By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

It was a comfortable warm evening, Valentine’s Day, 1976, in fact. I was one of a group of NBHS seniors sitting on the hoods of several cars parked in front of Ortiz’s Bar across from the Brauntex. We had been told that the Freedom Train was making its way from San Antonio to Austin that night and would pass through New Braunfels, sometime around 10?

We began our vigil well enough, using up the time talking and messing around. Like I said, we were seniors and we were really excited about graduating in the U.S. Bicentennial year. The lure of the Freedom Train was that it had the Liberty Bell in one of the cars. That, and we were out with the guys.

When Saturday, February 14, became Sunday, February 15, Ortiz’s Bar was closed with the perfunctory heavy chain and padlock through the fist-size hole in the double doors. As the world around us grew ever more silent, we became ever more bored. So what do you think a bunch of guys and girls thought they could do in such a situation? You who were teenagers in the ‘70s will know. But for the rest of you reading this, we did the only sensible thing while waiting — we paired off and began “making out.”

I’ll let you guess what that entails, but it was not “hooking up.”

Eventually, the steam locomotive, with its distinctive sound and whistle, reminded us why we were by the railroad crossing on West San Antonio Street at 0-dark-thirty. Engine #610 rumbled by slowly enough for us to see into the lighted glass-sided rail car. And there it was, the Liberty Bell — and there it went. The Freedom Train continued on to Austin and beyond.

The Liberty Bell. It is one of America’s iconic emblems. We have seen it on stamps, war bond posters, bumper stickers, on souvenirs and in movies. But what do we really know about it? Here are some fun facts about our famous symbol of freedom.

1. The Liberty Bell was cast in 1751 in London and hung in the Pennsylvania State House. It cracked on the first ring. It was melted down and recast by local metalworkers, John Pass and John Stowe. Remember the clue in the movie “National Treasure”?
2. The Liberty Bell weighs 2,080 pounds and is 70% copper and 25% tin, with traces of lead, zinc, arsenic, gold and silver. It measures 12 feet around the lip, 7 feet 6 inches around the crown, and 3 feet from lip to crown.
3. The famous words on the Liberty Bell come from the Bible (Leviticus 25:10): PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF.
4. In 1835, abolitionists appropriated this message and renamed the Pennsylvania State House Bell the Liberty Bell.
5. The Liberty Bell’s famous crack is a subject of debate. Hanging in the Pennsylvania State House, the bell was often used. The Liberty Bell cracked in 1835, while being tolled in honor of Chief Justice John Marshall. In 1846, the Liberty Bell was repaired so it could be rung at George Washington’s birthday. When the bell was rung a new crack developed. It is this crack that we see today!
6. A story was written by George Lippard in 1847 which associated the Liberty Bell with the first July 4th and it become a part of the bell’s folklore. Most agree that it was not actually rung on July 4, 1776.
7. The Liberty Bell did ring to call the citizens of Philadelphia together to learn news of the Revolutionary War, and it was rung when Cornwallis surrendered to Washington and the war ended. The last time the bell was sounded was for Washington’s birthday in 1846. That was the last time people heard the bell ring freely with its clapper. Since then, “ringing” of the bell is produced by using a hammer against the exterior.

The Liberty Bell has travelled widely. It was first moved in 1777 from Philadelphia to Allentown to keep it from being melted down for cannons by the British. The bell has also made trips across the nation to spread its message of freedom: World’s Industrial and Cotton Exposition at New Orleans (1885), World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1893), Cotton States and Atlantic Exposition at Atlanta (1895), Interstate and West India Exposition at Charleston (1902), Bunker Hill Celebration at Boston (1903), Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis (1904), and the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco (1915). It was during its return trip from San Franciso to Philadelphia that the Liberty Bell came to New Braunfels!

On October 8, 1915, the editor of the New Braunfels Herald noted that the Liberty Bell was going to stop at San Marcos on November 17 for a one-hour stop and that “Sunny San” intended to make a big holiday of the occasion. He indignantly asked the question, “Why not at New Braunfels?”

