By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Prince Carl, on behalf of the Adelsverein, was given the responsibility of establishing two churches in the new settlement of New Braunfels, one Protestant and one Catholic. They were to be established at the same time, but that didn’t happen. Prince Carl engaged Rev. Louis Ervendberg as the Protestant pastor on the coast even before the group moved inland, but could not find a Catholic priest. Meanwhile to satisfy the religious needs of the early settlers, the Protestants and Catholics met together under the leadership of Rev. Ervendberg.

Finding a Catholic priest was difficult. When the prince arrived in the United States in 1844, he visited the archdiocese of Boston and Baltimore, the only organization in America at that time, looking for a priest. When he arrived in Galveston he became acquainted with Catholic Bishop Odin, the Catholic Prelate of Texas, who told him that there were no priests available for the settlement .The two traveled extensively together and became good friends. According to Ferdinand Roemer, “Odin travels continually about the country, visiting the Catholics living scattered in the various parts of the country. Fearlessly and tirelessly he traverses the lonesome prairies on horseback”…

The eventual location of the Catholic Church on Castell and Bridge Sts. has deep historic roots in New Braunfels. From a translation of Prince Carl’s report to the Adelsverein on the 27th of March, 1845, he says this: “Thirty-one wagons have arrived, and I am expecting the last half of the immigrants within a few days. I had an encampment erected on a bluff overlooking Comal Creek. For its protection I think it urgent that three sides be enclosed by palisades, whereas the fourth side is amply protected against attack by the high steep bluff of Comal Creek.”

Nicholas Zink, an educated engineer and surveyor, was given the job of laying out the streets and lots of New Braunfels. He helped set up this first camp of the immigrants. It became known as the Zinkenburg. “Burg” in English means “castle, fortress, stronghold” just like in Sophienburg the “burg” means castle.

After the settlers moved out to their own lots, the Zinkenburg became the site of the first Catholic Church. In 1847, the congregation built a temporary hut of wood and it served for two years as the first church building. This little building was on the site of the present parking lot abutting Bridge Street. It became a Catholic school when a permanent church building was constructed.

After two years, in 1849, Bishop Odin arranged for the first permanent church building. He stated that it was his intention to build the church with his own funds and he asked the Adelsverein to give him the necessary ground for the erection of a building in the city. There were only two other Catholic churches in Texas at this time, Galveston and San Antonio.

This church known as the Walnut Church was closer to the back of the property above the Comal Creek. The building was built by Heinrich Meine and built of black walnut, a hard wood that was known to be prevalent on the Guadalupe River. The building was 35 feet by 25 feet. Newly arrived, Father Gottfried Wenzel, was assigned to New Braunfels. Church archivist Everett Fey states that the Walnut Church served the congregation from 1849 through the Civil War. At that time the church was called St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Now the congregation had outgrown the Walnut Church.

Once again, Bishop Odin, seeing a need for expansion, dedicated the cornerstone in 1871 for a new stone church. According to Fey, the stone used to build this church was purchased from the County from the newly torn down Jail.

Now here’s an interesting story. What happened to the Walnut Church? In order to allow services of Mass, Baptism, Confirmation, Weddings and Burials to continue uninterrupted, the stone church was built around and over the Walnut Church. There was room enough inside for the smaller church to be free standing.

When the stone church was complete in 1874, there was no longer need for the Walnut Church. A notice in the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung announced that wood from the Walnut Church would be auctioned off in the church parking lot. The church would literally be pulled out the front door one log at a time. At this point, the church changed its name to the present one, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.

The space left by the removal of the Walnut Church greatly increased the size of the church and over the next three decades new altars and stained glass windows, now numbering 22, were added. In 1963 the size of the church was doubled. The final addition took place in 2000.

Many long-time members of Sts. Peter and Paul can claim family relationships going back generations. Everett Fey, who has worked on the church’s extensive archives for years, can stand where the Walnut Church once stood and think back to his g-g grandparents, Stephan and Margarethe Klein who worshipped there. A few steps further into the church, his grandfather, Theodore Wenzel, was the Sacristan in the first stone church. He moves up closer to the altar where his brother, Fredric Fey, was ordained a Deacon, and then finally to the most recent altar where his daughter, Janice, recently married.

A church rededication took place five years ago in 2009 on the site of where the Walnut Church once stood.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

A drive through downtown New Braunfels is somewhat like a visual history of architecture course comparing different architectural styles from 1845 to mid-20th century. It may just look like a bunch of old buildings sitting side by side to some, but they tell the cultural and socioeconomic timeline of our city.

Take the old city hall building on the corner of Seguin Avenue and Mill Street, before the Wiggins Hospitality Company began transforming the historic building into its newest eatery, the building did not seem to fit in with the more traditional Italian Renaissance-style structures of downtown. It had no distinctive curvilinear parapet, no arched windows, no fancy metal cornice. Simply put, the building was rather plain. Why is it so different?

While we do generally think of government buildings being more about function than aesthetics, the design differences of our old city hall had more to do with the era in which it was built.

