Would you like to know what was on the property on which our present Comal County Courthouse sits? If so, read on.

When Nicholas Zink laid out the town of New Braunfels, with its main plaza and streets leading to it, he was given the town lot #32 by the Adelsverein for his efforts. Town lot #32 is the lot on which our present courthouse is built. Zink built a house on this lot in 1845. In 1847, the year that Zink and his first wife were divorced, he began selling his property in New Braunfels and eventually left altogether.

Zink sold lot #32 to Samuel Millet dated January 21st, 1847, who used the house as a hotel. Millet, in turn, sold the house in 1852 to Dan Wheeler and Wheeler sold it to Karl Floege in 1866. (Source: County Clerk’s office, book A, deeds p. 35) The family moved to a farm outside of Seguin.

Samuel Millet who was originally from Maine has a Texas Historical Marker at his gravesite in Guadalupe County. It states that he had come to Texas in 1827 and died in 1863. Records show his birth as 1801. He came to Texas as a member of Stephen F. Austin’s colony. During the Texas Revolution, he took part in the battle of San Jacinto.

In 1833, he married Clementina Bartlett and they had nine children. She was also with Austin’s colony and from Tennessee. She married her teacher, Samuel Millett, who was a graduate of Bowdoin College. Family tradition claims that Clementina at age 90 could recall early history of the Republic and those who were instrumental in its founding.

Harry Landa, in his memoirs “As I Remember” writes that his father, Joseph Landa, made this statement about the hotel: “Old lady Millett, mother of the well-known cattleman, Alonzo Millett, was operating a boarding house at the corner where the Comal County Courthouse now stands. The Landas boarded for a few months at Mrs. Millett’s establishment until they bought the adjoining property on the Plaza”.

Alonzo Millett, one of Samuel Millett’s sons, made a name for himself in the ranching business. In “The Traildrivers of Texas”, Alonzo Millett is described as spending his boyhood days in Bastrop County and Seguin where he attended school. When the Civil War broke out, he and his brothers volunteered in the Confederate army. Alonzo was only 16 and his twin brother, Leonidas, was killed. After the war, the surviving brothers returned to Texas and over the years that followed, gained wealth by accumulating ranches in several states. “Misfortune came and their wealth was swept away”.(Traildrivers…)  Alonzo persevered and when he died, he owned a large ranch in San Juan Valley, Colorado. He was killed by being thrown by a horse and then buried in San Antonio. Thirty-five miles south of San Antonio was a small settlement named “Millett” after Alonzo. Many local and Seguin Milletts are descendants of Alonzo Millett and his wife, Arlene Wilson Millett.

Now back to the present courthouse: Early on, Comal County conducted its business in rented rooms, then to a privately owned building on Seguin St. (Elks parking lot). In 1860 the first two-story courthouse was built on the corner occupied by Chase Bank. In 1999 the present courthouse celebrated its 100th birthday. (For more information about this courthouse, log on to Sophienburg.com, Jan. 20, 2009)

Our present courthouse was originally designed to sit in the middle of the Main Plaza with four easy accesses. When that plan fell through, the present location was chosen. The jail was added later, obscuring two entrances and another closed to add more office space. When this present restoration is complete, the original four entrances will once again be usable.

Nothing is left of the Millett Hotel, as the building was torn down shortly before the new courthouse was started. Behind the present courthouse where a parking area was located by the jail, a water well was discovered. The Texas Historic Commission evaluated the dry well and said that it pre-dated the Courthouse.  The well would have been in the right spot for use by the hotel. It was recently filled in with sand to protect its integrity and to prevent a cave-in. The last remnant of an era.

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When I was a child, people used to just ride around to sight-see. If you want to see what people saw in that practice, just drive up Farm-to-Market Road 311 about 19 miles to a place called Esser’s Crossing. You’ll enjoy the sightseeing.

Esser’s Crossing was one of the first Guadalupe River crossings, and was known as a safe place to cross from New Braunfels and San Antonio toward Johnson City and Fredericksburg and into the northwest part of the state.

Esser’s Crossing was one of four such crossings used by farming and ranching communities, and was 19 miles northwest of New Braunfels. The flat rock bottom was necessary for horses and wagons to cross the ever-changing Guadalupe river bottom. Furious floods took their toll on the Guadalupe River even after the dams were built.

