By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is pull up the weather app on my phone. I want to know temperature and precipitation possibilities in order to get dressed appropriately.

Humans have always watched the weather. Where to settle, when to plant and harvest, what to accomplish during the day and yes, how to dress are all dictated by weather. Weather encompassed the seasons of the year which could be wet or dry, hot or cold. Weather was either your friend or your worst enemy. It has always been watched, but it has not always been recorded on a daily basis and used to predict weather patterns, droughts and storms.

The science of meteorology, the tracking and understanding of weather patterns is really a relatively recent thing. Ancient Babylonians tried to predict major weather change based on the shape and look of the clouds. Egyptian astronomers were fairly adept at predicting the arrival of the Nile’s seasonal floods. Aristotle wrote Meteorologica as a compilation of all known knowledge about atmospheric phenomena, theories and guidelines for predictions. But it was the invention of data recording devices — barometers, dew point calculators, anemometers, hygrometers — that helped insure accuracy. Ordinary people, interested in the nature of weather, began keeping records. Well, not all were ordinary; Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo and Benjamin Franklin are on that list.

In the early 1800s, volunteer recorders and observers of weather in the United States started seeing patterns emerge in the data. The telegraph, invented in 1837, aided in weather information collection and sharing. In 1849, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, began collecting data from across the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean by giving out weather instruments. Weather watchers transmitted their observations to the Smithsonian at least three times a day. Weather maps were drawn, sent to press and posted in public places within about three hours. A six-word message relayed the city, barometric pressure, dew point, temperature, cloud cover, wind velocity and direction. As people daily transmitted weather information, scientists correlated and analyzed it to find the patterns and make predictions — modern meteorology was born.

One hundred fifty volunteer observers across the nation reported regularly to the Smithsonian. By 1860, that number had risen to 500. Texas had at least 42 men and women who were Smithsonian meteorological observers between 1854 and 1873. Several of these were well-known individuals in New Braunfels; two of them lived and worked here.

Louis Cachand Ervendberg, born around 1809 in Germany, emigrated to Illinois in the 1830s. He came to Texas in 1839, and after meeting up with Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels in Industry, Texas, he was given the job of pastor of the German Protestant immigrants. He and Ferdinand Lindheimer met the immigrants at Indianola and came inland with them. Ervendberg first lived in a house on Church (now Coll) Street, behind the log German Protestant Church. The cholera outbreak of 1846 was the cause of at least 60 orphaned children. The Ervendbergs opened their home and set up a tent to house and care for them. In 1848, Ervendberg set up the first state-sanctioned orphanage (Waissenhaus) out near Gruene.

Along with their own five children, the Ervendbergstaught roughly 20 orphans farming and housekeeping, as well as reading, writing and arithmetic. Ervendberg left the pastorship in 1851 and concentrated on finding out what crops could be grown in Texas. He experimented with different wheats, tobacco, medicinal plants, sheep and silkworms. Ervendberg corresponded with many men, including Asa Grey at Harvard. He was also one of the early Smithsonian meteorological observersof the 1850s. The rest of the Ervendberg’s story has been covered by Myra Lee Adams Goff in “Around the Sophienburg” articles (search on Sophienburg web site).

Jacob Ludwig Forke was born in 1817 in Hanover, Germany. After arriving in New Braunfels, he took over the position of Smithsonian meteorological observer reporting from 1855 to 1857, after Ervendberg left New Braunfels for Mexico. Family lore says Jacob made daily trips out to the Waissenhaus to record his observations. He married Karoline Langkammer, one of the orphans, in 1856. Talk about your “meet cute”!

Jacob Forke first farmed land on the Waissenfarm for at least a year, making 32 bushels of corn which was ground into meal. Eventually, wife Karoline bought the store and home of Victor Bracht (author of Texas in 1848) in 1865. The 1852 Bracht home and store stood at 593 S. Seguin Street, the present-day corner carpark of Bluebonnet Motors. Karoline deeded the property to her husband in 1866. No reason for this rather interesting chain of ownership can be found. However, a story has been told that Karoline would often leave her home and go next door to the Forke store to fuss at her husband and the men gathered inside playing skat or dominoes instead of working. She was obviously one of those strong, independent, no-nonsense German women. The property was sold by the Forke descendants in 1970, and eventually the store became a part of the New Braunfels Conservation Society’s Historic Old Town New Braunfels.

