It’s the Silver Anniversary of Weihnachtsmarkt. Can you believe it? For 25 years the Sophienburg has been putting on this event. Weihnachtsmarkt means “Christmas Market”. Patterned after the Christmas Markets in Germany, the purpose is to allow tradesmen to offer customers goods and gifts for Christmas gift-giving. Of course, our purpose is also to help keep the doors open to the Museum and Archives. The event will be at the Civic Center from Friday, Nov. 22 through Sunday, Nov. 24.

There are some unexpected connections between Weihnachtsmarkt and the Civic Center. Stretch your imagination and see if you can guess the first connection.

Karl Matern

In 1844 when the first group of immigrants on the ship Johann Dethardt arrived in Galveston, there was a young man aboard named Karl Matern. He was typical of the single first emigrants looking for a new life. Early in March, Prince Carl went to San Antonio looking for land to buy and bought the Veramendi Tract (Comal Tract) from the Juan Veramendi heirs. Karl Matern accompanied Prince Carl on this trip. As a first founder of New Braunfels, Matern received Lot #63 from the Adelsverein, on which he built a log cabin without using nails. He had been trained in forestry in Germany.

A year later Matern attended a picnic in Austin County where he met his future wife, Ulrike Fuchs. After they married in 1853, the couple moved to land on the Colorado River in Burnet County where her family had settled. Matern was gone from New Braunfels and so was his little log cabin.

Now you have connection #1. Lot #63 is where the Civic Center now stands and I’m sure lots of nails were used in construction. In front of it is the statue of Prince Carl. This is where Weihnachtsmarkt will be held.

Alonzo Garwood

About the time the Matern left New Braunfels, a child, Alonzo Garwood, was born in Bastrop, Texas. He was destined to have a successful medical practice in New Braunfels. Dr. Garwood built a grand home on the corner of Seguin and Garden Sts. sometime in the mid-1920s. The lot number was #63. He married Irene Pfeuffer, the daughter of Senator Georg Johann Pfeuffer and Suzanah Gravis and two children were born to the couple – Lucille in 1885 and George in 1889.

After Irene’s death, Garwood married Bertha Harpstrite. When Dr. Garwood died in 1932, his widow lived in the house until her death.

After several owners, the property was purchased in 1969 by the City of New Braunfels, including most of the block, that included lot # 63.

Chamber of Commerce

Fast forward to an ad in the l00th Anniversary of the Neu Braunfelser Herald-Zeitung in 1952. This ad stated that the Chamber of Commerce began in 1920 when the town was a “neat little town” of 3,590 to almost 15,000 in 1952 (today’s population is at least six times that amount). In its infancy, NB had ideal living conditions, was favored by nature, and was strategically located in the heart of Texas. Originally called the Merchants Association, the Chamber of Commerce organization became the Board of City Development and eventually the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce.

Now go way back in time. As long as commerce existed, traders grouped themselves together for protection and then eventually to set up rules of governing the conduct of trade. As a world-wide organization, the Chamber goes back to the end of the 17^th century in Marsaille, France when the city council formed an association of traders.

In the British Isles, it was in Glasgow, Edinburg, Manchester, and London in 1881. In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm saw the advantages of such organizations for promoting trade. Its success spread over Germany.

The oldest Chamber of Commerce in America was formed in New York in 1768 and was chartered by King George of England and by 1870 there were 40 U.S. Chambers. Each was an association of tradesmen for promotion of the sale of goods. When businesses realized that their success depended on a healthy community, the Chamber of Commerce became a true community organization. That’s true of the New Braunfels Chamber. To attract new industries and to involve the community in governmental affairs on a local, state and federal level became major goals for Chamber programs.

Our Civic Center opened its doors in 1971. Most of the building is smack-dab in the middle of lot #63.

Weihnachtsmarkt

Now let’s get back to Weihnachtsmarkt. Eighty years ago the Sophienburg Museum and Archives was organized for the purpose of preserving the unique history of New Braunfels and Comal County. Weihnachtsmarkt began in 1989 as a primary fund raiser.

The Civic Center was the location of the event. During the expansion of the Civic Center, Weihnachtsmarkt was held as a one year event in the Wursthalle. Although the atmosphere was charming using huge murals of Germany, the event returned to the new Civic Center in 2008. More geared to this type of event, Weihnachtsmarkt has been there ever since.