Well, someone must have gotten in touch with someone who got in touch with someone else, because it was reported in the morning release of the November 17 Neu Braunfelser-Zeitung, that the train would come through New Braunfels at 1:50 p.m. for a five-minute stop. A five-minute stop would “afford a chance for citizens to view the precious relic.” Around 2,000 people assembled at the Missouri-Kansas-Texas depot to witness the historic event. Businesses were decorated with U.S. and Texas flags and then closed at noon to allow folks to gather at the station and along the railway tracks on both sides. A local band came to play patriotic music. The New Braunfels Academy released its students. The children then collected again into a group and with little American flags in hand, prepared to sing, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.”

But the train didn’t come….

A little before 4 p.m., the much-delayed special locomotive was seen coming down the tracks. The townsfolk and children quickly regrouped in readiness and the band began playing. The locomotive was pulling six cars. One car accommodated the bell’s travelling committee and custodians. A special all-steel Pullman flat car, with a brass railing barrier, carried the Liberty Bell which was suspended in the center on a wooden yoke so it could be clearly seen. The children began singing their practiced song accompanied by the band. Reporters shared that “the hundreds of school children, waving as many little Stars and Stripes, made a most attractive and animating impression, hardly to be forgotten during the lifetime of those who witnessed it.”

They waited to see the Liberty Bell come through town in 1915; we waited to see the Liberty Bell come through New Braunfels in 1976. What I just learned in writing this story is that we 1976ers did not see the real Liberty Bell. What we saw was a scaled down version — well, one of many scaled down versions which traversed America on the Freedom Trains. I must admit, I’m feeling a bit depressed by this revelation.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives: Haas collection; archived newspaper collections; Texas State Historical Association; Smithsonian Magazine; America’s Freedom Trains.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

The Guadalupe River is always there. It is life-sustaining water. It rages. It slows to a trickle. It calls us to fish, to play, or to watch sunlight dance off its surface as it rolls on toward the coast. The river beckons us to gather at its edge to make extraordinary memories while enjoying the ordinary.

River Road follows alongside the Guadalupe River for approximately 10 miles from just outside New Braunfels up to Sattler. Just getting to places on the Guadalupe River by way of River Road is half the fun. Sometimes driving River Road IS the fun.

The River Road area has a long history, much of which took place before humans inhabited it. This region once was covered by a vast sea, depositing layers of silt for millions of years. Then, sometime 5 to 66 million years ago, the earth’s layers shifted up, down and sideways, creating what we know here in Central Texas as the Balcones Escarpment.

If you look at a map, the escarpment is that funny ridge of hills in the middle of Texas dividing the Hill Country from flat Blackland Prairie. It curves up from Del Rio to San Antonio and north of Waco. You might also recognize that curve being the same as the cold front and storm warning lines on the local weather channels. Ever wonder why bad weather seems to hang over I-35? Perhaps, because I-35 is built on the Blackland Prairie along the Balcones Escarpment? But, I digress. All that was to point out that Comal County sits on the edge of the Balcones Escarpment. The Guadalupe River cuts crossways through the escarpment to create postcard-perfect scenery of steep bluffs and towering cypress trees lining its banks.

Seeking larger tracts of land outside of New Braunfels, some immigrants moved out to the Hill Country. In the 1870s, Wilhelm Bretzke began acquiring land in the area between what is now FM 306 and the Guadalupe River. The Bretzke Ranch reached more than 1,700 acres. As more immigrants came, they pushed further out along the river, establishing the communities of Wallhalla and Sattler. Getting there could be difficult since early roads consisted of mostly cattle trails and rough wagon roads.

In 1901, Comal County Commissioners established a real road. Guadalupe River Drive (now River Road), was one of the earliest roads built in Comal County. The “public road, third class, twenty-two feet wide with gates” was basically a rock trail cut from the hillside used by farmers and ranchers traveling (think horse and buggy) to New Braunfels. It stretched nearly 10 miles from New Braunfels up the river toward Sattler.

A 1905 account of a social event at Wallhalla described the “romantic and beautiful bluffs and water scenery” as 75 people traveled River Road to their destination. It also emphasized caution on the “dangerous canyon” road in the dark after experiencing a broken hack wheel and broken buggy shaft along the way. That is a seriously rough road.

The road may have been established by the county, but there was no budget for maintenance. By 1918, landowners and townspeople were asked for contributions to repair River Road, to which many graciously contributed. In the ‘20s, as the automobile increased in popularity, property owners and civic groups petitioned the county to upgrade the road from third-class to second-class road.