Esser’s Crossing was originally known as Henderson Crossing after Hensley Henderson. He sold the land to James Henderson, who left the area in 1860. Charles Esser homesteaded near the crossing, and in 1858, provided a public way station for weary travelers along a lonely stretch of road from New Braunfels to Blanco and then on to Fredericksburg.

Esser was a judge, justice of the peace, teacher, and brought postal service to the area in the 1890s. Esser’s place was on the trail, first known as Fredericksburg Road, then Fredericksburg-New Braunfels Road, then the New Braunfels-Blanco Road and finally FM 311.

Charles and Henrietta Esser’s homestead still stands.

Travelers often had to wait a long time to cross the flooded Guadalupe. They would camp at Esser’s Crossing, sometimes as long as two weeks. The alternative was that teamsters had to drive to Fischer Store, Devil’s Backbone or Purgatory Road to cross over the New Braunfels’ Faust St. Bridge, the only other high water Guadalupe crossing, built in 1887.

In 1904, Comal County commissioners decided to build a second high-water bridge over the Guadalupe. One of four crossings were considered and Esser’s was chosen, but not without controversy. Grover E. King Co. of Dallas built the bridge for $12,498. The construction of the bridge was Whipple truss design, very common at the time. The spans were supported by oval-shaped masonry piers and rusticated stonework.

While the bridge was being built, the Guadalupe flooded at 16 feet, the under pinning on the construction washed away and the whole unfinished span fell into the water, causing a major delay.

The first high-water bridge, the Faust Street Bridge, was 640 feet in length built in 1887. This bridge and the Esser’s Crossing Bridge looked almost identical. Crossing the Guadalupe to the Textile Mill, the Faust St. Bridge was sometimes known as the “Mill Bridge.” At a cost of $25,600, the contract was let to the King Iron Bridge Mfg. Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. Over the years, rules of the bridge reflect the times: “No livestock on the bridge” (Your imagination can probably tell you why), “Walk your horses or be fined $5.00”, and a later sign in 1912 stated that automobiles were not to exceed 5 mph.

The Texas Department of Agriculture named this bridge in 1917 as a major crossing of all traffic between Austin and San Antonio. It was used until another concrete bridge was built in 1934. In 1999, the Faust Street Bridge was designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Throughout its history, Esser’s Crossing was a busy place.

Reported by long-timers in the area that after World War II, troops from Ft. Sam Houston marched to New Braunfels and then on to Esser’s Crossing, where they camped overnight and then marched back to Ft. Sam the next day. Hermann Seele in his writings speaks of crossing at Esser’s Crossing early on.

The bridge was condemned in 1954 but remained visible until 1976. Comal County commissioners ordered the bridge to be torn down because of floods, fire damage and vandalism. Close by, the present bridge was built in 1978.

Historian Brenda Anderson-Lindemann and other long-time property owners have spearheaded a drive to have the area of Esser’s Crossing recognized with a Texas Historical Marker.

It’s a nice drive.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg — 

I watch rooftops multiply daily as I look out from our house of more than 30 years. I will not lie. It is distressing. It truly makes me appreciate the beautiful well-built 100-plus-year-old buildings that grace our city. Being a native, I often wonder what has become of the many others that no longer stand in their places.

In the mid-’60s, there was a young dentist who officed in a little house on Comal Avenue. It was the cutest little two-or-three-room house, gray with a red tin roof and red window trim. That dentist was Dr. Kahler. While he was away studying orthodontics, Dr. Hubert Risinger occupied his office. Dr. Risinger was my dentist for a short time.

The cute little house was originally owned by the Heinrich Scholl family. The Scholls, consisting of Heinrich Scholl and wife Anna Marie Saenger Scholl, along with their three children, Heinrich Jr., Adam and Caroline, set out for Texas from their home in Dillenburg, Nassau, Germany, with other immigrants through the Adelsverein. Upon arriving in Indianola, tragedy struck the Scholl family. Heinrich Sr. went hunting in a boat, fell out and drowned.

His wife and her three children continued to New Braunfels. The family worked hard to survive. The boys, Heinrich Jr. and Adam, learned carpentry and the mother kept boarders. Adam and Heinrich made the windows and doors used in building houses, which became an outstanding business. At one time, they worked for Dr. Koester in a mill. Later they made chairs and tables of walnut and cedar. The Scholl brothers also built houses and built them well.