The sounds and smells of Weihnachtsmarkt will put you in the mood for the holidays. Sophie’s Kaffee Shop gives you an opportunity to eat and rest in between shopping. There is so much variety in the shopping and if you want to experience old world Christmas charm, come to Weihnachtsmarkt.

Letter to Prince Carl:

Dear Prince Carl,

Perhaps you can be with us in spirit at Weihnachtsmarkt. We think you would like what we have done at Sophie’s Castle on the hill. We will use the money we make at Weinhachtsmarkt to keep alive the history of the community you helped found.

Sincerely,
The Sophienburg Museum and Archives

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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 and Mark Rahe —

I love the buildings in New Braunfels. I especially like the ones in downtown New Braunfels and Comaltown. Built over a period of 150 years, each building tells a story in every little detail of each window, porch, and roofline. They are a snapshot of the historical development of New Braunfels. Of course, I have my favorites, but then there are those that just break my heart because they look so sad.

The white house on the corner of Seguin Avenue and Garden Street is the perfect example of a heartbreaker. It has tragically deteriorated before our eyes. Even in its current state, it is captivating. So, what’s the story with this forlorn looking beauty?

For starters, it is known as the Blumberg House, so named because it was built by F.G. Blumberg, businessman and former mayor of New Braunfels, for his bride Bettina Scholl. Built about 1900, the Blumberg House is a typical example of the Queen Anne style Victorian house, generally built between 1880 and 1910. With its steep roof form, the cutaway bay window and asymmetrical placement of the rounded, wrapped porch, the house presents as a classic example of the Queen Anne style, even though there were a number of odd additions made to the house sometime after 1922 that do not necessarily fit the style.

The roof styles changed slightly over the span of the Queen Anne period. The pitch of the hip roof was initially very steep about 1885, becoming only slightly less so around 1895, as seen in the Blumberg House. After 1905, the pitch became much less steep, making the gable roof the more predominant feature. The Blumberg House’s steeply hipped roof and lower forward facing dominant cross gable, is common to over half of all Queen Anne-type houses. In addition, the Blumberg House’s overwhelming hip roof is ornamented with a cool decorative bay window dormer, topped with a simple pediment roof.

Another characteristic of the Queen Anne style is decorative detailing. The fanciful style seems to abhor flat, boring surfaces; therefore, they overly decorated absolutely everything, including the porch with its decorative trim spindlework suspended around the top. The repetitive pattern of wood lathe-turned sticks are called spindles because the design resembles wooden sewing thread spindles or “spools” used at the time. While the Blumberg House spindles are each the same, the simple knob-like beads, when designed in staggering patterns can resemble the notes found on a sheet of music. Spindlework has also been referred to as “gingerbread,” or Eastlake-style detailing, named for the 19th century English furniture maker Charles Eastlake. The porch columns and balustrade are composed of beautifully detailed period-styled turned wood. Even the cutaways at the front bay window and brackets at each porch column contain intricate wooden fret-sawn patterns.

By the time the Blumberg House was under construction, the railway was well established in New Braunfels, making possible delivery of all sorts of goods, including construction materials, ordered through catalogs. Decorative house ornamentation like spindlework was mass-produced and sold in pattern books with names like Anna Marie, The Lisa, The Mary Elizabeth. It’s likely the spindlework and possibly other ornamentation and turned wood constructs on the Blumberg House were sourced in this way.

Queen Anne s

tyling actually uses many other decorative devices to break up flat surfaces. They either do it spatially by the addition of bays, towers, overhangs or wall projections, or texturally by the use of varied wall materials with differing patterns and textures. Though the house does not have the tower structure so often identified with this style, the dominant feature of the Blumberg House is the asymmetrically placed cutaway bay window “cut away” from the overhang above it. The bay window provides the same function as inclusion of a tower, adding an intentional randomness. Likewise, the broadness of the hip roof plane that dominates the front of the house is broken by the elegantly proportioned dormer window noted previously. As for a textural contribution, they added chamfer-cornered horizontal bands of wood shingles that look like fish scales on the gables of this particular house.