Road building and improvements were helped along by the Federal Aid Road Act in 1921 and state gasoline tax in 1923. Even then, occasional high water still required “mountain people” to ride a horse the back way to town, as their vehicles could not make it over the flooded crossings. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 30s funded 49 men to rebuild River Road. Through the program, Comal County’s portion was $12,242.46 and the federal portion was $15, 363.

The 1950s saw an increase in outdoor recreation. River Road was built out and paved all the way to Sattler. People would drive River Road on a bright, sunny day and picnic in the areas along the rivers. The Wilhelm Bretzke property included a lot of river frontage between first and second crossings, and the Bretzke family made use of it. They opened the river front property to campers and named it KL Picnic & Campgrounds. Surely, they had no idea what they had done for the camping business on River Road at the time.

Comal County Commissioners let a contract to build new bridges in 1964 to replace the low-water crossings, which flooded easily. Later in 1965, as the work progressed, there was huge uproar about the destruction of trees. A line of 40 mature cypress trees adjoining the K&L Ranch property, many of which were over 3 feet in diameter, were bulldozed to raise the roadbed up by 8 feet and prevent flooding. The pleas of the local residents and civic organizations to save the majestic trees were denied. An additional 30 cypress trees were cut to widen the channel at third crossing.

Picnic and camping grounds popped up everywhere along the river in the ‘60s and ‘70s, mostly due to the completion of Canyon Dam. Travel along River Road became treacherous. Cars could park on both sides of the narrow rural road, making it tough for two cars to pass each other while watching out for happy drunks and people standing in the roadway. As of July 1976, parking on River Road was no longer allowed.

The Guadalupe River is still there and so is River Road. The Bretzke family is still there and so is KL. I am a native of New Braunfels with many decades under my belt. I know the Bretzke family and I have been to KL Picnic & Campgrounds multiple times. Until recently, I did not know why Bretzke Ranch included “KL” in their business names. So, here it goes.

Back in the 1870s, Wilhelm Bretzke leased out acreage to one Mr. Louis Klappenbach to graze cattle. Mr. Klappenbach eventually sold all of his cattle to Wilhelm, as well as his cattle brand, KL. The Bretzke Ranch became known as KL Ranch because of the brand.

Wilhelm Bretzke’s son, Robert, had a son, R. Lee Bretzke, who began KL Picnic and Campgrounds. He passed the business to his sons, Mike and Dave Bretzke, who then changed the name to KL Ranch Camp. Today, the KL name is carried on by the next generation, operating as KL Ranch Camp — On the River, run by Tara Bretzke Hildebrand (Jason), and KL Ranch Camp — Cliffside, run by Bobby Bretzke (Jennifer).

Just like the river, River Road has changed over time. It is still a great scenic drive, especially in a convertible on a bright spring afternoon when the water is calm and the Texas and American flags ripple against a canopy of green. Have a great summer.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Handbook of Texas Online; Julie Bretzke.

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

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By Simon V. Simek —

Considering the rainy days we had last week after such a long dry spell, we thought it relevant to help tell the history of New Braunfels’ eternally erratic weather, and our long-standing feud with rushing water. Diving into the archives, we found some tremendous accounts of how our predecessors fared in their own times against the elements.

The drought of the 1950s is one of the worst, if not the worst, recorded in New Braunfels history. New Braunfels was still largely agricultural, and without modern water solutions, local farmers and ranchers struggled to yield crops and raise livestock. Caroline Stange sat down in 1982 as part of our ongoing Reflections program, a local ongoing oral history effort from the Sophienburg since 1976, to tell her story and detail her experience of the ‘50s drought and the flood of 1972.

Mrs. Stange moved here a little later in life, when she finally agreed to follow her soldier son who was stationed nearby in 1955. At first, she found New Braunfels to be exceptionally clean and friendly, but also incredibly dry and hot, even in January. She had come from California, where the flowers bloomed and the weather was fair, and Texas seemed like an arid land devoid of her beloved flowers. Day after day it was dry, and her ranching neighbors had taken jobs in town to make ends meet. She regretted her move and prayed that it would rain for just five minutes. Even Landa Park and Comal Springs dried up. Finally, in 1957, the rains came, in the form of a flood, but nonetheless Mrs. Stange was thrilled to see flowers and green.

