Eleven years ago Rosemarie Gregory and I wrote a book called “Kindermaskenball, Past and Present”. It’s about an event here in New Braunfels that goes back to the early days of the settlement. At the beginning of the book we made this statement: “Kindermaskenball is about tradition and make-believe. Children particularly flourish in this world of make-believe and adults create the tradition by recreating what they themselves enjoyed in childhood.” Isn’t that what tradition is?

Next weekend on Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13, Heritage Society’s annual Folkfest will be held on their grounds on Churchill Drive. The Kindermaskenball parade downtown NB will be part of this celebration on Saturday.

The Kindermaskenball is believed to be a celebration of spring, as in Germany it dates back to the Teutonic custom of the coming of this season. Another theory claims it was a pre-Lenten observance in Germany called Fasching. According to German teacher, Benno Engel, Fasching began on the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the month lasting until Ash Wednesday. Parades and masked dances prevailed.

The event used to be called Kindermaskenball. Yes, Kinder is “children”, Masken is “masks”, and Ball is “dance”. For several years the term Kindermasken has applied. That’s possible because there is no dance connected to it now. Hermann Seele is given credit for starting Kindermaskenball in 1846 but some written accounts say 1856. Which is a type 0? The Neu Braunfelser Zeitung says that children assembled at the New Braunfels Academy (on Mill St.) dressed in costumes, led by their leaders (probably teachers), and a brass band. They frolicked through the streets, engaged in plays and sang at the Saengerhalle. At a time, when the norm was for children to be seen and not heard, this must have been quite a show.

Nevertheless, after parading through the streets they moved out to Seele’s Saengerhalle. Hermann Seele in 1855 had built a large hall next to his home on the Guadalupe River. There is no building standing now but if you drive to the foot of Seele Street, you can pick out the location. Another street in that area is Saenger. That makes sense because the first state-wide Saengerfest (Festival of Singers) was held at Seele’s Hall. All his life he was active on the music scene. Oscar Haas stated that the Kindermaskenball parade ended up at the hall for 20 or more years.

The next location for Kindermaskenball was the Lenzen Halle located where the Courthouse Annex stands on Seguin Ave. This hall burned in 1895 and after that the children paraded to Matzdorf Halle (formerly Rheinlaender Halle, and later named Echo Hall and now Eagle’s Hall.)

In 1901 the Seekatz Opera House opened on San Antonio St. In reference to this location, a 1917 news article tells of “merry dancing and romping by children until 10 o’clock when the hall was turned over to grownups to “render homage to Terpsichore”. I love that statement. Not only did I not know who Terpsichore was, but I didn’t know how to pronounce it. It’s pronounced “terp-sick-o ree” just in case you want to use it in your every-day conversation. Terpsichore was the Greek muse of dancing.

It is believed that the custom of the Grand March began about this time. The Grand March is hard to describe in words and certainly didn’t begin in New Braunfels, but during the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s it was a big part of the dance.

Elaborate costumes became popular in the early 1900s and by the 1920s, Landa Park was a favorite destination after the parade. Serious costume making began by mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and seamstresses. Thousands watched the parade according to the newspaper. Ballerinas, dancers, Indians, soldiers, cowboys and clowns marched down the street. The 1920s brought in the innovation of lipstick and eye makeup. Little girls and big girls were allowed this luxury during the Kindermaskentall but it was a “no-no” on ordinary days.

Eventually the parade culminated about where the old City Hall is on Seguin Ave. and then families got together in Landa Park. In Landa Park, there was a wooden hall that was located between the Pioneer Statue and the Outdoor Dance Slab. Children through Jr. High age would play and dance “Put Your Little Foot”, “Herr Schmidt” and “The Bunny Hop” inside the wooden pavilion that has been torn down.

In the evening, the crowd would move over to the open-air dance slab. Christmas tree lights adorned the big tree in the center of the floor. On this tree-house pavilion the orchestra sat and played. Dancing on the slab would take place until 9 o’clock when an announcement was made that the Grand March would begin. Two by two, children followed the leaders by grade level. “Under the Double Eagle” was the favorite march. The custom was for boys to ask girls to be their Grand March partner, usually at school.

The NBISD sponsored the event for years, then the Beta Sigma Phi sorority and finally it became a part of Folkfest in 1992.

In the past, costumes were very elaborate. There were some women in town that were very handy with needle, thread, ribbon, sequins and net. Photos reflect these costumes. The Sophienburg has a large collection of some of these costumes on mannequins inside the museum. Joline Erben, Marie Jarisch and Antoinette Malmstead designed costumes that are still in the collections.

Gone are the days when thousands participated. I have my own theory. In the 1920s, 30s and 40s all the elementary schools had an end of school event. These were programs in April and parents were asked to furnish costumes. Then World War II came along, and everything was scarce, especially for such frivolous things. Programs turned to “non-costumed” events.