So, just who is this F.G. Blumberg who owned such a magnificent home on the main thoroughfare of New Braunfels? Ferdinand Gustav Blumberg was the last of 11 children born to German immigrant farmers in Schumannsville, Texas, in 1879. He worked hard to move up in the world and had a lot of different kinds of jobs. He was listed as a dry goods salesman when he married Bettina Scholl in 1900. That is when their beautiful home was built on Seguin Street (changed to Avenue in 1926). By 1910 he was in the wholesale malt liquor business. He served as a director of the Chamber of Commerce and director of New Braunfels State Bank. He was listed as president of that same bank in 1920. Ferdinand was elected mayor in 1922 and 1924. In 1926, his fortunes began to change. He lost re-election in April of 1926, suffered financial misfortunes later in that year, and finally filed for bankruptcy. The bank sold off what was known as the Blumberg Building (the two-story building on Main Plaza now housing New Braunfels Coffee across from the courthouse) to satisfy debts.

About that same time, F.G. Blumberg left town. The beautiful Blumberg House passed to his wife, Bettina, in October of 1926. He married Elvira Tolle on February 14, 1927. Unfortunately, the notice of his divorce from Bettina was published four days later. Ferdinand went on to be a credit manager for car dealerships in San Antonio and Corpus Christi areas before returning to New Braunfels in the late 1930s to retire. Ferdinand died in 1952. His second wife, Vira, lived until 1981 on Tolle Street. He never produced heirs.

First wife Bettina maintained her residence in the Blumberg House until 1948 when she it sold to O.A. Stratemann Sr. It was utilized by the Stratemann family, as far as we could discern, as a rental property until a few years ago. The home has fallen into disrepair and was recently sold. I hope that magnificent example of Queen Anne architecture will go on living in New Braunfels for another 100 years.

Sources: A Field Guide to American Houses (1984, 2013), Virginia Savage McAlester; Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

A 90th birthday is an event well worth celebrating. My beautiful friend was born in 1933, the same year as Willie Nelson and Carol Burnett. It was the worst year of the Great Depression, when twenty-five percent of the labor force was unemployed, the U.S. bank system failed, and the Texas Rangers brought down Bonnie and Clyde. It was also the year that Adolf Hitler became absolute dictator of Germany. It was a tough time to be brought into this world.

My friend was raised in New Braunfels by loving family and friends, who worked to provide the very best for her. As she grew, she focused on learning as much as she could about her community. Her studies allowed her to become a skilled artisan and storyteller, weaving the threads of history into a beautiful tapestry for all to see. She has contributed greatly to her beloved community, becoming an important figure in the public eye. With age, she has amassed many treasures, which she promises are not for herself, but are heirlooms to share with her family. She loves to tell the story about how she was named after some great-aunt, a princess of some kind, but in my contacts, she is simply listed as Sophie N. Burg. She is a grand lady who lives on the Hill and this month she is 90 years old.

The Sophienburg Museum and Archives, in many ways, is a living breathing entity with so many secrets to share. While I know she is not human, the story of her birth is still pretty cool. German immigrants arrived in 1845 under the auspices of the “The Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas” or the Adelsverein. Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, Commissioner General of the Verein, named the acreage after his homeland — New Braunfels. He set up camp on a little hill above the newly formed colony. On that same hill he built a log cabin structure and named it Sophienburg (Fort Sophie) in honor of his betrothed, Princess Sophie of Salm-Salm. The property continued to be known as Sophienburg Hill long after the land was sold to satisfy debts. The Sophienburg Hill has been the subject of many early artists.

In 1925, H. Dittlinger traveled with his family to Rome to participate in the Jubilee of 1925, called by Pope Pius XI. They also visited the ancestral castle of Prince Carl. There, the Dittlingers received a portrait of Prince Carl with the request that it be placed in our city’s museum. The Dittlingers graciously agreed to keep it until a museum could be built.

On February 18, 1926, fourteen community organizations along with local government officials met with the purpose of discussing the building of a museum. The Central Committee appointed one representative from each organization. They included Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce, Women’s Civic Improvement Club, American Legion, Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary, Child Welfare, Boy Scouts, Protestant Frauenverein, Catholic Mothers’ Society, Echo Singing Society, Echo Home Association, Methodist Missionary Society, New Braunfels Band, New Braunfels Choral Club, Mayor Blumberg, County Judge Carl Roeper, Fire Chief Walter Staats and the local press. S.V. Pfeuffer was elected president; George Eiband, Vice-President; B.W. Nuhn, Treasurer and Louis Scholl, Secretary.

