By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

The first ever 4th of July celebration was held in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777; it included an exhibition which began and ended with 13 rockets — one for each state of the new United States of America.

New Braunfels’ first July 4th celebration was in 1846, after Texas had officially become the 28th state of the Union. A large American flag was raised and flown at the Sophienburg. The two cannons were fired to announce the beginning of festivities.

The first mention of a local celebration with fireworks was in 1859 at the Schillerfest. This was a festival honoring the German poet, Friedrich Schiller’s 100th birthday. The festival included poetry readings, a performance of a Schiller play, songs by the singing society and also a dance — with a fireworks finale. The first recorded use of fireworks in New Braunfels on July 4th was in 1866, after the end of the Civil War.

Fireworks became increasingly incorporated into all kinds of local observances throughout the late 19th century. Many of the large gathering halls (Halle) in New Braunfels and Comal County advertised firework displays for all kinds of festivities. Some of them were Germania Halle, Breustedt’s Halle, Matzdorff’s Halle and Saengerhalle. Lots of the shows also featured cannonades.

So where did they get the fireworks? The local pharmacist was the man in town whose profession was rooted in the alchemy and compounding of chemical ingredients. Most of the elements needed for fireworks doubled as medicinal components as well. The pharmacist, or druggist as he was then known, had shelves full of the necessary ingredients and the knowledge to put them together in the right amounts.

Fireworks require saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal, which are the basic ingredients found in gunpowder. The addition of potassium chlorate to the mixture allowed chemical colors to be enhanced and brightened. Red was the first color made by adding strontium nitrate. Green came next with the addition of barium nitrate.

New Braunfels’ 25th Anniversary in 1870 had a midnight fireworks show at the old Saengerhalle; the fireworks committee was led by Mr. Loep, Mr. Rohde and Mr. Brandt. In 1877, Friedrich Heidemeyer was in charge of firing the cannons and the fireworks on the 4th of July celebration; July 4th always included firework displays. Harvest festivals and Maifest (May Day Festivals) were commemorated at local schools with fireworks and dances. In May 1886, Mr. H. Fischer of Churchill, “a well-known authority in pyrotechnics”, was in charge of the city’s Maifest fireworks. Schuetzenfests (shooting club competitions) included fireworks at the end of shooting competitions. New Year’s Eve and Easter celebrations were observed with night parades using lit torches, lanterns, cannon fire and fireworks. Early New Braunfels did everything in a big way.

For America250, the Sophienburg Museum & Archives will have several exhibits reflecting New Braunfels’ pride in being American. The Pharmacy exhibit will display Mr. Rudolph Richter’s pharmaceutical “Recipe Book.” Along with hundreds of medicinal recipes, he had directions for making gunpowder, blasting powder and flash powder, There are many recipes for each color of fireworks which allowed him to use whichever chemicals he had on hand.

Stories and newspaper accounts link many early local pharmacists to gunpowder and fireworks manufactured for local festivals and celebrations: A. Forcke, H.V. Schumann, Rudolph Richter, and H. Fischer. Making fireworks was an exciting, albeit dangerous, job. August Forcke was badly burned in an explosion on July 2, 1876, while making fireworks for the U.S. Centennial celebration. He was mixing chemicals for “Bengal lights.” Bengal lights were hand-held sparklers that emitted colored flames and sparks; these were named for the Bengal region of India which was a major source of saltpeter.

Like today, businesses sometimes sponsored the making of fireworks and the firework shows. S.V. Pfeuffer, Ernst Gruene Jr., J.D. Guinn, Paul Engelhardt, Richard Gerlich, M.C. Church, Emil Galle and Dr. Garwood are often mentioned as sponsors and committee members for many city displays.

This year, as you enjoy the fireworks shot off in Landa Park, remember that they have been a major part of our country and our city’s celebration of our place in the United States of America. Remember with pride all the freedoms that come with being an American.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Neu Braunfelser Zeitung; New Braunfels Herald; KERA News: The Explosive Science Behind Fireworks.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg

Change. One of the few constants of life. Because change is occurring rapidly in and around New Braunfels, rural cemeteries are endangered. Cemeteries and graveyards are sometimes the only connection to the history of an area. York Creek Cemetery is one of historical importance, as it documents the lives of early permanent inhabitants of the York Creek and Hunter communities.

