A letter written on May 2, 1845, two months after the first settlers arrived in New Braunfels, gives us details of those first two months in NB. The letter was written by Lt. Oscar von Claren to his sister in Germany. The end of von Claren’s life overshadows the optimism conveyed by him, as you will see.

When Prince Carl left to go back to Germany, amid festivities and cannon fire at the site of the Sophienburg, he offered to take 69 letters back to Germany. Mail at that time took three months or longer. According to author Everett Fey, writer of “First Founders”, there are 14 letters preserved and transcribed “and it is uncertain whether the rest of the letters were delivered to families. There is a good possibility that these 14 letters were used as advertising by the Adelsverein to promote their immigration project.”

The preserved letters are mostly positive about the project, so what happened to the other letters that were perhaps not so positive? Were only the letters of satisfied customers published?

Letters alleging that the Adelsverein was irresponsible in caring for the immigrants were also published in the newspapers. The Adelsverein fought back with replies by one of their own, Count Carl of Castell. He demanded publication of letters giving the “voice of truth” or the positive view.

One of those 14 letters was Oscar von Claren’s sent to his sister, Augusta, and she, in turn sent it to the Adelsverein. It was, no doubt, of value to them.

Oscar von Claren from Hanover arrived on the ship Apollo and came inland with the first group of emigrants. As a young single man, von Claren was chosen by Prince Carl for the responsible position of being in charge of artillery in Prince Carl’s Militia. He organized them to protect the emigrants, both on the way and in the settlement.

In his letter to his sister, von Claren described his arrival in New Braunfels in April 1845 and then of the celebration that took place in early May when Prince Carl was getting ready to leave for Germany. He said that at the Sophienburg (fortress), festive speeches were made and the cannons fired.

At the time of year of his arrival, it was too late to put in a garden on the lot that had been given to him. He put in a cow pen out of logs where the calves stayed while the cows roamed freely. It was not necessary to feed them. In the evening, the cows would automatically roam back to their calves in the pen. Even people that had no houses had pens with cows. Anyone who had more than 25 cows had to pay a fee to the state of Texas. Von Claren was waiting to get chickens; “four hens for $1.00 and a rooster for a third of a dollar”. “He who has cattle, chickens and a livable house has everything” he told his sister. Milk, eggs and butter were the main diet.

Von Claren was aware of unfamiliar noises, like the cutting of trees, plowing and the building of huts. He arose at five in the morning, lit a fire, dressed, cooked tea, baked bread and ate breakfast. After 11 o’clock in the morning the heat was unbearable so everyone stopped working. At this time he cooked dinner and then at three o’clock went to work again. After working, the evening meal was prepared and took a long time because corn meal bread had to be baked every day. It tasted bad when it was not fresh. It got dark around seven o’clock. Twilight, like in Germany, was not known in Texas and it got much darker. Von Claren told his sister that what he needed more than anything was tools, carpenter tools and tools for gardening. Also he needed seeds, fruit seeds of all kinds, lentils, and grape vines. He wished he had brought more with him. An immigrant only paid for the transportation from Bremen and the Adelsverein provided everything else to the colony.

He told his sister that during the land trip in from the coast, many of his clothes and part of his weapons were damaged due to not having them packed in boxes encased in tin. He now sleeps on animal hides and covers with a woolen cover instead of the linens he is used to.

About 300 Tonkawa Indians visit the settlement daily. They are at peace with the Germans and come into town to trade. Von Claren traded animal skins, hides and leopard fur. He traded gun powder, colorful chinz and calico, red and white beads, but not yellow or green (curious), and all kinds of toys made of tin or German nickel silver. Turtles and snakes demand high prices and he intended to sell them.

Their clothing was very thick and long boots were indispensable, but very expensive. He praised the beauty of the area, pretty forests next to the Guadalupe River, hills and prairies covered with wild flowers. Wood like cypress and cedar trees emit a magnificent odor and remind him of pencils. The beautiful blooms of the cactus would be greatly admired in Germany. At night, the air is filled with lightning bugs.