In the months between February and July of 1926, the Central Committee negotiated to purchase portions of the Sophienburg Hill property. Mrs. Runge, wishing to just complete the sale, discounted the $7000 price and settled for $5000. The Central Committee worked very hard to secure subscriptions (pledged funds) from New Braunfels residents to support the project.

Project instigator S.V. Pfeuffer died and the museum project languished. Then, 1929 struck a blow to anything requiring money, as no one had any. Progress seemed to just stop. The Committee picked up speed again when new officers were elected in October of 1930. Early in 1931, the Committee worked on drafting by-laws and designing a building plan. By 1932, the mayor granted permission for temporary use of the City Hall basement to display relics and artifacts of pioneer days.

On March 10, 1933, the Executive Committee, along with Constitution and By-laws, Finance and Building committees, consisting of members R. Wagenfuehr, R. S. Jahn, B.W. Nuhn, Emil Fischer, Mrs. G. Eiband, Mrs. H. Dittlinger, John Faust, Martin Faust, I.A. Ogden, M.C. Hagler and Rev. Charlton, passed a Resolution of Incorporation for the Sophienburg Memorial Association, Inc. The resolution further specified the purpose as perpetuating the memory and spirit of the pioneers of New Braunfels, to encourage historical research and to erect suitable structures to preserve places made historic by the founding and development of the city. By-laws were accepted and Board Officers were elected on April 5, 1933.

Later that same month, the Board accepted a bid of $4,563.60 submitted by W.C. Long. The cornerstone was laid in May of 1933 with the official public cornerstone ceremony held in June. The fortress-like building was designed by local architect Jeremiah Schmidt. Design specs called for irregular rock, a fireplace, two front columns and flagstone front steps. One room of the museum was to be designated a library. The whole community took ownership of the project, bringing treasured rocks to contribute to the building’s exterior, including petrified wood, fossils, geodes, crystals, honeycomb rock, granite and more. On October 8, 1933, the Sophienburg Museum was dedicated and opened to the public.

The Sophienburg Museum and Archives is 90 years old. Special birthday exhibits and events will be coming throughout the summer. We will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the dedication and opening of the Museum on October 8, 2023. I hope that you and yours will celebrate with us this year. Our Sophie is a very grand lady, and she sits like a jewel perched on the edge of Sophienburg Hill. What a treasure!

This edifice may rightfully be termed an expression of the citizens of this community … Let us dedicate this memorial to the memory of the pioneers of the past who made our beautiful city possible; to the living of the present, that they may enjoy it, and to the generations of the future as a reminder of a noble heritage.

— R. Wagenfuehr, President of the Sophienburg Memorial Association, 1933.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

Photo caption: June 12, 1933 Cornerstone Ceremony.

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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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Once upon a time there were two large Victorian houses sitting side by side on Seguin Ave. next to the First Protestant Church. These two houses belonged to Joseph Faust and his son Walter Faust. Walter Faust’s house was right next to the church and it still stands there. Joseph Faust’s house was right next to Walter’s. That house no longer exists. Well, that’s not exactly true because it was sold and moved a little way down the street. It seems impossible that the large house could be moved, but it was.

Before we get to that almost impossible story, let’s look at the history of hotels in New Braunfels. Hotels, earlier called inns have been popular forever. A traveler getting a good night’s sleep, food, drink and good fellowship was essential to a mobile population. The first inn known in New Braunfels was that of Count Henkel von Donnersmark located across the street from the present McAdoos Restaurant. Von Donnersmark catered to those immigrants newly arrived who had money to spend and still nowhere to stay. Supposedly this inn did a big liquor business. It even became the post office.

Soon to follow were inns on the Main Plaza such as the Millett Hotel on the property where the courthouse is located. Also the Guadalupe Hotel which still stands. The Guadalupe became the Schmitz Hotel in 1855. This was the most well-known hotel because it was also the stopping place of the pony express.