Shortly after the Scholls reached New Braunfels, the Mexican American war broke out creating trouble for those in the young German settlement. Some men enlisted in the American Army while others were not interested in war. They had left Germany to escape mandatory military service. According to Scholl family historians, Heinrich Jr, Adam and a few other men of their age decided they would hide in hollow trees down on the Comal River to escape the soldiers who were rounding up men to fight.

The Scholl home was not far from the river, so Adam, being the bravest or the hungriest, decided he would venture out of hiding to go home for food. Adam dressed as a woman with a big sunbonnet on. About the time he got in the house, a soldier knocked at the door. He told Caroline Scholl he had seen a suspicious character come into her house. In the meantime, she had shoved her brother Adam under her bed where there was a trap door to the cellar. She denied seeing anyone, telling the soldier that there was no one else there. Adam, thinking the soldier had left, peeped from out from under the bed. Caroline quickly shoved him back with her foot and the soldier was none the wiser.

Heinrich Scholl, Jr. married twice. His first marriage was to Johanna Schmidt, which produced five children. After her death, he married Louise Schneider. They had nine children including two sets of twins. Heinrich became a well-known cabinet maker in New Braunfels and eventually lived in the house across the street from the original home. He died in 1909 at the age of 81.

The old original Scholl home ca.1846 is now near 179 years old. It is solidly built and still standing, even though not in its original place. It is a unique house in that it utilizes two different kinds of fachwerk. In the front wall of the house, builders used “rammed earth” fachwerk . That is much like pouring a curb today. Forms are set up and then mud is poured in between to fill the space. The mud is ‘rammed” with a long pole to remove any air pockets. Once the mud dries/hardens, the forms are removed, and plaster is applied to both sides to make a smooth wall.

The other three walls are made of mud brick. In Germany, they used fired brick. Here in Texas, they made bricks of mud and straw in brick molds, then air dried them before putting them in between the timbers. Once the dry bricks complete the walls, cedar shingles were placed on the exterior to prevent erosion. Inside the home, they used original Bastrop pine for both the floors and ceilings. It was originally built over a wonderful root cellar, which must have served as a good hiding place. The roof was of cedar shingles. In 1867, the city of New Braunfels passed an ordinance requiring all roofs to be fireproofed for insurance purposes, so tin was simply nailed over the shingles. In 1881, 90 percent of New Braunfels’ structures were fachwerk. Now, 95 percent of them are gone.

By the mid-1960s, the porch of the little house had been closed in to make another room. More windows were added. The exterior of the entire building was wrapped in wood shiplap siding. The little house changed hands over the years with room additions made. Wayne and Toni Peters purchased it in 1987 to use as a summer home. When they completed their rock home behind it in 1999, they graciously donated the little fachwerk house to the New Braunfels Conservation Society.

In its new place among the other architectural treasures, it serves as the office for New Braunfels Conservation Society Old Towne. The Scholl Peters house has been returned to near its original state with the “rammed earth” fachwerk and mud bricks still visible thru Plexiglas windows on the walls. The little house that I thought had “gone missing” was indeed hiding in plain sight all along. When buildings disappear, our history connection disappears. It makes me happy to see the Scholl house and history being cared for.

Do you know of any hidden fachwerk buildings?

Sources: New Braunfels Conservation Society; Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Betty Stratemann.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

The Hinman House, the first stone house built in New Braunfels, is more than 150 years old. To tell the story of any great house, we must begin with the family’s story. Before the Hinmans came the Arnolds.

Peter Arnold arrived on the ship Ferdinand with the German Emigration Company in December 1844. He and his family were some of the original settlers of New Braunfels to arrive in March 1845. Through his contract with the company for the Fisher-Miller Grant, he drew Town Lot No. 76, which is the property located at 161 S. Castell. Most of the lots in town had a street frontage of 100 German feet (about 90 English feet) and a depth of 200 German feet. In my non-math brain, that is a little more than a one-third acre.

On his lot, Arnold, a blacksmith by trade, built a blacksmith shop and a log house where he lived with his wife and family. In 1855, Peter Arnold sold the property to Heinrich Hinmann (notice it is a double N on the end) for $550.

Heinrich Hinmann was born in 1819 in Lower Saxony in Germany. At the age of 17, he immigrated and travelled through America for several years before settling in New Braunfels. Hinmann, who was also a blacksmith, purchased Lot 76 the year after he married Therese Sickold. They went on to have 10 children, eight of whom survived.