The telegraph had given meteorologists the ability to observe and display almost simultaneously all the observed weather data. This led to actual forecasting of weather. Because of the complexity of capturing and understanding the weather information, the system became part of a governmental agency. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law in 1870 which birthed the first national weather service as a part of the US Army Signal Corps. In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison moved the meteorological responsibilities to the newly-created US Weather Bureau, an agency of the Department of Agriculture. The Bureau eventually became the National Weather Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1970.

Whether or not you are interested in weather, are you not continually amazed at how our little Hill Country town finds it way into the history of our world?

Sources: Sophienburg Museum: Oscar Haas Collection, Newspaper Collection, Forke and Ervendberg genealogies; PBS: The American Experience: A Brief History of the National Weather Service; National Weather Service: History of the National Weather Service; OpenMind BBVA: Meteorological Records: This Is How We Started to Record the Climate.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

New Braunfels historians have told us that the first immigrants arrived with very little in the way of belongings. And, unlike today’s new arrivals in New Braunfels, our founding ancestors had a lot to do before settling into a house. They had to secure materials (chop trees for lumber, make mud bricks, cut stone) to be able to build their own places to live. We are very fortunate to live in a place where so many of those early homes still exist. One of my favorites stands on a lot at 212 W. Austin Street in Comaltown, exactly where it has stood for over 150 years.

The story? It begins with people making life-changing decisions to build a new life, sell everything, move across the Atlantic Ocean and settle on the Fisher Miller Grant in the Republic of Texas. Like many, that is exactly what Johann Georg Moeller did.

Georg Moeller left Bremen aboard the ship Weser, arranged by Henry Fisher for the San Saba Colonization Company, in May of 1844. Once he arrived in Galveston in July 1844, he learned that the Fisher & Miller land grant had never materialized. He was stuck along with several others from his hometown of Michelsrombach, Hesse. Moeller did eventually end up in New Braunfels in late 1845.

Meanwhile, on similar track, Johann Peter Hoffmann boarded the Garrone, arranged by the Adelsverein, with his wife and children. They arrived in Galveston in December of 1844 and finally reached New Braunfels with the First Founders. Mr. Hoffmann died shortly thereafter, leaving Elizabeth Hoffmann to fend for herself and her two children, Charlotta and Alex. (Soap operas got nothing on true history!).

So fast forward to 1848, when Georg Moeller and widow Elizabeth Hoffmann married. Their instant family of four eventually totaled seven with the addition of twin sons, Franz and Johann, in 1849 and Louis in 1852.

The Moellers settled in Comaltown. At one time, they owned/farmed most of the Landa Estates area. Georg Moeller began building my favorite limestone house in 1859. He built it all by himself. The beautiful two-story is constructed of hand-cut hard limestone that was quarried locally. All the walls are constructed of hard limestone, cut into squares and rectangles with stone lintels across the top of each window.

The wood beams and roof rafters are of hand-hewn cedar logs and the floors are hand-hewn cypress planks. Although the outside walls are perfectly square and the floors and ceilings are perfectly level, there are no two rooms the same size, no two walls the same thickness and no two rooms with the same size floorboards. The walls range from 8 to 18 inches in thickness. The original house had two staircases: one leading to the basement, the other to the second floor. Each wood tread of the steps going upstairs is smoothly fitted into grooves in the supporting side boards. No nails were used. The stairs to the basement are solid rock. It is truly amazing that no cement was used to put the stones together. In some places, it is said to be plain black dirt mixed with straw; and in others, a mortar made of sand and lime was used.

The limestone house, begun in 1859, took 6 years to build. The family lived in a modest home where Our Lady of Perpetual Help is now located while their limestone home was being built. It was finally completed in 1866. Sadly, Johann Georg Moeller died in 1867, just weeks after the family moved into the new home.