(Here’s the catch:) One must become accustomed to the great heat and large unpleasant animals that inflict deadly wounds, and the numerous rattlesnakes, some ten feet long and probably 15 years old. There are also a large number of alligators, so bathing in rivers is dangerous. He shot a 14 foot alligator. Tarantulas, large spiders that “runs around with the snakes and scorpions” in the woods, have a disagreeable stinger. Finally there is a caterpillar that crawls over the skin.

In May of 1845, there are 400 people living in the settlement. He would like to have friends and family with him “with whom he could cultivate a companionable relationship”.

By the time his sister received his letter, von Claren had been brutally killed and scalped near Live Oak Springs. He and two companions were returning to NB from Austin and while camping, a band of natives attacked the three. Wessle got away and led the Rangers to the site of the massacre. Von Claren and von Wrede were buried there.

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“Sprechen Sie sausage?” I love it! It’s this year’s Wurstfest advertising gimmick. I want to add another expression for those of you that are so inclined: “Sprechen Sie history?” Well, maybe not, but if you are interested, read on. A good way to find out what Wurstfest is all about is to read the book “Wurstfest, New Braunfels, Texas; The First Fifty Years” by two long-time Opas, Alton Rahe, with photographs chosen by Darvin Dietert. This book was written to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Wurstfest.

Let’s take a walking trip through the Wurstfest grounds beginning at the entrance on Landa St. Outside of the gate to the left is a historical marker dedicated to Wm. Meriwether, the first to purchase the property from the Veramendi family. The marker, however, commemorates Meriwether’s invention of snake wire fencing. Right behind this marker stands the Maibaum Maypole dedicating the 150^th Anniversary of New Braunfels by the NB German-American Society. It depicts 20 important German contributions to the city.

To your right outside of the gate is a brick building that was once the Landa Power and Light Company. Landa installed generators in the building run by water power and sold electricity to the community. Also on our right is the rock, original Landa Flour Mill building.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AREA:

The property on which Wurstfest finally located belonged to Maria Veramendi Garza and her husband, Rafael Garza. Maria originally inherited it from her father and then sold the 480 acre Comal Tract to Wm. Meriwether from Tennessee in 1847. In three years, Meriwether’s slaves dug a canal parallel to Landa Park Drive, continuing into the millpond and then spilling down several tail races or spillways into the Comal Creek (now considered the Comal River). Here he set up a sawmill and gristmill, and later a cotton gin, using water power. The only remnant of Meriwether’s mill structures is the Meriwether Mill House at 133 Landa, behind you to the left.

In 1860, Wm. Meriwether sold his holdings to Joseph Landa. Landa and his son, Harry, eventually operated flour and cottonseed oil mills, an ice company and an electric light company, all using hydro-electric power. Landa sold the entire operation in 1925 to J.E. Jarrett who soon declared bankruptcy. Dittlinger acquired Landa Roller Mills and Feed Mills from a bank in Dallas that had obtained the mill in bankruptcy. The rest of the property was closed in 1933, and in 1936 the city acquired the land that would become Landa Park. The city purchased the Cotton Oil Mill in 1946. The Wurstfest Association later purchased the Landa/Dittlinger Roller Mill property.

BACK ON OUR TOUR:

Looking behind you from the Landa Street entrance is a Landa Industries warehouse where a railroad spur from the IGN main railway crossed Landa Street and followed the path you are now walking. The spur ended at Elizabeth Street and had several smaller spurs providing access to some of the buildings. The tracks were removed from the grounds in 1978.

Continue through the gate and you will see the millpond on the left and at the end of the millpond, the spillway gates on the left and the spillway on the right. At one time there were as many as four waterfalls or tail races generating hydroelectric power for the mills and plants. The two buildings on the left after the millpond are the Power Plant and Landa Steam Power Plant now owned by New Braunfels Utilities.

After passing the big tent, you will see the Wursthalle which was the Landa cottonseed storage for the Landa Cotton Oil Company. Next to the Wursthalle on the left is the Kleinehalle (which also includes Circle Arts Theater, the Wurstfest Offices and the Spass Haus) which was the Landa oil mill. The Landa Recreation Center was the Landa cottonseed oil storage building and the NB Park Department rock maintenance building was once the Landa cottonseed hull storage.