1957 was not the only flood that Mrs. Stange experienced in her adopted home. She remembered vividly the 1972 flood that happened just a decade prior to the recording. It began with a 2:00 AM call from her neighbor, who fought the loud drops on her tin roof for attention. The neighbor had heard the police come by and order residents to evacuate their homes, a warning Mrs. Stange didn’t hear. They wondered where to go, maybe to her son’s home in McQueeney, but they believed it too far. This was for the best, as that day his home would get 18 inches of water inside of it. They tuned in to the radio to hear Herb Skoog notify them that shelter was available at the civic center. The electricity had gone out in the neighborhood, but they were able to navigate their way to the lights at the civic center. While there, they saw the damage that the flood had already caused, like the mother who had her baby swept from her arms and the elderly woman wrapped in blankets who had just stood on her kitchen sink in neck-high waters to be rescued through the kitchen window. They stayed the night and returned home the next day to find Camp Warnecke’s tea towels littered about in the trees. News would stream in the next few days of others who were lost, some of them friends and neighbors. Mrs. Stange’s home was undamaged, but the flood had already wrecked its havoc on her life.

Caroline Stange and her story help visualize the seeming cycle of floods and droughts that our piece of Texas endures constantly. The Torrey mills experienced a form of this cycle as well in the previous century, although the determination to defy nature is a little more surprising.

For whatever reason, fire, air, and finally water all plotted against the earth and stone of John Torrey’s riverside plot at the juncture of Comal Creek and Comal River. Today, this is the tube chute, but it was the Torrey family who built the first dam for power. John Torrey and his brothers hailed from up North but came to Texas as entrepreneurs who sold merchandise to incoming Texas settlers. Following their success, John Torrey acquired the doomed plot of nearly two acres in 1848. He built a gristmill (grain) and sawmill, and later added a factory that made goods for the home like doors and blinds. On November 14, 1861, the first disaster struck and the entire complex burned down.

He quickly replaced these losses with a four-story stone building. Soon after, machines for cotton spinning and looms were added to the top floor. This became the first cotton factory in Texas, and it began production in 1865. In 1869, a warning came, and a flood damaged the building and some machinery, but production could continue. Just two months later, a tornado ripped through town, and the Torrey mill’s top floor was destroyed along with all the machinery.

Rebuilding was underway for three years, and in 1872, just weeks before operations could resume, the mill was struck for the last time. The summer torrent came, as it so often does, and Mrs. Trappe recalled the incident in 1945: She was only sixteen, and it had rained over 12 inches the night before, washing away the newly built iron bridge over the Comal. She watched as John Torrey and four others tried to move some of the machinery and materials from the first floor to the second. But the dam had gone, and the water pushed the building off its foundation. As it was readying for its collapse, the five men made it to the roof and looked for any escape. The only option was to grab on the telegraph wires which crossed the river. All five successfully took hold, and were able to swing towards land, jump, and ultimately save themselves. It is said that Mr. Torrey bore his losses without a murmur of despondency, but soon after he left New Braunfels for good and started again in Hood County.

New Braunfels and her residents have long been afflicted by volatile weather and overflowing riverways. That is not going to change. It is up to us, current residents of Comal County, to find the solutions, whatever those may be, to ensure our homes are here to stay for future generations.

Sources: New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, John F. Torrey and Brothers by Susan Morrison, Around the Sophienburg by Myra Lee Adams Goff, Reflections 287 (Caroline Stange).

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Shopping for a wedding gift used to be something that I looked forward to. My most recent “gift shopping” experience involved scanning a QR code where I was then directed to a website to choose the appropriate item and clicking to send. Wow! So very anticlimactic. Where is the fun in that?

My first memory of going shopping for a wedding gift was at Dedeke’s in downtown New Braunfels. It was a beautiful store full of beautiful things. Tables were dressed in the finest table linens and perfectly set with china, silver and crystal to tempt any bride. The walls were lined with china place settings of nearly every pattern and color. Another part of that memory is the stern warning from my mother not to touch anything. I watched as my mother carefully selected a crystal pitcher and handed it to the clerk. It was so gratifying to walk out with our specially chosen, professionally wrapped gift to deliver in person.

Dedeke’s Housewares was a small store on Seguin Avenue that specialized in gifts and bridal registries in the 1950s-70s, but their story began much earlier. Richard F. Dedeke was born in New Braunfels in 1878. His grandfather, a farmer, had emigrated from Hannover in 1846. Richard’s father was a farmer and saddle maker. Richard was ambitious and in 1903, he sought his own fortunes in a thriving rural community of 200 people on York Creek. He purchased three lots in Hunter, Texas, between Grand and Railroad (now JC Riley) Streets to establish a residence and general merchandise store. A downturn in the cotton economy caused many of the Hunter businesses to close, including Dedeke’s General Store.