Folkfest, which is all about tradition, is keeping the tradition alive. Tina Lindeman, chairman, asks all participants to line up at 10 a.m. at the Central Fire Station in downtown New Braunfels and then, along with parents, make their way to Folkfest after the parade.

The post Historic Kindermaskenball Parade This Coming Saturday appeared first on Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Have you ever experienced a Christmas where you thought you would get nothing from Santa?

I am sure that there are several good children that have worried about getting gifts due to their parents’ circumstances. During the Great Depression, it was the generosity of angels that helped out needy children in New Braunfels.

The U.S involvement in World War I lasted from 1917-1919. During that time, everything went to the war effort to support our soldiers, causing restrictions (read shortages) of meat, wheat, sugar, eggs and more. Once the war was over, with a short readjustment, the economy rebounded with gusto. Oil was flowing, business was booming, new construction was up and all was well again for nearly a decade. Texans were looking to the future, that is, until the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929.

Texans were not initially affected by the downturn. In fact, they were optimistic that it was a little recession, a short-lived blip on the radar. The cotton crop was already harvested and sold at very good prices. The population had grown by 25 percent. New Braunfels’ new building projects were still being built in 1931. Then reality hit. The battered economy caught up to New Braunfels.

Many people did not have money to spend. Business suffered. The one-year-old Montgomery Ward store closed along with others. Men were out of jobs. Some lost their farms. Some lost their homes. Women went to work doing what they could. Many people were hard pressed to survive. Some went to the poor house with their family. Others reached out to charities for help with food and clothing. In 1931, Christmas joy was a faraway memory for many.

To lessen the heartache of a Christmas without presents for the children, the Lions Club joined with New Braunfels firemen to collect toys. The Lions Club of New Braunfels (chartered April 1925) was founded on the basic tenets of loyalty and service to community, state and nation. The Lions jumped right in to make Christmas better for the children of the less fortunate with a city toy drive.

Unlike the toy drives of today, (think KENS-5 Bill’s Elves or Marines’ Toys for Tots), they were not asking for new toys or monetary donations. They wanted old, used, castaway toys. The idea was for the Lions to do the collecting and the firemen to repair and refurbish the toys.

The wheels may be turning in your head thinking, “my child would flip out if they got a broken toy.” Perhaps, but toys were made differently in the ‘20s and ‘30s and were not generally considered disposable. They were made to last. We are talking metal scooters, tricycles, pedal cars, velocipedes, kiddie-cars, doll buggies, mechanical toys and wagons (these are all of those wonderful things that catch your eye in the big antique stores). Replacing a wheel or putting on a new coat of paint made it all new again.

Calls went out for old toys beginning in November. The toys were collected by Lions Club members and dropped off at Central Fire Station (now the New Braunfels Fire Department Museum on Hill Avenue). Why partner with the fire department? At that time the New Braunfels Fire Department was made up of approximately seven to eight paid men located in three stations with 60 on-call volunteers. The paid men were basically confined to the fire station premises during their shift when not on a call. After daily chores were completed, they had some down time to work on repairing and painting the toys. Paint was furnished by Louis Henne Company and Jacob Schmidt & Son provided cloth for new doll dresses, which were made by Mrs. Walter Staats, wife of the fire chief. The campaign was deemed a success as there was an incredible number of toys turned over to Associated Charities for delivery to identified needy families.

As the Depression dragged on, the Lions and Fire Department continued their Christmas Toy Drive. In 1932, the Lions and Fire Department were already organized and ready for the toy campaign. They enlisted cloth donations from Eiband and Fischer and paint donations from Cameron Lumber Company.

By 1933, the firemen were not only repairing toys, they were also in on the delivery of the toys with Santa (the best part). That year, Santa named Chief Staats and his firemen as Special Agents to Santa Claus, meaning that the toys, along with apples and oranges provided by the American Legion Auxiliary, were loaded up on a big red firetruck for special delivery to each and every recipient.

In 1934, the firemen rode the big hook-and-ladder truck to make deliveries themselves to those children identified by the Comal County Relief Board. By 1935, the recipients were identified from relief rolls along with input from the elementary school principals. Each year, the Lions Club provided new toys to help meet the demand of needy children.

The toy drive continued through 1936. In 1937, the fireman’s and Lions Christmas toy program was postponed when an investigation determined that there was no longer a need. However, in late December of 1937, an urgent plea went out to the public from the Junior Chamber of Commerce for old toys.

So, here we are. It is December. The economy is rocky. Inflation is high. Food prices are high, and people are struggling. I hope that you will follow the lead of the Lions Club and New Braunfels Fire Department to do something good for your fellow man and for the community. If you have a little extra in your pocket, be an angel, pay it forward to a non-profit organization or something that warms your heart … and theirs.

I love that New Braunfels is a generous community. The number of people that volunteer their time, talents and money to non-profit organizations in New Braunfels proves it. We take care of each other. I wish you joy this Christmas season!

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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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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