WURSTFEST’S BEGINNING:

Rahe traces the beginning of the sausage festival to the present. Dr. Ed Grist, local veterinarian and NB meat inspector, was well aware of the fact that Comal County had an extraordinary number of companies and individuals who made their own sausage. In August of 1961 Dr. Grist presented his idea about a sausage festival to the City Commissioners and Mayor Joe Faust proclaimed the week of December 11-16 as Sausage Festival Week. A city sausage band organized for out of town advertising, and Joe Chapman, owner of the Smokehouse, mailed out 5,000 invitations to friends announcing the festival.

The first event was to be held in Landa Park, but because of rain, was moved to the National Guard Armory. It was then held in Landa Park for the next two years. In 1963 the festival moved to a downtown hole left by the burned out Eiband and Fischer building on the plaza (burned in 1947 and left that way for 16 years). 1967 began the move toward the present property. Half of Wursthalle was leased for the event and tents were set up on the grounds.

The not-for-profit corporation has enjoyed enormous success over the years and helps many organizations by allowing them to sell food and souvenirs. Speaking of souvenirs, Sophie’s Shop of the Sophienburg has a new pewter Christmas ornament, a spoon with the Wurstfest Opa. Every time you look at it hanging on your tree, you can remember the “Spass” (fun) you had at Wurstfest and “Ja, wir sprechen history”.

Larger Image

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Before we say goodbye to the Civil War, let’s look at what the period immediately after the war known as Reconstruction, brought to Comal County. When the war was over in 1865, many did not return home, putting a terrible hardship on the families. Many survivors sustained lifelong injuries. For all, life was different than it had been before the war.

Comal County had been divided on the question of secession from the Union and although the vote was overwhelmingly for joining the Confederacy, it wasn’t without conflict. Shortages of necessities of life made life difficult. Confederate money, issued during the war, was now worthless.

Jacob Lindheimer, editor of the Zeitung, kept the paper going during and after the war even though the lack of paper forced him to use wallpaper and tissue paper. When citizens who didn’t agree with his opinions dumped his printing press into the Comal, he just fished it out and kept on printing. Then there was the matter of newspaper subscribers wanting to pay their subscriptions in Confederate money. Once Lindheimer and his sons, who were unable to buy food with this money, went out and slaughtered a beef and then advertised that he would be glad to pay the owner of the animal in Confederate money. The beef owner refused to take this money for the beef. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, so they say.

Comal County issued its own money but it wasn’t honored either. The merchants came up with their own medium of exchange. It was called “due bills”, sort of like “charging”. Some larger companies like Runge & Sons of Indianola issued their own due bills.

All the industry that had developed in Comal County before the war was destroyed, not from combat, but from lack of raw materials. Some entrepreneurial types began driving cattle or hauling freight from the coast. NB was a feeder station for trail drives on the Chisholm Trail from San Antonio to Kansas. Ranching was quickly replacing the cotton industry. Industries like Landa Flour Mills prospered. Skilled German artisans like saddlemakers, blacksmiths and wheelwrights were in demand.

The New Braunfels Woolen Manufacturing Co. was organized in 1867 in a building formerly used for a brandy distillery located at Garden and Comal streets. It was converted into a woolen mill and later furnished yards of gray woolen cloth to A&M College for uniforms. The building became a steam laundry after the turn of the century and was razed in 1952. The present St. John’s Episcopal Church built in 1967 contains a wooden cross made from timbers of the old mill.

A new type of business association began with the formation of mutual insurance associations and cooperative gins. Neighbor had to help neighbor as they had done in the early days. Individuals owned the associations. If the breadwinner died during the war, the organization promised to pay a benefit to the survivors. Germania Farmers Association at Anhalt was one of those mutual companies organized for protection, and to promote agriculture. (See Sophienburg.com, Around the Archives, May 13, 2008.) Ranchers and farmers pooled their money and built their own gins. Most were non-profit but shared the proceeds according to the use they made of the facilities.

The insurance business in the United States was the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin. He came up with the idea in 1752 in Philadelphia to cover houses lost by fire. Houses were mostly made of wood and were very close together. Seven years later Franklin organized the first life insurance company. Religious authorities were outraged at putting a monetary value on human life but assented when they realized that it also protected widows and orphans. The whole insurance business expanded as the need evolved.