In 1881, ownership of the house changed. Okay, this is where it gets sticky. Pay attention to the “OE” and “UE” here. The home was sold by the Johann Georg M”oe”ller family to Johannes M”ue”ller, known as “Mueller-Hanas” in 1881. He owned a freight company. Mueller-Hanas was a very interesting guy, but I will save that for another day. He raised his family in the home. Johannes Mueller died in 1908 followed by his wife in 1909. Oddly enough, Emma, daughter of Johannes Mueller, married Henry Moeller, the grandson of Johann Georg Moeller.

In 1910, the home was sold to Mr. & Mrs. Albert Nowotny. Their son Jerome, who was born in the home, bought it in 1947. He eventually built a very successful tourist attraction/restaurant around it — Bavarian Village. By coincidence, Jerome Nowotny’s son, Lionel, married Mary Lou Mueller, a great-granddaughter of Johannes Mueller, second owner of the house. The Moeller House is now owned by Schlitterbahn Waterparks/Cedar Fair.

There were many descendants of the Moellers in the area and many were builders. Most of the structures are still standing as they are very well built like the Moeller House. The following is a list just to name a few: Garden Street Bridge, Mission Valley Mill Dam, Old Fire Station, Richter Buildings, Wagenfuehr House, Celebrations, Comal Flower Shop, The Black Whale Saloon, Lamar School, Seele Parish House, Johnson Furniture, Main Plaza Gazebo, Gerlich Home (Borchers Office), Fischer House (next to the Civic Center), Corner Coffee Shop, Old New Braunfels High School, Citizens Ice House (Conway’s), numerous curbs and sidewalks, and hundreds of homes in the area and surrounding counties. They truly lived well-built lives.

The Moeller House became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1970; however, at some point the marker was removed. A new marker was sponsored by a Johann Georg Moeller descendant, Myra Lee Adams Goff.

The Moeller House Marker Rededication ceremony will take place Sunday, March 3, 4:00 p.m. at 212 W. Austin Street. The public is invited.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Comal County Historical Commission.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Some fifty years ago, New Braunfels was still a small town. You know, very Mayberry, where they pulled up the fire hydrants, rolled up the sidewalks and locked them in the bank every day at 6 p.m. At least they did from my child-eye view. One of the few things that I remember about drives through town on a summer Saturday evening, was stopping in front of Seidel’s Studio and Camera Shop to look at all of the beautiful portraits — brides, babies, families. The images captured the essence of the subjects in that one moment in time. Without knowing it, the Seidels became some of the greatest historians of New Braunfels. The Seidel story begins post WWI.

Otto Seidel and Johanna Schmidt met and married in Germany in 1921. Johanna’s mother and stepfather, Mary and Frank Bluemel, had emigrated to Texas in 1913 before the war. Mary wrote letter after letter to the Seidels, telling them wonderful things about New Braunfels and inviting them to come. The young couple took a chance and moved to New Braunfels early in 1922. Otto had a little photography experience from WWI, so it seemed only natural that he would want to buy a photography studio, which he did. The Seidels bought Bluemel’s Studio from Frank Bluemel.

Unlike today, a professional photographer was required to take pictures of things, everything from weddings to new buildings to accidents. Professional cameras in that day and age were big and bulky and absolutely nothing was automated. The photographer stood under a big black cover to look through the viewfinder at an upside-down image while holding a trough of black powder on a stick. A cotton string was lit and the photographer manually opened the shutter when the flame ignited the powder in the trough, creating a flash. In the best of conditions, say, standing in a room with said camera taking a picture of a single person, it could be very tough to get consistently good photos. Otto Seidel had a knack for it. Can you imagine having to travel with that giant thing? Travel they did. In the mid-20s, the Seidels were asked to take construction photographs of the McQueeny and Clear Springs Dams, with their huge, bulky camera complete with black powder flash, down inside the dam structures. They also were asked to take photos during construction of the Comal Power Supply /LCRA building. There were no aerial photos, no drones back then, so when asked to photograph all the tin roofs in New Braunfels, Otto climbed the tallest structure he knew of. He set up his huge camera and tripod on top of the Coll Street water tower. Yikes! In later years, the cameras were smaller, but the electric flash required an eighteen-pound battery pack slung over one’s shoulder to make it work.