The Hinman House was built in 1868. It is quite a step up from a log cabin. The builder of the cut limestone home is not recorded but was clearly an immigrant stone mason trained in the traditional construction methods of his German homeland. It is surmised that it was built by Heinrich Hinmann himself. One article I found purports that it was built by his son Charles Hinmann, but according to census records, Charles was only 7 at the time.

The original two-story home is rectangular with a small cellar and porches. It sits on a foundation of mortared stone walls to a depth below the cellar floor. The exterior walls are twenty-inch-thick stone masonry of squared, hammer-dressed local limestone with wide lime-mortar joints. The first floor sits on 7-inch-by-7-inch” rough-hewn joists … basically, cedar tree trunks.

The architectural feature that absolutely makes this house, in my humble opinion, is the porches. On the southwest side, facing the street, there are two porches running the length of the house. The lower porch is open with six wood columns supporting the upper porch. On the second-floor porch, solid wood columns support the roof. The upper porch is surrounded by a wooden railing. The original railing was lattice work. Now the railing is in a geometric pattern. There may have been similar porches along the back of the house.

Although the main structure of the Hinman House has remained the same, there have been wood-frame-additions made to the rear of the house to increase functionality. It is possible that rear porches were closed in to create those additions. It is thought that the home was originally heated with wood stoves as there has been no evidence of chimneys. With later renovations, a fireplace was built in the main room and a gas-fired furnace was installed in the cellar. Renovations also moved and reconfigured the interior stairwell.

Heinrich (Henry) Hinmann was a man of many talents. As a blacksmith, he made and repaired most anything made of metal, including farm equipment. He was also the inventor and manufacturer of the Hinman Plow, created specifically for the black soil of Comal County.

Heinrich was also a marble cutter. In the late 19th-century New Braunfels, marble was used for headstones. When Heinrich died in 1899, his son, Adolf, also a marble cutter, returned to New Braunfels to continue The Hinmann Marble Yard at the Castell address. His mother, Therese, lived in the limestone house.

Alexander J. Hinman (he officially dropped the extra N off the end of his name) was a well-respected physician and a prominent businessman in the New Braunfels community. He, his parents and siblings had moved into the Hinman family home to live with his grandmother after his grandfather Heinrich died. On October 1, 1913, Dr. A.J. Hinman bought the two-story home and surrounding property from his grandmother, Therese Hinmann. There, he raised his family, practiced medicine and lived until his death. It is believed that the bulk of the house renovations and additions were done to accommodate his medical practice in the early 1920s.

Hinman was notable not only for the care he gave to his patients, but the impact he had on New Braunfels. He was recognized for being president of the New Braunfels Independent School District school board, founding member of the New Braunfels Rotary Club and the first president of the New Braunfels Hospital. The Hinman Family owned what is known as Hinman Island, which is now part of Landa Park.

When Dr. A.J. Hin­man passed away in Oc­to­ber of 1960, an­other chap­ter opened for the Hin­man House. Of­fice space was leased out to var­i­ous en­ti­ties over the years, in­clud­ing real es­tate firms, med­ical prac­tices and United Way.

The Hin­man House was pur­chased by First Na­tional Bank (now Chase Bank) with the in­ten­tion of build­ing their mo­tor­bank fa­cil­ity on the ad­ja­cent prop­erty; how­ever, they se­lected an­other site. The bank opened the Hin­man House to var­i­ous or­ga­ni­za­tions for meet­ings and events.

In the early ‘70s, the Hin­man House was the venue for Garten­fest, a fundraiser held by the Con­ser­va­tion So­ci­ety dur­ing Wurst­fest. The event of­fered a lit­tle of every­thing — Ger­man food, mu­sic and rum­mage sale all in one. That is where that great Con­ser­va­tion So­ci­ety tra­di­tion of “Kartof­fel­suppe” and Iron Brew be­gan.

Chase Bank gifted The Hin­man House to Braun­fels Foun­da­tion in 1999. The Hin­man House was des­ig­nated a Texas His­tor­i­cal Land­mark in 2009 and is cur­rently used by Com­mu­ni­ties in Schools free of charge. Our city is lucky to have such a won­der­ful spec­i­men of early Ger­man Texas ar­chi­tec­ture on full dis­play in our down­town.

