Making the old new again
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 […]
New Braunfels has seen several daring jailbreaks
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I recently found a note in Oscar Haas’s archive collection, “Zeitung, Thursday, July 6, 1899. Use story some time concerning a jailbreak.” He never published the story. I felt like he was “speaking from the grave” and I should look into it. The first purpose-built Comal County Jail was a […]
True Crime Series: The Sam King Story
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — The cool-headed, businesslike determination of the mob which killed King; the fact that the assault, for which he paid the penalty, was attempted within 100 yards of where the little girl’s father and mother were seated on their front lawn; the confession of King to the Sheriff and to a […]
True crime series: The Irene Hitzfelder murder
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman Some stories seem to write themselves. Not this one. I have struggled with this story for over 2 years. On the morning of Thursday, Sept. 13, 1923, nine-year-old Irene Hitzfelder was brutally killed by sixteen year-old Clarke Coffield. Irene, the daughter of Herman and Wanda nee Pfeuffer Hitzfelder, had left her […]