Where the heck is York Creek, you might ask? The actual York Creek begins somewhere around Wegner Road in Comal County and travels southeast through Hays and Guadalupe counties before flowing into the San Marcos River. The creek naturally attracted farmers to the resource.

Along about 1867, a man by the name of Andrew Jackson Hunter settled his family on York’s Creek (now York Creek). He operated a thousand-acre cotton farm. The land was strategically located along a stagecoach line that ran from New Braunfels to San Marcos before the railroad.

In 1880, the townsite of Hunter was established with the arrival of the International and Great Northern Railroad. By 1883 a post office opened in Gustavus A. Schleyer’s general store, with the owner as postmaster. Schleyer’s store, a cotton gin, a grocery store, and a saloon were in operation there by 1884, when Hunter had about sixty residents. By 1890, Hunter was a bustling community of 200 that included two saloons, a barbershop, a blacksmith, a wagonmaker, a meat market, and a gin and gristmill.

York’s Creek Cemetery came into being on October 7, 1882, when Ernst Gruene, Jr. sold one acre of land to D. G. Posey, Frank Tate, and Charles Crawford to be used as a community cemetery. Posey, Tate and Crawford were the first cemetery trustees. The cemetery doubled in size in 1904, when William Simon, Sr. sold one acre of land to cemetery trustees, D. G. Posey, Charles Crawford, and William Simon, Jr. That is when they formed an association and officially named it York Creek Cemetery. They elected D. G. Posey, C. B. Crawford, and H. Wiegreffe as commissioners. A. J. Wallhoefer was elected secretary and treasurer. Currently, Mr. James B. Skarovsky and his wife, Lynn, are the only trustees of record.

There are over 180 burials recorded in York Creek Cemetery. According to existing records the earliest burial in the newly established cemetery was John B. Taylor, in 1885. Seven of the graves must have been moved to York Creek, as the death dates predate the cemetery. Most of those buried in the cemetery were born in Texas although at least 16 were born in Germany. Over half of those buried bear German surnames. Occupations of the deceased and their families included farmers, homemakers, laborers, railroad workers, blacksmiths, military, and saloon keepers. Hobart Gilmore, who was killed in 1972 Flood, is also buried there.

Walking through the cemetery, it is easy to see the various family groupings with over 68 different surnames (no way to write about all of them!). Some families are represented in greater numbers. The Soechtings have twenty-one graves. Friedrich Heinrich Andreas Söchting (German spelling) immigrated to Texas in 1852. While preparing to emigrate, he met Christine Katarina Gold, also planning to emigrate. Since married couples received special consideration, they married, before leaving Germany. They moved inland to New Braunfels and in 1866 they purchased 17.5 acres on York Creek. In 1878, they purchased an additional 338 acres for 4.90 an acre. They raised five children.. The children in turn had large families and most continued to farm in the area.

In 1850, Henry Rutherford Crawford and wife, Ann B. Wilson Crawford moved from Tennessee and purchased a 300-acre farm on Hunter Road. The couple established a school in the nearby Bonito settlement. Prior to that time, the first school was conducted in their home with their daughter, Lizzie Crawford, as teacher. Lizzie also taught at the Hunter School. In her will, she designated 500 to build the cemetery fence. Her brother, Charles B. Crawford was one of the first cemetery trustees.

Frances D’Gress Posey came to Texas at age 5 in a wagon train with his parents, brothers and aunts from Tennessee. The Posey family arrived in Texas at the Watson Campgrounds in Comal County (or could be Hays County) in early fall of 1853. That was their home for several years. Eventually, his parents, John Bennett and Amanda Posey, farmed cotton on 539 acres in the York Creek area. Frances D’Gress Posey married Mary Elizabeth Neill in 1869. Frances was a farmer and one of the first cemetery association trustees. He, his wife and many descendants are buried in the York Creek Cemetery. Posey land is now part of TXI.

John Dix Watson conveyed one acre of land in exchange for 1 for the nearby Watson School. It was located on Neill homestead land off Watson Lane. The school was closed in 1949 and combined with other schools as the Goodwin School. Mr. Watson was a Confederate veteran. He is one of seven veterans buried in York Creek

James Curtis Riley was a saloon keeper and started Riley’s Tavern in Hunter after the repeal of Prohibition. Riley’s Tavern has a Texas Historical Commission marker and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the oldest taverns in Texas and reported to have the first liquor license issued after the repeal.