The Sons of Hermann was another mutual insurance company. In 1840 a handful of German men in New York City formed a brotherhood whose mission was to provide aid to each other, the sick, widows and orphans. The brotherhood was founded to combat the prejudice of the “Know-Nothing-Party”, an organization promoting prejudice against foreigners in the US. The European immigrants, particularly Germans, were recipients of prejudice. The Germans formed the Sons of Hermann insurance company in response to this prejudice. Hermann was a German folk hero who was a symbol of manhood.

Reconstruction was over with the entrance of the railroads in the 1880s. By the turn of the century, the Landa family had opened up picnic grounds at Landa Park. A new industry had begun based on the cultural assets of the community. Tourism was here to stay.

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I’m writing about iconology, the study of icons. The word “icon” has been stretched thin over the years. Originally it referred to “a painting of religious personages on a wooden panel in the Eastern Church”. In advertising, we have icons for almost everything. Christmas icons are the symbols that make us think of Christmas.

Go all the way back to the 1844 emigrant landing on the coast at Indianola. Soon after, at Christmas time, a coastal oak tree was procured and covered with candles. The lighted tree as an important icon lives on. Protestant Reformer Martin Luther is given credit for the lighted tree when he noticed the brilliance of the stars peeking through the snow-covered trees. He rushed home to put candles on his fir tree.

The Puritans were against decorations, including trees, but when German and Irish emigrants arrived in America, the Puritan legacy was stamped out by long-standing ethnic traditions. Meanwhile in the Texas Hill Country, the only tree that came close to resembling the fir tree was the “don’t touch me, I have stickers” juniper. Christmas trees changed from juniper, to imported fir trees, to artificial trees.

Candles were the only tree lights until electricity was invented around the turn of the 20th century. Those early electric lights were problematic; if one globe went out, the whole string went out. Much time was spent looking for that one burned-out globe. With time, that problem was solved and now we have LED lights.

Decorations, too, have changed over the years. The Sophienburg has some glass globes brought from Germany. Fast forward to the 1920s, before children chewed on trees, some very dangerous decorations appeared on the scene. For example, there was spun glass called angel hair, tinsel icicles made of lead, and globes made of mercury glass.

In America the most iconic symbol of children’s Christmas is Santa Claus. Long before the big guy dressed in red and was made famous by an illustration by Haddon Sundblom for Coca Cola, a similar character appeared in Europe. He was Saint Nicholas and his story was brought by the settlers from Germany. The more judgmental Nicholas filled stockings hung somewhere in the house on Dec. 5th with candy and fruit for good children and a switch or a potato or a piece of coal for a “bad” child. But “bad or good” there was hope for all children because there was still two weeks to straighten up before Santa Claus came.

Locally, Bill Vollmar was given much credit for bringing Santa Claus to New Braunfels. Vollmar owned a local 5 and 10 cent store. The picture shows Santa arriving on a train. Hearsay says he also arrived in an airplane and, of course, the vehicle of choice was not a reindeer, but a fire truck.

Gift giving has always been a big part of the holidays. Here’s a short list of advertised gifts: a Kodak camera at Voelkers Drug Store (1898); Tigress, Woodhue, and Tabu perfumes plus Tangee lipstick (1940s); hand carved dolls and marbles (ancient cultures).

Stores had toys for sale, but the first toy store was Tante Amelia’s Christmas Store next to Henne Hardware. Tante was a sister to the Hennes and the toy store was only open for two weeks. When it wasn’t a toy store, it held kitchen supplies.

Church activities dominated the Christmas season. The Germans celebrated Christmas Eve with a light supper and then gift opening. In the old days the tree was closed off to children until the gift opening ceremony. This was the first time that children saw the tree and gifts. A midnight candlelight church service followed.

In the Catholic Hispanic community, Dec. 24th was a time for friends and neighbors gathering together at one home. They would have a rosary by the nativity scene at the home and place the baby Jesus in the empty crib to remain there until Feb. 2nd. Another tradition was Las Posadas (the Inns), an old ceremony commemorating the journey of Mary and Joseph as they sought lodging preparing for the birth of Jesus.