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

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

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Tara V. Kohlenberg —

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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What’s going on at the Hill? The Sophienburg Hill, that is. Busy, busy. There is constant change by collecting, restoring, repurposing, categorizing, identifying, and just about all of those “ing” words.

Probably the biggest change in the museum itself is the closing of the year-long Lindheimer exhibit and preparation for a new exhibit. The Ferdinand Lindheimer exhibit had a great response from garden clubs, school children, and other botanists. You know of course, that Lindheimer was called the “Father of Texas Botany.” Now over 1,000 third graders in the NBISD and CISD have been exposed to that fact.

The whole exhibit was under the direction of Keva Boardman, program director at the Sophienburg. All of those third graders not only came to visit the exhibit but they were given a deck of cards with Lindheimer’s picture on the pack and cards on the inside that had some pictures and stories that related to him or botany. This memorial souvenir was a gift from volunteers that believe in the project and I’m sure these cards will be shared with the child’s family. Records show that people visited the exhibit from all over Texas and several universities.

We’re sort of sorry to get rid of Lindheimer but we’ll just put him to sleep for a while. The next exhibit will definitely not put you to sleep. It’s called “Jump In” like the advertisement for the New Braunfels tourist trade so often used. Jump In is an exhibit of early bathing suits, particularly from around the 1920s, a time when bathing suits became a little more fashionable and less functional.

The exhibit is from the Sophienburg collection and many, many photographs of New Braunfels residents will be on display. You will know many of these bathing beauties. The purpose of the exhibit is to show changes in styles and really show how important swimming was and is in New Braunfels on the Comal and the Guadalupe. Watch for a June opening of the exhibit.

Another change in the museum is the merchandise in Sophie’s Shop which is a very popular stop for visitors. Sophie’s Shop has the largest collection of books about New Braunfels, Comal County, and its people anywhere in town. After moving out the Christmas merchandise, springtime predominates. There are many gift items for very young children and babies. Don’t forget the shirts proclaiming that “In Neu Braunfels ist das Leben Schon.”

Another year has passed and the Sophienburg is proud to announce the winner of the Myra Lee Adams Goff History Scholarship writing contest. This year’s talented writer is Marissa Young, a senior at New Braunfels High School. Her essay was chosen from about 40 entries. The rule for winning the $500 scholarship is to write a 500-word essay relating to anything about New Braunfels or Comal County history.

Marissa chose to write about her great-uncle, Nayo Zamora. She tells about his life and about his political involvement in the 1960s-80s dealing with the imbalance of racial composition in the New Braunfels schools. Marissa is very proud of the accomplishments of her great-uncle and I’m sure he would be proud of her. She is a real scholar and will begin her education in the field of medicine this fall.

You all know about the involvement of Prince Carl with Sophienburg Hill. It was his site of choice to build a fort to protect the settlers with his cannons. And it was in his mind to be the site of a castle for his fiancé still in Germany. On the Sophienburg Hill are historic buildings, some remodeled, and some repurposed. Because of this historic Sophienburg Hill significance to New Braunfels, the Sophienburg Museum and Archives Association has made the decision to pursue a Texas Historical Marker for this site. John and Cindy Coers with the Comal County Historical Commission are researching the history of all of the buildings on the property.

Originally on the hill property there was a log house and several small buildings used for Prince Carl’s headquarters. This building actually bit the dust in 1886 with the big hurricane that also destroyed Indianola. Pictures show that it was well on its way to falling down long before the hurricane.

In the late 1920s, the H. Dittlinger family made a trip to Germany and received a gift of a portrait of Prince Carl. The purpose of the gift was that it be hung in a museum in New Braunfels. Back in NB there was no museum so Mrs. Dittlinger volunteered to keep the portrait until a museum on Sophienburg Hill could become a reality.

A committee was formed to organize the Sophienburg Memorial Museum. Over the years, the hill property had been divided and sold several times and finally Mrs. Johanna Runge, the last owner, sold the property to the association for $5,025 to build a museum.

A rock building on the corner of Academy and Coll Sts. was built and completed in 1933. Eventually the Sophienburg Museum and Archives outgrew this building and then purchased the New Braunfels City Hall on Seguin St. The archives moved in the old city hall but the museum part remained in the rock building on the hill.