In 1928, R.F. Dedeke opened a new store in New Braunfels. The store was part of the ‘M’ System grocery chain. It opened at 215 S. Seguin Ave. (in the same brick building as The Oyster Bar). ‘M’ System was marketed as a new, self-serve way of shopping with multiple brand choices (as opposed to having a clerk bring a single brand from the shelf behind the counter). It sounds like the beginning of our current supermarket system.

R.F. Dedeke retired from his grocery business in 1951, and then the fun began. Richard’s son, Leslie Dedeke, and his siblings, Dorothy and Edward Dedeke opened Dedeke’s Housewares in the same location. In 1966, nearly a century after it was built, property at 173 S. Seguin Ave. was completely restored and the Dedeke family reopened the gift shop there. That is the beautiful store from my childhood. Even the patterned floor tiles were beautiful, but it was not beautiful before remodeling.

The Heinrich Krause building, located at 173 S. Seguin, already had a long history. The original part was built in the 1860s by Friedrich Krause and his son, Frederick Krause, who brought their carpentry skills with them from Germany. The first 45-foot section of the 24-foot-wide building (nearest to the street) is the oldest, built with squared cedar timbers. The next 45-foot section is of German Fachwerk, built with squared lumber. It had a small basement with rock walls and exposed square cedar timbers.

During the previous one hundred years, the one-story Krause building saw a lot of tenants. It was used by Weber & Deutsch, as an early general store; as an opera house; as a drill hall for a Texas Militia unit; as a blouse factory; as a barber shop and a newspaper office for Town & Country News. The Dedeke’s attention to detail and dedication to correct historical preservation of Krause building helped garner a Texas Historical Marker for the building, as well as honors from the New Braunfels Conservation Society.

In 1976, Dick and Bonnie Denson purchased the Dedeke’s business and it became Denson-Dedeke’s. In 1977, they also bought the entire property extending all the way to Comal Avenue, including the historic Krause building, the adjacent two-story Hoffmann building (on the left side of Denson-Dedeke), the parking lot in back, and the Mergele House on Comal.

In 1979, Sami’s Jewelry opened a kiosk at the front of Denson’s, near the windows. The large storage space in the back of the store was opened to create the perfect home for Marian Benson’s The Collection.

In 1981, the interior of the adjacent Mergele Building, was completely gutted by fire that spread from Ludwig Leather Company (two doors down from Denson’s). Fortunately, the tin roof and separation between the buildings prevented fire from damaging Denson’s. To prevent the building from being torn down, the Denson’s bought the Mergele Building and rebuilt the interior, preserving our Seguin Avenue merchant district. They opened up the walls between the two buildings and expanded their footprint again.

Upstairs in the Mergele Building, above retail space, were the Denson-Dedeke offices, and the very first home of Celebrations Bridal by Connie Worley. By incorporating three historic buildings with a courtyard and promoting complimentary retail tenants, Dick and Bonnie Denson successfully created a boutique shopping experience in a historic setting which eventually became Landmark Square.

The Mergele Building was sold to new owners in 1996. The rest of the property, including the Krause building, the Hoffmann building and the Mergele House on Comal Avenue, was sold in 1997 when the Densons retired. The Krause and Hoffmann properties have sold again in 2008 and 2018.

During that time, there have been multiple tenants of the Krause building, including photographers, marketing firms, a lingerie store and most recently a French café bistro.

When we look at historic buildings, we are spoiled and tend to look for the bigger, fancier, more ornate ones, i.e. the Court House (1884) or the row of buildings on San Antonio Street (circa 1890–1924). By doing that, we may be missing out on the hidden jewels (Krause building ca.1860) that make up the foundation of who New Braunfels is. Not slick. Not fancy. Historic.

Enjoy and appreciate the view and the experience, before you can only click on a QR code to see it. Preserve our history!

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

If I had a magic wand, I would restore buildings that were torn down or significantly altered in downtown New Braunfels before the Downtown Historic District was established in 2012. The very first one on the list would be the old JP Morgan Chase Bank office building on Main Plaza.