As more and more Americans moved to New Braunfels, traditions gradually blended together. New Braunfelsers have their own icons of German, Hispanic, and American origin. Tamales, chili, poinsettias, sausage, cookies, pralines, divinity, toffee, piñatas, bells, all blend together, so–

Fröliche Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, and a New Braunfels Merry Christmas to all!

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Last week, David Hartmann, the present-day unofficial historian of New Braunfels, brought some old telegrams to the Sophienburg Museum. In case some of you don’t know what that is, a telegram is a written message transmitted by using an electric device called a telegraph. The message was carried from its origin along wires to its destination and then written or printed out for hand delivery to the addressee. Or something like that; I sent and received telegrams from friends in England in the 1970s. The cost of the telegram was based on the number of words in the message. This once important and widely used technology was developed as early as 1836, but became commercially viable in 1839. The Western Union transcontinental telegraph cable was laid by 1867, the transatlantic line was established by 1866 and the completion of the Pacific line was in 1902. Telegrams could then be sent quickly around the world. Basically, a telegram is what we had before a fax or email.

Three old telegrams and a letter, all dated in October 1931, were contained in David’s gift to the Sophienburg. All were addressed to Albert Kirchner at 560 N. Houston Street. Albert was a retired local carpenter.

While telegrams, in-and-of-themselves, are cool to me, what was in these was truly interesting. Albert had entered a contest and won his choice of a brand-new Plymouth, Ford or Chevrolet! Even today that would be a big deal, but in 1931, just two years into what we know of as The Great Depression, it was really something.

Albert had entered the Certified Cremo “Give-a Car-a-Day” competition. “Cremo” was a five-cent cigar manufactured by the American Cigar Company. It was developed, partly, because of Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall’s witty, tongue- in-cheek response to Senator Joseph Bristow’s long-winded speech about the needs of the nation. These were the days of long speeches and grandstanding. Senator Bristow had begun each sentence with “What this country needs —” and then named the thing needed. After sitting and listening for a good while, Marshall is reported to have leaned over to his secretary and said in a stage whisper, “Bristow hasn’t hit it yet. What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar.” His comment, borrowed from a popular cartoon character, made headlines. Cigar companies rushed to meet his challenge. It was reported that Marshall received as many as 20,000 five-cent cigars from various manufacturers as a thank you from the cigar industry. The quote became synonymous for a sensibly affordable item.

Albert Kirchner was one of thousands across the United States who entered the contest which was announced on the Cremo Cigar radio program. Back in the day, companies sponsored radio shows to advertise their products. Radio shows were the equivalent of commercials prior to television. The Cremo Cigar program was heard at 7:15 every evening except Sunday on WBAC-CBS in conjunction with Bing Crosby. His recommendation for Cremo Cigars made them a leading seller for many years.

Cremo decided to give away 150 new Plymouths, Fords or Chevrolets, one-a-day, between June and November in 1931. Contestants had to create a 20-word statement that described the quality and merits of Cremo Cigars. Each word had to be written on a Cremo Cigar band — one word to each band — with the bands numbered one to twenty. Alternatively, a contestant could create twenty facsimile bands and do the same thing. All were sent to the New York City main office of the American Cigar Company for judging. An article in the Santa Monica Outlook for January 6, 1932, made a quick study of the winners and discovered that of the 150 winners, twenty-two were salesman, eight were housewives and two were reporters; the article doesn’t reveal what the other 118 folks did for a living.

Pretty terrific investment strategy if you already smoked cigars or knew someone who did.

Albert’s winning twenty-word statement was, “Acquire the habit of thrift and health protection by smoking Certified Cremo, a real innovation in sanitation, quality and economy.” It has a real ring to it, doesn’t it — but, It. Won. A. Car.

Albert Kirchner was the 123rd winner of the Cremo contest. The New Braunfels Herald also received a telegram to post the winner in the newspaper. Kirchner’s name was announced on the radio show and used in Cremo publicity. Most importantly, he got to choose his new car from the Gerlich Auto Co. (Ford), Becker Chevrolet Co. or Lee Francis Motor Co. in San Antonio (Plymouth). He chose to buy local and went with a Chevy from Becker’s.

