New Braunfels Chapter of The Delphian Society formed in about 1924. In their third season, September 1927, the members launched a drive for a public library. By March of 1928, The Delphian library committee, along with members from other local organizations, formed the New Braunfels Public Library Board led by Mrs. M.C. Hagler. The Board worked diligently, hosting book “showers”, musical programs and other campaign fundraisers to gather books and establish the needed funds. The new library opened on June 15, 1928, at 173 S. San Antonio Street, in space donated by Mrs. Landa. On April 5, 1929, the New Braunfels Herald announced that the public library collections moved into the Landa Offices Building on Main Plaza. At that time, the price of a subscription to participate was $1.00 per year. It was open to the public, but still not truly free.

Our nation entered into the Great Depression, but the Library Board worked on. In October of 1933, the public library moved into the library room of the newly built Sophienburg Museum. By 1937, it was clear that the library needed its own space. The possibility of a new public library building for the city of New Braunfels got closer in October 1937. Mrs. Emmie Seele Faust, daughter of Hermann Seele, the Father of Public Education in Texas, offered a large donation to build a memorial library on the site of Market Square. The property owners surrounding the square protested the building of a library in their neighborhood. The Sophienburg Memorial Association eventually donated a parcel of the Sophienburg Hill property for the new library, with the understanding that when it ceased to be a library it would revert back to the Association. The same architect that designed the Sophienburg Museum, Jeremiah Schmidt, designed the library with a beautiful white rock façade and red tiled roof. It was built, by Edwin Hanz, with rock retaining walls and stepped entrance to match the landscaping of the Sophienburg Museum. The Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library opened in the fall of 1938. It should be noted that in the 1930s, of the 254 counties in Texas, only 19 had free public libraries. The “Emmie” was ahead of her time. The Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library served the city of New Braunfels for 30 years before the city built the Dittlinger Memorial Library on adjacent property in 1968. The city then built the current New Braunfels Public Library on Common Street in 1999. The old Emmie Seele Faust Library building was utilized by the Sophienburg Museum for artifact storage and as the archives for a number of years. Restored to its former glory with generous donations in 2011, the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library is now used for educational programming and as a small event venue, fulfilling again its intended use as a public space.

Eighty years after the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library opened as the free public library for the City of New Braunfels, it has been recognized by the Texas Historical Commission as a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark. All of us who think of the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library as “my little library” can be proud of those first forward thinking women and their determination to bring civic education and culture. Look how far we have come. The Comal County Historical Commission is hosting a marker unveiling and dedication to be held in front of the library on 401 W. Coll Street on Sunday, April 8 at 4pm. Coincidently, April 8th marks the beginning of National Library Week. All are invited.

Sources:

• The New Braunfels Herald
• Comal County Historical Commission
• http://eduscapes.com/history/index.htm

The post Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library appeared first on Sophies Shop.