The good citizens of New Braunfels had established a government consisting of two elected commissioners and a mayor to handle the city’s business. For a number of years, the city commission and the city clerk occupied space in the courthouse, a massive 3½-story Romanesque-style structure built in 1898.

By early 1929, New Braunfels had grown so much that the city required more clerical help and more space. The county closed in the west courthouse porches to office the city clerk. The need for a real free-standing city hall with adequate space for city staff and records was evident.

Grown? Yep! The decade of the 1920s saw tremendous growth in Texas and New Braunfels due to several key factors. The Second Industrial Revolution took place in the U.S. from 1890 to 1930, infused by innovations in electricity, steel, railroad expansion and oil. The Comal Power Plant was built and came online in 1926, creating new jobs. The end of World War I in 1918 saw soldiers returning armed with new skills. They flooded the urban areas seeking jobs and homes. Our proximity to San Antonio military bases helped. New Braunfels’ population increased by nearly 74 percent in 10 years! Yikes! The little town was becoming a city and had nothing more to their name than a couple of desks, chairs and some records in an office they did not own.

In May of 1929, a bond issue of $35,000 passed to construct a city hall and to acquire the necessary land. Several sites were considered: the Peter Nowotny site (Seguin and Mill); the Landa residence (now County Annex), a lot at Bridge and Seguin, the Comal Hotel (now Prince Solms Inn), Eggling Market Square (possibly Markt Platz as Eggling was previous the name of Comal Hotel), and a lot near the City Hospital (Sts. Peter and Paul Thrift area). Obviously, they chose the corner of Seguin and Mill. Good choice!

By mid-July the City Commission had not only purchased the lot, they had also chosen architect Jeremiah Schmidt. Schmidt was busy between 1929 and 1933, designing and supervising a number of buildings in New Braunfels, including the First National Bank, Comal County jail and courthouse, Seele Parish House, Fire Station No. 2 on Coll Street, and Sophienburg Museum, all in varying styles.

Schmidt’s designs for the old city hall are Classic Moderne, a sub-class of Art Deco architecture. True to the Classic Moderne distinguishing features, the original old city hall has a flat roof with a small ledge at the roof-line, horizontal lines and geometric designs, decorative stone banding, metal casement windows, and glass-block windows used as front door accents. Most importantly, it had prominent outdoor steps rising to a centered, arched entry door on three sides to give the square building a powerful presence. For those of you who have looked at that building all your lives, yes, it originally had an over-sized arched front door.

The contract was let to Sipple Construction, and they broke ground on Tuesday, October 22, 1929, with 110 days to complete work. The stock market crashed exactly one week later, Tuesday, October 29, 1929. The Great Depression took a little while to trickle down to New Braunfels, but they were told to rush the work in December.

The city hall was finished and opened on Tuesday, May 7,1930, at a cost of $30,000. The building housed the city staff of four, Chamber of Commerce and the Board of City Development offices. Summer came and their new building was so warm that the city commission paid to have electric ceiling fans and desk fans installed. The final payment on the 1930 city hall was made in September 1955.

City hall became home to other departments over time. The police department, originally based out of Central Fire Station, moved into the basement. In 1955, an exterior light was added to the basement door since they went in and out at night. The police department moved into their own little white brick building next to old Central Fire Station in 1959. (That little building was later torn down for the new Central Station). New Braunfels Independent School District moved into the city hall basement offices vacated by the police department.

At some unknown point before 1959, renovations were made to the old city hall. They replaced the front doors, bricked in the archway, and hung a metal canopy over the entrance. They installed metal awnings over the windows and, although more efficient, completely changed the clean Art Deco styling.

When the city offices moved into a new home on Castell Avenue in 1992, the Sophienburg Memorial Association purchased the 1930 city hall building to house the ever-growing archives. 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. The old city hall building was sold to fund renovations to the Dittlinger library building, creating an archives library and museum exhibit hall.

Since that time, the old city hall building at Seguin and Mill has served as office space and restaurants. I’m looking forward to the new Old City Hall Restaurant, making something old new again.

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 —

For more than 90 years, the Sophienburg Museum and Archives has maintained artifacts and archival documents to keep the history of New Braunfels alive. Part of our mission is to not only preserve the history of New Braunfels, but to share the stories with the generations that follow. It is both exciting and necessary for the next generation to come back and share with us.

In an effort to promote the love of history, the Sophienburg Memorial Association established the Sophienburg History Award honoring Myra Lee Adams Goff for her dedication to the community and her steadfast love of history. The award, established in 2013, recognizes a student who demonstrates a love and passion for New Braunfels history. The 2025 recipient chosen by the Sophienburg Memorial Association is Rebecca Zuniga. She is a senior at New Braunfels High School and will be attending Endicott College in Massachusetts in the fall. The following is an essay about a historically significant event or person in Comal County submitted as a requirement of the scholarship application.

By Rebecca Zuniga

On the heels of Women’s History Month, I want to recognize someone who has worked together with our community to pave a pathway to honor and dignify those who have come before us and perhaps easily forgotten through the rigors of life. New Braunfels has had many great people who have worked to mold and shape its community to be what it is today and left a profound impact on our identity as a community and on us as individuals. One person near and dear to my life and a living historian, has been at the forefront of a grand partnership with the Sophienburg Museum to expand the documentation of the rich history and cultural heritage of New Braunfels, and carry out its mission of telling the stories about real people in our community.