The imposing dark brick and glass structure has always stuck out like a sore thumb on our beautiful Main Plaza. It does not blend in with the rest of the early 20th century buildings lining San Antono Street. That is not the fault of JP Morgan Chase Bank. It was like that when they got it. JP Morgan Chase was only a successor bank to the legacy established long ago by First National Bank in downtown New Braunfels.

That legacy began with a trio of New Braunfels businessmen, Walter Tipps, William Clemens and Joseph Faust, who formed a very successful merchandising business in about 1875. Tipps severed the relationship and moved to Austin. The business became Clemens and Faust. Before banking establishments, money was loaned by merchants. The two business owners operated a private bank out of the Clemens and Faust store.

Clemens and Faust Bank was nationalized in 1890, becoming First National Bank with a capital stock of $50,000. In 1894, they built the first actual brick and mortar bank building. The Romanesque Revival red brick, two-story building still stands next to the Brauntex Theatre.

Through good leadership and smart business decisions, First National Bank grew stronger and bigger. They purchased a property on the corner of Main Plaza (Old Krause Building) which had been occupied by the Public Service Company until they moved into their new building across the Plaza in 1930. The Old Krause building was razed (another building lost) so construction of the bank building could begin. By 1931, First National Bank was able to move into a beautiful new, state-of-the-art two-story bank located at 111 W. San Antonio Street. The plans were drawn up by Giesecke and Harris of Austin along with local architect Jeremiah Schmidt.

Local papers of the time reported that the new First National Bank was built in the “modernistic trend,” which we now know as Art Deco style architecture. Art Deco became popular in the 1920s and is, I think, my favorite period of architecture. Elements of the Art Deco style include vertical lines, geometric shapes, slender forms and the use of metals in the designs. The best part about it is that many times the buildings from this period were designed holistically, with furniture, light fixtures, and other components designed in tandem with the building itself. Many different Art Deco Buildings use angular geometric motifs within the interior and exterior, which all work to tie the whole design together (think Chrysler Building!).

The new First National Bank building was an absolute show place. The gleaming white limestone building stood like a monument upon a pedestal of shiny black granite that wrapped around its base. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I remember every kid ran their hands across the smooth surface of that granite when they walked by. In the summer, it was blazing hot-to-the- touch, which was quite a contrast to the cooled air inside. I remember the lines carved into the stone that ran up and down the building. Around the windows and top of the bank, there were carved geometric accents, almost Aztec in nature, set into the stone. Above where First National Bank was carved at the top of the structure, was a huge flagpole extending at a 45° angle over San Antonio Street.

The bank had two entrances: one facing San Antonio Street, one facing the Plaza. The big double doors on each entrance were heavy. They were made of metal and glass with cut out geometric aluminum grillwork over the glass. All the bank tables and fixtures were specially designed of aluminum and marble. The elongated aluminum light fixtures hung from the ceiling two floors up. There were sconces of similar design visible on the mezzanine above. The tellers worked behind tall counters where the protective cages were of aluminum with the same geometric grillwork as the doors and ceiling light fixtures. The vault and safe deposit boxes stood behind a huge, gated aluminum fence.

The floors were of terrazzo tile. You could hear the click of high heels or men’s shoes walking in the bank and people talking in muffled tones. Bank tables of aluminum and marble stood in the middle of the lobby, where customers could fill out their deposit slips. As a child, the tables seemed especially tall to me because I could not reach the pens, checks or deposit slips in the center slots of the table. Think about that, they actually provided blank checks for you to write in your information… and trusted you.

First National Bank stood watch over Main Plaza and the community of New Braunfels through good times and bad. In 1976, First National Bank merged with Texas Commerce Bankshares. It was sometime in the early 80s that Texas Commerce Bank expanded the bank footprint by taking in the adjacent building.

The expansion meant renovations of the bank building, both inside and out, to make the two buildings look like one. Texas Commerce completely wrapped the original stone and granite building with dark red brown brick, as well as using it on the expanded portion. The building is now very fortress-like and not in keeping with our traditional downtown look, but there it is. They also stripped out all the Art Deco décor and aluminum grill work from the First National Bank interior, replacing it with more inviting glass and wood and carpet. Texas Commerce Bank bopped along as a successful member of the New Braunfels community until they were purchased by JP Morgan Chase Bank in 1998.