Originally, the studio was located on Castell Avenue between the back of what is now The Phoenix Saloon and the Hinman House/Communities in Schools. By the early 30’s, Seidel’s Studio moved to the Hinman Building on W. San Antonio above Peerless Pharmacy (where Dancing Pony is now).

In 1939, the business relocated to a very modern art deco building at 453 W. San Antonio Street (now Keller Williams Realtors). The family home was right next door. The Seidels had two boys, Edmound and Rudy (born 1922 & 1924) who were involved in the business even as children. In his spare time, Otto would shoot pictures of Landa’s Park and surrounding New Braunfels. Seidel’s Studio printed hundreds of scenic post cards to sell in the drug stores for ¼ cent each. The children helped lay the cards out all over the floor of the studio to have room to dry.

In 1941, the Seidels became a direct dealer for Eastman Kodak Company. They processed customer’s film promising same day service. With the help of their son Rudy, they gradually broadened their services to include cameras and camera equipment sales, becoming Seidel Studio and Camera Shop. More services meant the need for more space. They enlarged the building in 1951. Rudy took over the business in 1955. They doubled their footprint again with an expansion in 1957. The building was remodeled in 1970, as were many other buildings at that time, to give it a Bavarian fachwerk look. The Seidel building finally was sold by the Seidel family in 2006. The building has been remodeled again in recent years to the ultra-modern stucco and glass version we see today.

The Seidels were very devoted to their work. Otto, Johanna, and Rudy worked all day and well into the evening six days a week, shooting studio portraits or business/industrial locations during the week followed by weddings on Saturdays. In the meantime, they had to process the film and print photos. Before color film, everything was shot in black and white. Color photographs were produced by “hand tinting” the black and white images with shear paints. On bridal pictures, the color of each gown was documented so that it could be tinted the proper shade. It was very time consuming. The Seidels were also called upon to shoot photos of accidents for the police or sheriff departments, many times in the middle of the night. Rudy and Otto saw some pretty gruesome sights. The year before the Studio sold, the Seidels calculated that they worked every day but 4 Sundays.

In 1970, the photography studio was sold to Vera Shaw, an eighteen-year employee, also from Germany. The studio operated as Braunfels Studio until 1989. Rudy continued with the camera shop. They sold state of the art cameras and equipment. The Herald-Zeitung bought many a camera there. After Otto Seidel died in 1976, the camera business was sold to Pat and Connie Miller in 1978. Shortly afterward, Herb Skoog learned that 48 years of negatives held in storage were about to be thrown out. Skoog encouraged the Millers to donate all of the Seidel Studio’s negatives to the Sophienburg Museum and Archives. The Seidel Collection at the Sophienburg contains approximately 25,000 photos and negatives.

The Seidel family of photographers chronicled the history of New Braunfels from 1922 to 1970. After that, their legacy was continued by those under their tutelage. Generations of New Braunfels residents have been captured on film by the Seidels. Were you one of the photos in the portrait window.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Reflections; Seidel Collection.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

When the Museum is quiet, like it has been for the past few weeks, I like being in the exhibit hall. In fact, my favorite thinking spot is sitting on a bench in there, just listening. In the silence, one can almost hear the sounds of New Braunfels’ past; the wheels of a carriage on unpaved streets or the voices of children responding to the old teacher’s bell. I seem to be drawn to the wall where our immigration story begins. As I stare at the whiskered faces of the town’s first leaders, I wonder about the women of the day. Do they only take honors for being strong pioneer women who love and birth children while tending the garden and the house? What of the first women leaders? The Archives hold their stories.