Estella Delgado Farias is my grandmother. She is a humble woman who has always had a giving heart, especially when it comes to family. Growing up, she would ensure I understood that family had existed before me who shaped who I was, even if I didn’t know who they were directly. She ensured that I knew where our ancestors had come from, and how far my family and I have been able to get today because of them, and the many partnerships they developed in our community along the way. Her passion for ancestry and heritage, has been a driving force for her work in establishing a genealogy database for people in New Braunfels that are of Mexican descent. She had a vision, and through the work of equally visionary community members, she brought it to life. Because of her leadership, she gave our community time to pause and reflect upon the many Mexican American New Braunfelsers, whose families transcend generations, and lived to lay the foundation to the New Braunfels we know today.

As a young child in elementary school, my own experience through her efforts seemed minimal at the time, but as I have researched, interviewed and learned more about her work, I have been in awe of all she has accomplished. One weekend, my grandmother asked my sister and me if we would like to help her with a project she was working on. Not thinking much of it, we said yes, and so she took us along with our cousins to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cemetery. At the time, none of us truly understood why we had to tell her the names on gravestones as well as that person’s birthdate and death date, however, I now understand what she was doing. She was completing records for the cemetery and securing the resting place for the many people who were lost because of incomplete records. There were some graves that hadn’t been formally documented, but she knew that leaving the records as they were was not an option. She wanted to ensure that everyone was accounted for and had their special resting place known. She validated the many lives of people she did not personally know. My grandmother believes that no one should ever be forgotten and their work has shown exactly that.

Through the years, she has been able to give a voice to a section of the New Braunfels community that has always felt forgotten. Estella Farias’ work isn’t only of historical preservation, but of also giving hope to the Mexican-Americans of New Braunfels that their history is important enough to be documented and recognized along with all others.

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

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Museums tell the stories of our lives over and over again in detail. It becomes challenging to present annual events – like Christmas – in a new and interesting way. Our current special showing is an 18-month long exhibit of War Stories: Memories of New Braunfels in WWI, so Christmas during WWI is an easy pick.

Since that time frame predates us by quite a few years, Keva headed for the archives to find an image to create the scene. Image found. Perfect. The archives, however can provide just as many puzzles as it can solve. The photo is catalogued as “Christmas tree given to the children of Amanty, France, 1917. Unfortunately, it came to us and was catalogued during the early years of the museum, when very little detail was included about the donors or the provenance of the artifact. With a little further research, we learned that Amanty was located in the Meuse department in Lorraine region in northwestern France. Early in 1917, farmer’s fields were appropriated to set up a temporary airfield, or aerodome, about one mile from Amanty by the French escadrille (squadron) C4. Most temporary airfields during WW1 made use of already existing fields for takeoffs and landings. The hangars were fashioned of canvas stretched over metal tubing frames providing cover for aircraft maintenance. Wooden structures were built for barracks, operations offices, and other out buildings. In October 1917, the escadrille C 43 and 1st Aero Squadron made Amanty their home. The airfield was then used by the U.S. 1 Corps Observation Group School and 91st Aero Squadron.

WWI was the first war of the industrial age, bringing with it the use of poison gas, submarines, tanks and aerial warfare. “Aeroplanes” were just coming into military use at the beginning of the war. Initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance. 1 Corps Observation Group School trained both pilots and observers for the new aerial observation and photography. The 91st Aero Squadron was assigned to general surveillance. The 91st Aero Squadron, originated at Kelly Field, on August 21, 1917. From there they traveled to New York and New Jersey before being shipped overseas. They arrived in France on November 15, and at “Amanty Aerodrome” on December 14, 1917. Could the photo of the Christmas tree have been taken at that time? The photo shows a tree with decorations of looped tinsel, American flags and paper ornaments. Small parcels and cards surround the bottom. Above the tree, it is easy for you to see the ceiling joists of the hanger-like building. American doughboys sharing gifts with the children in war-torn France is such a beautiful expression of the Christmas spirit!

The “Amanty Christmas tree” scene was recreated on the stage of this year’s Weihachtsmarkt in honor of those American doughboys and flyboys. The Sophienburg continues its centennial commemoration of the American involvement in WWI by adding the Amanty Christmas Tree to our “War Stories” exhibit.

You can visit the Sophienburg Museum and Archives Tuesday through Saturday to learn about the history and heritage of New Braunfels and Comal County. We invite you to bring your children out on December 5th to learn about and experience the “Legend of St. Nikolas”. This annual event is only $5 per family and includes a short program, a children’s activity and an opportunity to walk through the exhibit floor. Choose either the 5:00 pm or the 6:30 pm program. by calling 830.629.1572 to make your reservation. Space is limited.

Sources:

• Sophienburg Museum & Archives
• History of 12th Aero Squadron; History of 91st Sqadron; Amanty Airdrome – Wikipedia

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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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