Another building that is on the hill property is the Emmie Seele Faust Library at the corner of Coll and Magazine Sts. This building is being nominated for historic designation by the Comal County Historic Commission and being researched by Wilfred and Marlena Schlather and Rosa Linda delaCerda.

In 1928 the New Braunfels Public Library Association was formed. Books were collected in the “small” Landa house on the plaza. The next move was to the Eiband property at 174 E. San Antonio St. In 1938, the Sophienburg Association donated land on Sophienburg Hill for the site of a public library. The library contents were moved into a small area of the 1933 Sophienburg Museum until the new library could be built.

Emmie Seele Faust donated over $7,000 to build the library on Sophienburg Hill that became the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library. It was the primary library in town until 1967, when the city built the Dittlinger Memorial Library on adjacent property. The library remained there until the city built the library on Common St. in 1999. The city then donated the Dittlinger Library building to the Sophienburg. It was remodeled and became the new home of the Sophienburg Museum and Archives. The original 1933 museum still stands on the Sophienburg Hill property and is now the home of the collections.

The old Emmie Seele Faust Library building was remodeled in 2001 to serve as a public meeting room.

Groups of people working together on projects are very important to the Sophienburg. For example, the collection ladies are always busy working on some project. A new group headed by Estella and Robert Farias are rounding up friends and researching Hispanic history in NB. Robert Morales uses the Microfiche to find information on old Hispanic history; John Serda is a Vietnam veteran obtaining military veteran’s information using the Sophienburg database; Elvira Villarreal is working on the Herald obituaries for Hispanic genealogy; and David Rutherford is researching the West End baseball teams.

The Sophienburg welcomes and could not exist without its volunteers. There’s always some collecting, restoring, repurposing, categorizing, and identifying to do.

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In the early days, when Seguin Ave. was considered the main street in New Braunfels, the first houses and businesses were constructed there. Possibly Seguin Ave. was so named because most people entered the town from guess where? Seguin. When the settlers first crossed the Guadalupe River in 1845, they traveled from Nacogdoches Road to Seguin Ave. and then on to the location where they would camp above the Comal Creek. Hermann Seele wrote about coming to the town on Seguin Ave. Early traveler and historian Friedrich Olmstead, commented that he found Seguin Ave. in New Braunfels three times wider than Broadway in New York.

Nicholas Zink, surveyor and engineer for the Adelsverein, set up our Main Plaza, and intersected it with Seguin Ave. and San Antonio St. By May of that first year of settlement in 1845, Zink had plotted the town lots and a drawing was held for each lot.
Let’s look at one of the old homes built on Seguin Ave. in 1870 or maybe as early as 1866. The house which still stands is located at 228 S. Seguin Ave. on lot #56 between the Faust Hotel and the Taco el Tapatio. This house has been the home or office of some very influential people and the house itself has received some very prestigious designations. In 1968 the Texas State Historical Survey Committee awarded a marker to this building. In 1999, it became a New Braunfels Historic Landmark and in the year 2000 the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The person responsible for having the house constructed was Carl Wilhelm August Groos, born in Prussia, Germany in 1830. He immigrated to Texas with his brothers and sisters and his widowed father in 1848. His two brothers, Friedrich and Gustav, became very important in his life. For two years Carl lived in Fayette County and then moved to Gillespie County where he lived with relatives.

In 1854 Carl joined his brothers Gustav and Friedrich in Eagle Pass. Brother, Friedrich had secured a contract in 1849 with the United States Government to send freight into Eagle Pass. He formed the F. Groos and Company.

During the Civil War in 1862 Carl was arrested by Confederate authorities and taken to San Antonio. A letter that had been addressed to him was found on the body of a Mexican killed near the border of Texas and Mexico. Carl was eventually released and returned to Eagle Pass. He then moved to Matamoros where the Groos Company had a branch office. The firm weathered the Civil War by freighting cotton to Mexico.

After the war, Carl moved to San Antonio where the F. Groos and Company was relocated. In 1870, Carl married Hulda Amalia Moreau. She was the daughter of Franz Moreau, who was a cotton broker in New Braunfels and a German consul. Shortly after their marriage, Carl had a home built on Seguin Ave. Family history notes that it was a wedding gift to Carl and Hulda. Hulda’s father, Franz Moreau lived at 190 S. Seguin Ave. His home was built in 1854 and is still standing and serves as an office complex. Between the Groos home and the Moreau home was a store that became known as Moreau and Groos. After the Civil War, the economy in New Braunfels was suffering but business was booming in San Antonio. In 1872, Carl and Hulda moved to San Antonio but kept the home at 228 S. Seguin Ave. for summer visits until 1879.