One of the first we hear about is Mrs. Margaret Ullrich. Her husband, George Ullrich was hired by the Adelsverein as the wagon master. Margaret and their 3-year-old child rode with him as he guided the first group of emigrants from the coast to their new home in New Braunfels. I’ve often thought about my Texas ancestors and I can tell you that riding and/or walking 150 miles up from the coast to New Braunfels is not my idea of fun, especially with a 3-year-old! Margaret and all the women that survived that trip get my vote as super-heroes.

Mrs. Louise Benner, wife of New Braunfels Postmaster Adolph Benner, became one of the first post-mistresses ever appointed in the United States (and first in New Braunfels) upon his death in 1857. Mrs. Benner served until after the Civil War, at which time she was promptly replaced by Christian Holtz. During Reconstruction, all public servants that had served in the Confederacy were replaced. Incidentally, there has only been one other woman to serve as postmistress in NB – Charlsie Witham in 1927.

Lina Chapa Delgado, born in 1906, was a nurse’s aide before becoming an LVN. She is thought to be the first Certified Midwife in New Braunfels. She delivered over 1600 babies in more than 40 years of service to the community. Her first delivery was Juanita Castro in 1931.

The roles held by women, mostly as nurses and teachers, slowly changed. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave women equal rights to vote and serve on juries, but it took a while for that to make its way to New Braunfels. In 1951, Miss Etelka Lucas became the first City Corporation Court Judge (equivalent to our current Municipal Court Judge), a position she held until 1955. She was the first woman ever to serve in any judicial capacity in Comal County.

In January of 1955, Mrs. Robert (Gretchen) Uhr was the first woman juror ever seated in Comal County. In fact, the entire 6-person jury for which she was selected was all female, which was quite something for that time

Also in January 1955, Mrs. Frank Oprysnek became the first woman to serve on an official governing body of New Braunfels (before we had City Manager format). The 43-year-old widow of the late Commissioner Frank Oprysnek was appointed over nine other applicants to fill the unexpired term of her husband. The job paid $125 per month plus a $50 expense account. In today’s dollars, that would be approximately $1206 per month with a $482 expense account. Her duties as assigned by Mayor Schwandt included parks and plazas, cemeteries, city hall, library, hospital and sewage disposal plant.

In 1961, the first woman elected to the Comal County Board of School Trustees was Mrs. Robert (Bessie) Long, a former home demonstration agent and teacher.

There were plenty of women running in the most recent Texas primary, but it took a long time to get there. It was 118 years after the creation of Comal County that a woman was elected as Comal County Clerk. In 1964, Mr. Otto Rohde, the Clerk of twenty-five years, died. Mrs. A. D. (Irene Staats) Nuhn, long time county employee, was appointed to fill his position until the election. She subsequently ran and was elected, holding that position for 16 years.

1964 must have been a really good year for women because Mrs. Clinton (Margaret) Naegelin, retired schoolteacher, became the first woman elected to City Council. She also went on to become the first woman Mayor Pro Tem and Mayor, all within three years!

Women also began making their mark in the business world, in positions mostly occupied by men. Miss Angelina Morales succeeded her father, Charlie Morales, as manager of Morales Funeral Home in March 1969. She was the first woman mortician and funeral director in New Braunfels.

In 1970, accomplished artist and realtor, Mrs. Claudine Hovestadt, was elected first woman president of New Braunfels Board of Realtors. Women were not just moving up locally. Mrs. Harry (Clara) Heidemann, President & manager of Natural Bridge Caverns, which was dedicated August 5, 1964, was elected the first Woman President of National Caves Association in 1971.

The last on my list of firsts is Olivia Perez. She made her mark by becoming the first female patrol officer of New Braunfels Police Department in 1976 while proudly carrying on her family’s tradition of law enforcement (like her two older brothers). Perez was one of three females in the Police Academy, but she scored the highest marks of all 33 students in her class.

These first women paved the way for others. Their service to our beloved community really prepared the way for all of us as we strive to make New Braunfels the best it can be.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

New Braunfels has an historic and active downtown. In order for that to happen, three things are necessary. First, the buildings themselves must be of lasting quality. Secondly, an active preservation philosophy must be prevalent. The third is to have creative successful business owners. We are fortunate to have all of three.