JP Morgan Chase Bank grew their footprint to accommodate a growing New Braunfels, adding other bank locations on Walnut and Hwy 46. In about 2022, Chase opted to leave their downtown location.

Now, while I know that this sounds like a downer kind of story with no way for my magic wand to really put things back like it was, there are some bright spots. The brick wall simply wrapped the 1931 building. In theory, the original limestone and granite still exists, hiding behind that brick fortress … and it might possibly be restored. If so, it would definitely be worthy of a historical marker.

And the aluminum grill work? Well, some of that was salvaged and stored in a barn until a couple of years ago. That treasure has been refurbished and is currently on display in the Sophienburg Museum reading room. Check it out.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff (Reprise August 9, 2006) —

One hundred and one years ago H.D. Gode bought the first automobile here in New Braunfels. Most citizens believed this contraption would never replace the horse and buggy. Well, at least we don’t have horse and buggy traffic jams on IH 35. I’m trying to imagine where Gode drove. Surely, he went around the Plaza and across the Comal River passing by Clemens Dam. The City fixed his potential speeding problem when the week before, they passed an ordinance that an automobile could not go more than 8 miles an hour.

Do you think William Clemens would have predicted that his dam would be a top tourist attraction? I’m talking about the City’s Tube Chute on the Comal.

It is a great time to talk about water and that’s why I said I would talk about Clemens Dam, Stinky Falls, and the Tube Chute. You probably know that the three are one in the same — almost. There is slight uncertainty about Stinky Falls. The controversy centers on where Stinky Falls was actually located. Everyone I asked knew positively where the falls were, but everyone, including me, had a different idea, so I’m going with the majority like the TV pollsters do. Stinky Falls became the nickname of Clemens Dam after a well was dug slightly above the area of the present Tube Chute. The well was drilled 900 feet in 1907 for the purpose of finding pure artesian water, but alas, only sulfur water. The well was left for sixty years to remind New Braunfels that sulfur water smells like rotten eggs.

Here’s a short history of Clemens Dam:

Meandering for 3¼ miles through the City of New Braunfels is the Comal River. Early in its history, entrepreneurs were trying to harness this water to run factories. One of these factories was the Torrey Mill at the foot of Mill Street, close to where the Tube Chute is. Twice it was washed away by floods (1860 and 1870). Finally, John Torrey, who was a Connecticut Yankee (the small street parallel to the river was called Yankee Street named after him) gave up and sold the property to banker William Clemens. Clemens built the dam in 1882. An interesting note is that the stone used to build the dam was quarried from the Pfeuffer Ranch, the same as for the Comal County Courthouse. Standing idle until 1886, Clemens secured a contract with the City of New Braunfels to furnish water for the first waterworks. This arrangement continued until the City purchased their own waterworks operation at the head of Comal Springs next to Landa Park Estates. Clemens Dam became idle with much of the upper structures removed. During World War II as much scrap iron as possible was removed for the war effort.

Over the years Stinky Falls became a favorite swimming place for locals. I knew lots of guys that swam down there (You know who you are) and did some very brave, but dangerous things like swimming through the pipes. Finally, the sulfur well came to an end when in 1976 the City purchased Prince Solms Park and opened the Tube Chute, having capped the sulfur well. There’s no doubt about where the Chute is!

The Sophienburg Museum has a nice display of photographs and maps relating to industry on the Comal and our files are full of information. Also, Sophie’s Shop merchandizes several books on the history of New Braunfels, all with information about water.

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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.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

I love driving through the tree lined streets of New Braunfels in the winter month(s). The absence of leaves invites a closer look at the buildings, the rooflines, the architectural details, the landscaping. Oddly, I have always been drawn to the properties lined with mature palm trees. They seem so exotic. As the palms are clearly not native, they must have been chosen to make the properties stand out. One of my favorite palm-lined spaces used to be the property on the corner of Gilbert and Tolle Streets.

One might say, “Oh, that’s a restaurant or tourist place. They do that all the time.” Except these trees are from a time before tourist attractions. They mark the property that was once a hospital. It was the Comal Sanitarium.

In 1920, the Comal Sanitarium Company was formed. Dr. M.C. Hagler and Dr. Arthur Bergfeld initially established the Comal Sanitarium, a privately-owned hospital, in the former Comal Hotel (now Prince Solms Inn). It was run by charge nurse Miss Ida Belle Hulette, R.N. The temporary hospital boasted a first-class operating room, sterilizing room, twelve private rooms and a large ward for emergency cases. It was open to all doctors.