A new exhibit at the Sophienburg will highlight historical local cigar makers. Tools of cigar making, cigar boxes and artifacts made from recycled cigar box wood will be exhibited beginning in March.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum Archives, New Braunfels Herald and Neu Braunfelser Zeitung collections; Santa Monica Outlook, Jan 6, 1932; https://worldradiohistory.com; http://cigarhistory.info/Cigar_History; http://www.cremocigars.com.

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Oh. This. Car.

The circa 1930 photo of Locke’s Nursery & Floral Co. parade entry is fantastic, isn’t it? It was taken in front of one of the Locke greenhouses at 298 West Landa Street. The entire car has been draped with what looks like shiny (green?) colored fabric so that real flowers, vines, ivy, moss and ferns could be pinned or even sewn on. The hub caps are stuffed with fringed fabric. A large parrot is perched on each of the front corners of the roof. Decorative cords extend from the hood ornament all the way over the roof. Wait a minute — is that the FTD Mercury logo on the hood?

It was August 18, 1910. Thirteen florists met at the Society of American Florists convention in Rochester, New York, and formed the country’s first flowers-by-wire service. The new group, Florists’ Telegraph Delivery Association (FTD) would use the telegraph system to partner flower shops. The idea was the brainchild of John Valentine who had the idea of expanding the floral industry by offering customers a way to send fresh flowers anywhere in the United States.

Valentine was already using the telegraph system to get orders from out-of-state florists. He would cut, arrange and pack the flower order, then send it by train in an ice (refrigerated) car to its destination. He guaranteed his fresh flowers in an incredible three- to five-day delivery time! By networking the FTD members via telegraph though a central clearing house, florists around the country could fill orders for clients in just hours. Valentine even came up with the slogan: “Say It With Flowers.”

In 1912, FTD introduced their logo — Mercury Man — a symbol still in use today. This same symbol graced the hood of the Locke’s Nursery parade car.

I got to wondering just when New Braunfelsers were able to participate in this flower-by-wire technology. How fantastic it must have been to be able to “Say It With Flowers” to friends and relatives seldom seen. A dig into the newspapers revealed that two local floral companies were members of FTD as early as 1926: Locke’s Nursery & Floral Co. and Linnartz Floral Co. In a time when women often grew their own flowers for gifts and decor, these two businesses appear to be the first to venture into the floral industry.

Locke’s Nursery was begun by Johahn Joseph Locke in 1856, on Comal Creek (Town Creek development and Landa Street). In the 1870s, the business was taken over by his eldest son, Otto Martin Locke Sr., and was renamed Comal Springs Nursery. In 1928, his sons, Herman and Otto Jr., split the business: Otto and wife Etelka opened Locke’s Nursery on property between W. San Antonio Street and Highway 81 South; Herman and wife Thekla (along with their son Howard) formed Locke Nursery and Floral Co. at the old property in the area of Lockner (Locke Nursery), Floral and Howard (Howard Locke) streets. According to newspaper adverts, Thekla ran the floral company part of the business.

Linnartz Floral Co. was located at 876 and 882 W. San Antonio St. Curt Linnartz had built a grocery store on the property around 1920 (today that’s the William Edge Salon across from the Children’s Museum). He added a 14×15-foot building next to his store to accommodate his wife Paula’s flower shop a few years later. The shop was expanded to include a glassed-in greenhouse for growing flowers and plants year round in the mid-1920s. Linnartz Floral Co. got its own phone line in 1926. Upon retiring in the mid-1940s, Curt and Paula sold both the grocery store and the floral company building to Erno Weyel. Some of us remember Weyel’s Foodliner.

These two seem to have been the main town florists and the only ones regularly advertising in the newspaper and phone books throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Both Locke and Linnartz participated in several FTD-sponsored National Flower Shut-In Day events. This was a nationwide noncommercial project that utilized over 5,500 florists together with local garden clubs and other organizations to distribute bouquets and potted plants to hospital patients, disabled veterans, handicapped children and other shut-ins. Its objective was to make a large part of the shut-in population “happy with the gift of flowers.”