The history of the property goes like this: The first immigrant to draw lot #56 was George Kirchner. If Kirchner built some sort of house on that lot, it wouldn’t be surprising, because he could easily go to the German Protestant Church, where he was a member. Kirchner died very soon in 1846 and the administrator of Kirchner’s estate conveyed the lot to Jacob Winkler for $60. In 1857, Winkler sold the lot to August Forke who sold it in 1866 to Charles Bender and four years later it was sold to Carl Groos, the subject of this information.

When Carl bought lot # 56 on Seguin Avenue he also bought lot #72 directly behind this lot on Castell Ave. It is believed that he had the house built on lot # 56 in 1870. The adobe brick L shaped, Gothic Colonial house with its cypress floors was beautifully crafted. The front door contains ruby glass and the cement frame windows are of original rolled glass. In 1879 the house was sold to Groos’ sister, Emilie and her husband Johann Friedrick Giesecke, Mayor of New Braunfels. After that, Giesecke sold the house to Fritz Scholl who owned it until 1946, when it was purchased by Arlon and Faye Krueger. After Arlon Krueger’s death, the house ownership remained in the family and became home of the New Braunfels Art Center and then the business office of Ambassador Robert Krueger.

Here is more of the story that resulted in the transformation of F. Groos and Company to the Groos National Bank. Carl’s brother Friedrich, a graduate engineer and architect, had a United States Government contract which he procured in 1849 for sending freight into Eagle Pass. The freighting business was successful despite the danger operating in Indian Territory. Branch businesses were located in New Braunfels, San Antonio, and Matamoros, Mexico. Carl and Gustav joined Friedrich in a mercantile company in 1854. It was called F. Groos and Co. A primitive form of banking was necessary for the operation of a frontier store. Saved money was hidden in boxes, cotton bales, axels of wheels or just about any hiding place. This resulted in the brothers forming the Groos National Bank of San Antonio. This bank became a very successful financial institution in San Antonio. The banking business prospered so well that the freighting was discontinued. Carl became the first president of the firm and in 1879 built the first building in San Antonio devoted exclusively to banking at the corner of Commerce and Navarro.

What happened to the original builder of the house on Seguin Ave.? After Carl and his brothers became founding members of the Groos National Bank, Carl built a beautiful home in 1880 at 335 King William Street in the King William Historic District in San Antonio. He hired famous architect, Alfred Giles, to design the San Antonio home. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was eventually purchased by the San Antonio Council of the Girl Scouts of the USA who sold it to Charles Butt, founder of the grocery chain.

The King William Historic District, the state’s first historic district, was created in the late 1800s on the south bank of the San Antonio River. Prominent German merchants brought with them a distinct architectural style and created an elegant residential area of 25 blocks. For a real treat, log on to the King William Historic District and view these magnificent homes.

Carl Groos died in 1893 and is interred in San Antonio City Cemetery #1. His first home still remains on Seguin Ave. in New Braunfels, Texas.

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Ranch Road 32 West is worth a drive into a scenic part of Comal County. From New Braunfels, drive out FM 306, right on Purgatory Road, then left at RR 32 over a section called Devil’s Backbone. Probably named for the spine of the devil, it winds and winds and you are sure to get car-sick if you are prone to such an affliction.

At the intersection of RR32 and FM484 you come to a settlement called Fischer. Just to tell you how long this settlement has been there, the area (Hermann Fischer Ranch) received the Texas Department of Agriculture Family Land Heritage 150 year designation in 2004, which is given for continuous agricultural operation in the same family beginning at 100 years.

Hermann Fischer and his wife Anna were the first to settle in the valley on 160 acres where they built the first log cabin in the area. They came to Texas in 1846. Otto Fischer bought land next to Hermann’s, and both brothers were in the cattle business. Otto married Adolfina Schlameus. Other Germans that settled in the area were– Schlameus, Spangenberg, Linnartz, Luehlfing, Sachtleben, Pantermuehl, Kaderli, Haas, Schubert, Wersterfer, Krause and Wiechman. With this many families in the valley, Hermann decided to build a store in 1866 at one end of his log cabin. The store became the center of the community. With a large assortment of merchandise, Hermann soon expanded the store to three buildings selling groceries, farm machinery and household goods.