By mid-1920, a new, modern hospital was being built by A.C. Moeller just a block away on Gilbert Street. Financed by Dr. Bergfeld’s father-in-law, U.S.‘Tug’ Pfeuffer, the hospital was built on three acres located on the banks of the Comal River between E. San Antonio and Tolle Streets. The hospital was fully operational by 1921. It was a two-story building, 44 x 80 feet, with a basement and a 10-foot sleeping porch running the length of the building (There was no AC, only the summer breezes to stay cool). The first floor housed ten patient rooms, a large, completely equipped operating room and a smaller adjoining operating space. These operating rooms were said to be top notch and comparable to any found in larger cities. The first floor also had a sterilizing room with steam pressure and an electrical sterilizer. Dr. Arthur Bergfeld’s office was a separate building added later.

The second floor held another ten patient rooms, eight bathrooms and one large ward that could accommodate twenty patients. In the basement, there was a 24 x 44-foot state of the art laboratory. There was also a dormitory accommodating twelve full-time nurses who lived on site. A heating plant located in the basement supplied the building with electrical heating. The buildings had both hot and cold water.

One of the most historically significant things associated with Comal Sanitarium is that it was the site of the very first x-ray machine in Texas. (In Texas, y’all!) Dr. Bergfeld had studied in Germany for several months and had the latest and largest x-ray machine shipped from Germany at the cost of $4,000 to equip his hospital. This new technology, housed in an x-ray laboratory, operated at 25,000 volts (like that of an overhead trolley car wire – YIKES!) and was said to throw a spark 12 inches long with sounds resembling a “gattling gun.” Double Yikes! Occupying at least two rooms, the machine was used to “cure cancer and other incurables,” as well as see bones and such inside the body. I might have to think about that a while.

Drs. Hagler and Bergfeld took their oath to care for people in their community seriously. Not only did they purchase all of the building materials, furnishings and equipment locally (except for x-ray machine), they had a rule to never turn anyone away. They provided thousands of dollars of charity health care and medicine for those who could not pay. Comal Sanitarium ran a tuberculosis clinic and had contracts with the U.S. Treasury Department to care for sick or wounded ex-soldiers. The hospital was also the site of the Comal Sanitarium School of Nursing, graduating many registered nurses. Dr. Arthur Bergfeld’s son, Jack Bergfeld became a physician and joined him in practice in 1943. Somewhere along the way, the palms were planted as large shrubs along the edge of the campus.

By the late ’40s, the other New Braunfels Hospital, or Krankenhaus, was struggling. It was in an old building and was not doing well. In 1949, the Bergfelds offered Comal Sanitarium to the City of New Braunfels for $48,000. The voters turned it down. Hundreds of people continued to receive care and hundreds of babies were delivered at Comal Sanitarium. Yes, yes. I know. Every child ever born at Comal Sanitarium, including me, has been chided about being “crazy” because the hospital was called a Sanitarium (which in recent years has been likened to an asylum). However, the term sanitarium or sanatorium, as used in the 1920s when this fine establishment was built, is defined as a place for extended convalescence or to regain health. Many hospitals of that time were called sanitariums.

Comal Sanitarium closed in July 1965 after the death of Dr. Arthur Bergfeld. Burglaries and vandalism caused much damage to the structure and equipment. The property was sold to J. B. Harmon of El Campo. It sat empty with its only inhabitants being raccoons and other creatures.

In 1975, the property was purchased by a group of investors led by Gaz Green and Melvin Jochec under the name Gasthaus New Braunfels. They razed the building and built the new multilevel stone, wood and glass structure that you see today, named The River Restaurant. The palm trees stayed. The restaurant was to be the first phase of a planned resort on the Comal River, with 100-unit motel planned in the second phase. The restaurant, with food service managed by Anita Jaroszewski, opened in the Spring of 1976, featuring German cuisine an on-site bakery and sausage room. It was a culinary success. The restaurant lasted about three years before closing. The hotel units never materialized. There have been numerous reiterations of the restaurant: Treetops, a BBQ place, a music venue and others, before becoming the current seasonal tube rental place. There are fewer palm trees around the edge of the property, but I still like them.

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Sources: Sophienburg Archives; Photo Collection of Tommy Ortiz

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