It didn’t take long for other townsfolk to get into the flower biz. A quick scan through old phone books, city directories and newspaper adverts revealed a growing number of florists and nurserymen springing-up all over town.

• 1928 — A. W. Steinbring Nursery, Wald Road
• 1937 — New Braunfels Nursery and Floral Co., 288 W. Landa St.
• 1945 — Weidner’s Flowers, 1153 Lee St., FTD member
• 1947 – Viola’s Flowers, 822 W. San Antonio St., FTD member
• 1950 — Salvador Gonzales Nursery, Highway 81 West. FYI: When Landa Park Manager Harley Schulz had the giant elephant ears thinned out each year, Gonzales would trade shrubbery and plants for the elephant ear bulbs! He would sell the bulbs and plants to his customers.
• 1952 — Eduardo Sanchez Nursery, 1614 W. San Antonio St.; Kiesewetter Gardens, 224 Landa St.; Kneupper Flower Shop, 287 W. San Antonio St.

The floral industry in New Braunfels exploded in the 1950s due to an increase in population and in expendable finances.

Even in my lifetime, women who grew and cut flowers from their own yards began ordering flowers to give to friends or use for church and event decoration.

Today, there are about a dozen florists and half a dozen nurseries in NB, and that is without counting lumber companies and grocery stores. We can still “Say It With Flowers” and I, for one, am happy about that!

Sources:

• New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung — Sophienburg collection
• New Braunfels telephone directories and city directories — Sophienburg collection
• Curt Linnartz recording — Sophienburg “Reflections” oral history program
• “Locke nurseries business of the past” — Around the Sophienburg, newspaper article August 26, 2012

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What’s going on at the Sophienburg Museum and Archives? By far the most important news is the Sophienburg Board choosing Tara Kohlenburg as its Executive Director. Tara grew up here in New Braunfels. When asked why she accepted the position of Sophienburg Executive Director, here is what she wrote to me:

Home by Tara Kohlenburg

Home. The place where one resides or is naturally located. I consider home to be that special place where the sounds and sights and smells come together, stirring images of good times and safe places. The Sophienburg feels like home.

The streets of this neighborhood, Academy, Coll, Magazine and Jahn, bring back fond memories. When I was little, we lived on Academy and then on Magazine just down the street from the Museum. My Oma lived in a gingerbread house on Jahn just above the ice plant. In the summer my sister and I stayed with her while my mother worked. We would use the wash house as our very own “play house,” that is until I got into the bluing, the kind used to brighten your wash. Needless to say, I wore the discovery of the beautiful blue liquid on my hands for a week, try as I did to try to wash it off. Oma wasn’t one to spank, but the German under her breath let me know just how much trouble I was in.

Each week of the summer, my sister and I were allowed to walk the two blocks to the Emmie Seele Faust Library to trade in our books for new adventures. We, and probably many other kids, would walk the rock retaining wall of the Museum to the rock stairs, cross over, and continue past the grape vine to the library. Even now, when the bell above the front door announces an arrival to the refurbished library building, I can still visualize the shelves of books and me making a bee line to the children’s section for my next pick.

Falling pecans; the smell of burning leaves; thick slices of homemade bread smeared with mustang grape jam; buttermilk cookies; and the twelve o’clock whistle signaling my Opa (a fireman) would be home for lunch in 5 minutes. These are just some of the memories of my childhood, the kind that come out of nowhere when you open a box of photos. Home.

I love being back at The Sophienburg Museum & Archives where we are the “Guardians of History, Keepers of the Treasures, and Stewards of the Stories.” The stories of how and why New Braunfels is so darn inviting to people… It’s in our history. Our people. Our Families. Our culture. Our rituals. Home.

Come be “At Home” in the museum with us. Volunteer your time and talents. It certainly doesn’t feel like work. Dorothy had it right. “There’s no place like HOME.”

Thanks Tara for sharing these vivid memories. It’s obvious that Tara is a strong advocate of volunteerism. She picked the right job because volunteers are absolutely necessary for a not-for-profit organization like the Sophienburg.

So, what else is going on at the hill? A big group of volunteers are busy organizing the Sophienburg’s number one fund raising event, Weihnachtsmarkt that will happen towards the middle of November (Nov. 18^th through 20^th). There are several hundred volunteers involved in planning and running this big Christmas Market at the Convention Center.