As I drove around Main Plaza, on Seguin Avenue and down San Antonio Street, I was surprised and pleased to count 17 buildings built in the early 1920s by my grandfather, A.C. Moeller. This prompted me to do research on the Moeller brothers of Comaltown.

The Moeller family has been involved in building since their immigration to Texas and the formation of Comaltown. The story began, as so many do, in a German town called Michaelsrombach. Several years ago, I was able to visit this beautiful tiny village where the emigrant, Johann Georg Moeller, was born. It was a charming place. The house where the Moeller family lived dates back to the 1600s. The stone house stands almost in the center of the village and is still occupied by Moeller descendants. Originally, cows lived on one side of the house to protect them from the winter elements but over the years, additions were made to the home and the cows are gone. A beautiful Catholic church sits on a small hill overlooking the village. The Moellers attended this church and went to school there. The adjoining cemetery contains many Moeller graves. It is a very strange feeling to realize that all those buried there are my ancestors. Michaelsrombach seemed like a fairy tale place to grow up in.

Johann was 25 years old when he left the harbor of Bremen and sailed on the ship Weser. His Reisepass (passport) stated that he was 5 foot 2 inches tall, had blond curly hair and blue eyes.

There were seven men and one woman aboard the Weser from Michaelsrombach. I wondered why they left such a beautiful town. Then I found a statement made by historian, Rudolph Biesele, from his research on emigration. He writes: “Generations ago when German tribes were still living in their primitive social development, they frequently undertook adventurous enterprises under leaders especially chosen for that purpose. These expeditions developed among the early Germans an adventurous spirit for which in a much later period they used the term ‘Wanderlust.’ This Wanderlust or desire to wander, has remained with them through all the ages as one of their national characteristics.” Sound familiar?

Most of the Michaelsrombach emigrants were young men in their 20s. One couple, Peter and Maria Reus, were each 50 years old. Others were Johann Georg Moeller, Johann Arnold, Valentin Fey, Johann Schneider, Johann Schwab and Thomas Schwab. Why so many Johanns? Looking over so many family trees, I noticed that the oldest boy was named Johann. In America, most of these Johanns were referred to by their middle name. So, from this point on, Johann Georg Moeller will be referred to as Georg Moeller. His first son, who was named after him, became the Americanized name of John.

These immigrants, and 84 others, had been asked to settle Texas by Henry Fisher who had arranged for them to sail on the ship Weser. They arrived in Galveston in July 1844, five months before the Adelsverein immigrants. Prince Carl was to meet the Henry Fisher group in Galveston, but he left to secure another port for the Adelsverein immigrants to disembark. He established a port at Indianola and by December 1844, 292 immigrants had landed and awaited their trek inland. On March 21, 1845, the immigrants crossed the Guadalupe River into New Braunfels. Many of those from Michaelsrombach came with this early group. Georg Moeller did not make the trek with the immigrants but arrived soon after and settled in Comaltown. We do not know why he didn’t wait with the other immigrants, but could he have given in to Wanderlust? Nevertheless, we know that he arrived in Comaltown soon after the March 21st group. In I846, Georg married the widow Katherine Hoffmann; her husband had died shortly after the family arrived leaving her with two children. Eventually, Georg and Katherine had one daughter that died and then three sons. They were twins John and Franz and then Louis (Ludwig).

Georg bought a large piece of property in Comaltown and it was on this property that he built a magnificent two-story rock house that still stands at 212 West Austin Street. Supposedly, the rock was hauled from a nearby quarry on Rock Street. All the walls are constructed of smooth hand-hewn limestone. Heavy cedar beam staircases lead to a basement. No nails were used. After Georg died in 1857, the house was occupied by family members and eventually sold by the three sons. The most recent acquisition was by Schlitterbahn. In 1970 the house received the Recorded Texas Historic Landmark designation.