Down East San Antonio St. was the Comal Hotel or Eggeling Hotel built in 1899 (Prince Solms Inn). By the time trains came to NB, passengers were picked up at the train station and taken to the hotel.

Now we get to the granddaddy of them all, the Faust Hotel. What prompted the building of this big downtown hotel was interest in attracting the early 1900s tourist. Paul Jahn with the Chamber of Commerce reported that a committee had been formed to promote the idea of a hotel. The New Braunfels Hotel Company Inc. organized and it was decided to form a stock company of local citizens.

At the first meeting of stockholders, Emil Fischer was elected president, Walter Faust, vice-president, and B.W. Nuhn, secretary-treasurer. An offer was made by the Joseph Faust Estate to place a hotel on the Joseph Faust property where his house was. It was moved off the lot and sold to the Drs. Frueholz. It is cattycornered to the church where it still stands. The story of that move can be found in the Sophienburg.com column on 11-30-2010. The Walter Faust house was eventually purchased by the First Protestant Church.

Although primarily an agricultural community, because of the rivers, New Braunfels was also tourist town. With the coming of the railroad, the town was becoming more well known. After a severe drought in the early 1920s, the community recovered and saw a need for hotels. Salesmen called drummers were flocking to town to sell their goods. They not only needed a room to stay in, but also a temporary room to set up their products. This practice was very important to the mercantile business. The New Braunfels Hotel Company would build a hotel called the Travelers Hotel.

My husband, Glyn, grew up living in the Goff Hotel in Kenedy and remembers the salesmen that stopped at the only hotel between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. The 65 room hotel was owned by his grandparents, P.R. and Ida Goff. Stories about this hotel are very similar to the stories of the Faust and they were both built about the same time.

Bids for the four-story Travelers Hotel were requested and the total was to be $120,000 for the building only. Architect was Harvey P. Smith of San Antonio and contractor was Walter Sippel.

After completion in 1929, the hotel was leased to Nagel & Wuest of San Antonio for 15 years. About the time of opening, Nagel & Wuest who agreed to pay for some of the furnishings could not pay for what they had agreed. Since several conventions were already scheduled, First National Bank of New Braunfels agreed to pay the suppliers until they would be reimbursed. That never happened. A grand opening celebration was held Oct. 12, 1929 in spite of the trouble. It was quite an affair with over 2,000 people attending. Who didn’t show was the governor, Dan Moody, even after sending in his RSVP accepting.

A few years after opening, the hotel was turned back to the Hotel Company ending the contract with the Nagel and Wuest. They released the building with all bills pending. The Board turned down future lease offers because they wanted to sell the building.

Upon the death of Walter Faust, Hanno Faust was elected president of the company and he was given full power to operate the hotel in 1933. The hotel was renamed the Faust Hotel after the Faust family. Milton Dietz was the executor of the will of Walter Faust. In 1946, Dietz became president of the company and also became general manager of the Faust Hotel. In 1947, the hotel was purchased by local businessman Arlon Krueger who retained ownership until 1977. Hotel businesses everywhere were being replaced by motels that were more accessible and less expensive. By this time the grand old building was showing its age. The exterior had blackened, windows had broken, squirrels had moved in, and water had damaged the inside.

In 1977, Jackson and Houser purchased the building out of an interest in old hotels. They began the restoration process. Over time with several owners and several restorations, the once-beautiful hotel returned. Eight years ago, the hotel was sold to Vance and Priscilla Hinton.

The outdoor patio had been closed and now houses the Faust Brewing Co. while maintaining the 1920s atmosphere. Brewmaster Ray Mitteldorf who had extensive experience with several other breweries was hired to brew the beer. Making beer takes time and everything brewed in the Faust has to be sold there and can’t be sold at another outlet. This will be taken care of soon, as the Faust is opening the Faust Brewing Company on the corner of Butcher and Castell. Bottled beer and kegs will be manufactured and sold. An outdoor beergarten is planned to open in the future. The owners and brewmaster knew that something had to be done to manufacture more of their popular beer.

The historic Faust Hotel with its brewery and “brew-pub” food with a “German flair” will continue to be open to the public and “what’s old is new and what’s new is old,” so the saying goes. Look for details of the opening of their additional location.

The Faust Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, and is a New Braunfels Historic Landmark.

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