Another big important money-maker is the Sophie’s Shop booth at Wurstfest. Run by Nancy Classen, the booth is entirely manned (womanned) by volunteers. When you buy the beautiful German Christmas ornaments or the wooden figurines, you will be helping your museum preserve the history of the town and county.

Wurstfest begins two weeks before Weihnachtsmarkt (Nov. 4^th) and lasts for 10 days. Alton Rahe, in his book Wurstfest. The First Fifty Years, wrote the interesting story of who, what, where, when, why and how Wurstfest started and has continued for over 50 years. Darvin Dietert compiled all of the marvelous photos. Talk about a volunteer driven event that achieved world-wide acclaim.

Local veterinarian E. A. Grist is given credit for having the idea of a celebration about sausage and the sausage makers. Dr. Grist had also been the local meat inspector since 1955. Members of the original steering committee including Grist, Kermit Krause, Charlie Schwamkrug, Harley Schulz, Alphonse Oberkampf, Joe Chapman and Tom Purdum, felt that the local sausage makers should be honored for what they do. Boy, did they hit that nail on the head. Herb Skoog with his expertise on advertising became their spokesperson deluxe.

That was in 1961. There were 19 sausage makers. In Alton’s book the list was compiled and 16 commercial sausage-makers identified. They were Erhardt Artzt of Artzt Meat Market, William “Butcher” Brodt of Brodt’s Slaughter House, Fritz Soechting of Fritz’s Meat Market, Goswin Kraft of Kraft Slaughter House, Kermit Krause of Krause’s Café, Reno Kriewald of Kriewald Meat, Gilbert Neuse and Norman Hanz of Neuse’s Grocery, Joe Chapman of New Braunfels Smokehouse, Norbert Haecker of Norbert’s Market & Grocery, Frank Rahe of Rahe Packing Co., Charlie Schwamkrug of Schwamkrug’s Garden, Arthur Soechting of Soechting Country Market, Alois Hildebrandt of Textile Café, Ben Warnecke of Warnecke Catering, and George Preiss of Weyel’s IGA Foodliner. This is a list of known commercial sausage makers but by no means does it represent all those individuals who made sausage in Comal County at home.

Dr. Grist presented the idea of a sausage celebration to the New Braunfels City Commission and it was immediately approved. The City of New Braunfels, the New Braunfels Board of City Development and the Chamber of Commerce agreed to sponsor it. A unique band was organized to visit surrounding towns to get the word out. With advertisement on television, clubs, newspapers and advertising guru Herb Skoog, the word about a sausage week got around. When Tom Purdum wrote a Chamber release that hit the associated press wire service it was used throughout the country and even in some foreign countries.

The first Sausage Week was from December 11^th through the 16^th of December. The first five days were to be full of activities in Landa Park. The big sausage festival day on the 16^th, although planned for Landa Park, had to be moved to the National Guard Armory due to bad weather. No beer could be sold at the government owned Armory, so beer was given away.

Music became a part of the celebration from the beginning and still is. The Amtliche Stadt Wurst Kapelle (Official City Sausage Band made up of Jo Faust, Alphonse Oberkampf, Gilbert Zipp, Johnny Schnabel, Hilar Voges and Harry Schmidt, played and the local German singing clubs of Harmonie, Echo, Frohsinn and Maennerchor performed under the direction of Otto Seidel. Five orchestras also performed: Al Schnabel Orchestra, Rainbow Orchestra, Cloverleaf Orchestra, Cookie and his Hi-Fi’s and Rusty Ruppel’s Rebels.

This first sausage celebration drew an estimated crowd of 2,000 (although it was big at the time, it’s a pittance of today’s crowd.)

We’ve come a long way in this article from the Sophienburg Museum and Archives to Weihnachtsmarkt at the Convention Center, and then looked at the first year of Wurstfest that was to include polka-ing at Landa Park but resulted in marching to the National Guard Armory to honor sausage. All these places and activities have something in common. Yes, “Spass Muss Sein” (fun must be) in New Braunfels. We love our town and that’s why we volunteer and tell the world about it.

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