It is in this second generation that fellow researcher David Hartmann and I branch off. We share Johann Georg and Katherine Moeller as our first ancestors in New Braunfels. My great grandfather was John Moeller and David’s g-g grandfather was Louis Moeller. John Moeller continued in the building trade, constructing homes in the area. He also built a Victorian home in 1894, on the corner of Union Avenue and Camp Street, which still stands. On the back of this property, John had a small lumber mill. It was here that John and wife, Anna Rauch Moeller, raised their four boys and exposed them to the building business. Adolph was the oldest, then Ed, then Herman and last Alwin Carl Moeller.

Adolph Moeller carried on the building tradition and was known as a commercial builder. Several well-known downtown buildings were built by him: Fire Station #1, the old New Braunfels High School on Mill Street and many houses including his beautiful home on Garza Street. Ed Moeller is listed for a short time as a builder but spent most of his time as the owner of the bus station where the Celebrations Store is on Seguin Avenue. He was also involved in politics and became sheriff for a time. Hermann was listed as a carpenter.

And now we have the story of the prime builder of the Moeller clan: Alwin Carl “Kid” Moeller. He was my grandfather. To this day, his name is imprinted as “A.C. Moeller, Contractor” all over sidewalks and cornerstones in town, especially downtown. At an early age, he learned the contracting business from his oldest brother Adolph. A.C. went into business for himself and from the early 1920s until he died in 1936, he constructed many buildings. About 17 buildings downtown have cornerstones which carry his name. Some notable buildings that you are probably familiar with are the Seele Parish House, the Richter Building, Johnson Furniture, the Phoenix Saloon addition, the complete remodeling of the Doeppenschmidt Funeral Home, Plaza Drug Building, Comal Flower Building, the Black Whale, the Bus Station and many others. He built the first annex to the Courthouse (for $73,000) in 1930, the Garden Street Bridge and the textile mill dam across the Guadalupe River. Aside from commercial buildings, he was an expert on homes in the bungalow, craftsman and Prairie style. Some of these homes have been converted into offices contributing to the conservation of downtown. The law office of Jack Borchers on Seguin Avenue is a good example of a converted home to an office. Another example is the red brick Prairie style home on East San Antonio Street, owned by descendants of the Wagenfuehr family. Hundreds of A.C. Moeller homes still stand in New Braunfels and benefit from his skill at building. In 1924, he was awarded a big contract with New Braunfels schools to build Lamar School, Carl Schurz Elementary, Steven F. Austin School and the Home Economics Cottage for the high school on Academy Avenue. One of his last projects was the remodeling of the bandstand on Main Plaza.

Alwin Carl Moeller died in 1936 and it can definitely be said that he was one of those who “left footprints on the sands of time.” Also, I’m right about what I said about what makes a viable downtown. The Moeller brothers built buildings that last and are worth saving and we have people in NB who recognize the importance of preservation.

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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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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

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Recently I had an opportunity to practice my investigative reporting skills. I’m not adventurous enough to be a real investigative reporter but every once in a while something piques my curiosity and I’m off on an adventure. Reading a newspaper article by Oscar Haas that he wrote 45 years ago about Altgelt Pond got me started.

Never having heard of the pond before, I started looking and found very little. The story was very interesting but gave me sketchy clues about where this pond was located. Clue #1 was that it was four miles west of New Braunfels on the Dry Comal Creek. After several dry runs, my husband and I started over at the Plaza, went out Landa St., turned right before the overpass, turned left on Loop 337, heading toward the Dry Comal Creek area. Sure enough, large patches of trees on the right side of the loop led us to a little turn-in right after McCoys Lumber and Holiday Marine Boat Supplies. There was the River City Range and right there as you drive in on the left side of the short drive is Altgelt Pond. The pond has a chain-link fence around it but it is visible.

Johnny Rodriguez, a native of New Braunfels, owns the River City Range, a seven acre miniature golf course, two driving ranges, practice facility, batting cages, and sanded and lighted volleyball courts. There is a bar with several television sets, pool table, and ping pong table. Rodriguez bought the property five years ago.