When the settlement received a post office named Fischer’s Store in 1876, it became well known over Texas. Then the name changed to Fischer Store and then in 1950 to Fischer.

A dance hall, bowling alley, school, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, gristmill, rodeo grounds, grist mill and last, but certainly not least, a cemetery was added.

Not far from the settlement on Ranch Road 32 is a large cemetery that has the earmarks of a caring group of people. This cemetery already is an HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY. Many Fischers are buried in that cemetery. Of the almost 500 graves there are other prominent family names.

In 1886 Otto Fischer gave 30 acres of his land to the Fischer’s Store Community for the purpose of building a school for their children. It was on the highest point of this land that the cemetery informally got started. It was appropriately called Fischer’s School Graveyard at Fischer’s Store. The Fischer Cemetery Association was later organized in 1976.

The first burial was the infant son of Monroe and Nettie Smith, nearby landowners and also the cemetery caretaker. Besides family members interred, there are also 21 graves of people whose remains were moved from the area that would become covered by Canyon Lake. Throughout the years, four graves were also moved from the Pantermuehl Ranch and single graves from Dripping Springs, Pleasant Valley, Schlameus Ranch and Suche Ranch.

So what happened to the rest of the 30 acres that was to be used for education? A school was built on this property and still stands. It is now the Fischer Community Center. All the one-room county school houses were consolidated under the Comal County Rural School which led to the current Comal Independent School District. Under this consolidation, the district claimed ownership of the land given by Otto Fischer. In 1976 the CISD transferred 3.851 acres of the original 30 acres to the Fischer Cemetery Association. The association divided the land into 1170 burial plots.

Leaving the cemetery, turn right on RR32 which leads you into the Fischer settlement. Located in the old Fischer Store is the Fischer Store Museum. There is so much history in that museum and so many genuine old things that tell the history of the Fischer community. One relict of interest to me was the old telephone booth that was located inside the store. It is beautifully constructed of wood. Inside the booth was a phone and at one time there were 16 parties on this one line. I even remember when there were two party lines in the city of New Braunfels. But 16?

The old cotton gin ledgers are there and their liquor license #84. The shelving and tables are all authentic to the store. Another interesting relic was a large cabbage slicer. Guess what that was used for. Right. It was used to make sauerkraut. Many people that live in the country still make sauerkraut.

Just down the road from the museum is the old dance hall. Private dances and receptions are still held and a public dance once a year. Next to the dance hall is the bowling alley where, to this day, nine pin bowling takes place.

Did you know that Fischer Store had a polo team? In the museum are homemade mallets made of a type of bamboo and wood. The open grass field measuring 300 feet long and 160 yards wide is still there across from the dance hall. The game was played with four players. One game lasted six chukkers or periods of 7 ½ minutes each. Cecil Smith who died in 1999 is given credit for starting the polo team at Fischer Store. Smith bought horses from the ranchers and trained them to be polo ponies. Polo ponies cannot be used as ranch horses once they are trained to be polo ponies. These trained ponies were temperamental and had a mind of their own. Part of the sport was the pony trying to throw off the rider.

The Comal County Fair will be this next week, Sept 24 to 28. There won’t be a polo game, but there once was. Back in 1932, the fair was reeling from the Depression, trying to stay afloat. They asked for local talent and the Fischer Store polo team challenged the New Braunfels team. The Fischer Store team was made up of Bill Fischer, Raymond Fischer, J.W. Bode, Bubie Vollmering, Reagan Calhoun and —Pape. The New Braunfels team was E.A. Maier, Hilmar Staats, Clifford Startz, Tommie Specht, Dickie Tausch, Roy Meredith, R.R. Coreth, Jackie Bergfeld, and Herbert Marion.

Between chukkers, a burlesque polo team from New Braunfels put on a comedy act. That team was made up of Ernst Stein, Charles Scruggs, Paul Jahn, Pete Nuhn, Coach Rode, “Red” Babel, Barney Koepp, Dr. Rennie Wright and Jack Eiband. What a sight that must have been!

Even without a polo game, see you at the Fair!

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