Stories handed down by old-timers in the area tell of very big fish and that the pond was a favorite fishing spot. The pond has never dried up. Stories of the pond go back to the beginning of the settlement. Occasionally alligators were sighted in the Comal River and thought to be from the Dry Comal. Rodriguez said that even through the last drought in Comal County, the pool remained full. Other pools and tanks in the area dried up. It is estimated that the pool is at least 60 feet deep but was impossible to measure. Imagine the difficulty of measuring the depth of a spring-fed pool.

No one knows what name the pond had in the past. If it was named after the owners, it could have been Veramendi Pond, Prince Carl Pond, Meusebach Pond, Ernst Coreth Pond and finally Altgelt Pond. Probably the Native Americans had a name for it. According to Haas, there were several different names given to the pond, such as “Blue Hole” and “Bottomless Hole”. Early settlers called it “Der Teich”, meaning The Pond in German. This pond may be bottomless but it is not blue. It’s hard to imagine it as ever being described as blue. It’s green with algae and looks like it could be a great setting for one of the swamp movies. I imagine the snakes love it.

One of the first owners of the land on which the pond was located was John O. Meusebach, successor to Prince Carl as head of the Adelsverein in Texas. When Meusebach came to New Braunfels to take the place of Prince Carl, he came with a contract signed by Count Castell, president of the German Emigration Company. The contract stated that Meusebach would receive 500 acres of the company’s land of his choosing. In June, 1847, Meusebach chose a 280 acre plot where the pond was located.

Six months later he sold the tract to Count Ernst Coreth for $3,266 including a house, two cedar log cabins, farm implements, garden seeds, ploughed land, ditches and fences.

Meusebach married Miss Agnes Coreth, oldest daughter of Count Ernst and Countess Agnes Coreth on Sept. 26, 1852. For a brief time the Meusebachs lived at Hueco Springs and later founded Loyal Valley. Agnes Meusebach’s parents, Count and Countess Coreth, came with their six children to Texas in the fall of 1846 on the ship York, an emigrant sailing ship out of Antwerp. Five more children were born in Texas. The last child, Otilie, was born in 1858 and married Hermann Altgelt in 1879. The obituary of Mrs. Agnes Coreth states that the family after its arrival in Texas “went on to Fredericksburg, returned to NB and lived on a farm later known as the Altgelt Farm, which has the famous Altgelt Pond on it.” (Oscar Haas said that the pond was owned by E.R. Teinert in 1970.) It now belongs to Johnny Rodriguez.

Rochette Coreth, son of Franz Coreth and the grandson of Ernst and Agnes Coreth, told Oscar Haas a story about Altgelt Pond. He said that when his grandfather owned the land on which the pond was located, he used the pond for irrigation. There was a certain special kind of clay that he had hauled in by mule carts and placed the clay around the outside of the pond to build it up. He was able to use the flow of the pond for irrigation purposes. The water was then above the level of the surrounding fields and it was possible to use gravity flow to irrigate. The pond became the object of a riparian (water) rights suit. Haas said that a mill owner farther down the Comal Creek had been using the overflow of the pond to turn a waterwheel for his mill. When Coreth dammed it up, water no longer flowed to his mill. The mill owner, and Haas did not name the person, filed suit against Coreth and the suit eventually went to the Texas Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of Coreth’s rights.

The whole area on which Altgelt Pond is located has its unusual features whether for agricultural purposes or industry. Some old prominent names connected with this land were Meusebach, Altgelt, Coreth, Ogden, Eikel and especially Dittlinger who was the founder of the settlement of Dittlinger in the early 1900s. He and I.A. Ogden began a rock-crushing business on a large scale that has grown to what it is today. Dittlinger created a settlement of houses,a school, a church, stores, and a dance hall for workers at “Las Calera”, or The Lime as it was called by the inhabitants.

The settlement of Dittlinger is no more, agriculture in the area is sparse, but Der Teich refuses to go away. Come to think of it, I might be able to start a new career in investigative journalism.

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