Alwin Merz was a trustee when the cemetery was established. He was a farmer married to Annie Braune Merz. Alwin’s parents were John and Elise Strempel Merz, who immigrated from Germany and farmed the York Creek area. Both couples are buried in the York Creek Cemetery.

York Creek Cemetery is a perfect example of a rural cemetery: quietly resting under huge oak trees, protected by a chain link fence with rock posts. Unfortunately, the two-acre cemetery is no longer located among the green pastures and farmhouses. The York Creek/Hunter community was sheared in half when Interstate 35 was built; and the cemetery is now surrounded by industrial warehouses just off one of the most travelled highways in Texas. Little has changed inside the York Creek Cemetery, but much has changed around this true Comal County treasure that holds so much history. It was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery by the Comal County Historical Commission 2022.

Sources: Handbook of Texas Online; The Comal County Historical Commission; Jim Skarovsky; Paul Soechting; Wilfred Schlather; John Coers; Karen Boyd.

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Growing up in New Braunfels, I was well acquainted with the name Giesecke. I knew the names of all the watering holes from early age on – Landa Park pool, Camp Ulbricht, City Park (later Cypress Bend Park), Camp Warnecke, and Camp Giesecke. Camp Giesecke across the street from Camp Warnecke (now Surfenberg) changed its name to “The Other Place” long after I plunged into the icy 71 degree Comal River.

The name Giesicke is not an easily pronounced name. Like most German names, the accent is on the first syllable and it sounds something like “Gee sick ee”. Later owners changed the name from Camp Giesecke to The Other Place because tourists were constantly asking if they were at Camp Warnecke. “No, this is the other place.” And that’s what it became.

Fredrick Ernst Giesecke was owner of the 60 acres on the Comal River. He was born in Latium, Texas, on a farm near Washington-on-the Brazos in 1869. He was the son of Capt. Julius Giesecke, Fourth Texas Confederate Cavalry, and his wife Wilhelmina Groos. After the Civil War, Capt. Giesecke moved his family to New Braunfels in 1873. He became the technical manager of the New Braunfels Woolen Mills. After this mill declared bankruptcy, Capt. Giesecke became one of the owners of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung and their bookkeeper. The Sophienburg is the owner of the original desk made by Jahn furniture maker for Julius Giesecke. When he moved out of the mill, he took the desk with him to the Zeitung office.

The house in which Julius Giesicke’s family lived is still standing at 276 E. Coll St. on the Comal River. It was built in 1881. Growing up near the Comal probably had an effect on Julius’ son, Fredrick. He entered school in New Braunfels after the move from Latium and graduated from the NB Academy in 1882. Then he entered the German-American school in San Antonio.

Fredrick enrolled in Texas A & M College and received his first degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1890. Throughout his college years, he was head of his class and maintained the highest military rank at A & M. He won both the physics and mathematics medals. During his senior year at age 19, Fredrick began teaching at A&M and became head of the department. When Fredrick married Hulda Gruene in 1891, he designed their home of the campus. Hulda Gruene was the daughter of Ernst Gruene, Jr., a prominent family in New Braunfels.

In 1910 Fredrick and Hulda purchased a 60-acre piece of property that that had been the Reeh farm. The location of the land can be described more easily using today’s landmarks. Across the river from New Braunfels and across from the old Woolen Mill, the Comal River makes a bend towards the Guadalupe River forming a peninsula. The property went all the way to San Antonio Street on the northwest side. This area later became The Other Place and Camp Warnecke property. Camp Warnecke became part of Schlitterbahn, making up the 60 acres. The Gieseckes would use the property as a family summer retreat. Since both sets of grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Gruene, Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. Julius Giesecke lived in New Braunfels, this would give the four children an opportunity to be with their grandparents.

At first, the only way to get to the town of NB from the Gieseke property was by a suspension foot bridge until a permanent bridge was located in the same spot at Garden St. The bridge still stands.

Professor Giesecke started a summer school on the 60 acres for A & M and UT students to prepare them for college entrance or for those with a deficiency. On the peninsula, the family and faculty lived in small cabins and Giesecke built his house on the tallest point on the peninsula. That house is the only one still standing and has never been flooded. It is on The Other Place property. The students stayed in tents on the river and helped in the construction of small cabins that were added gradually.

Some of you might remember the water wheel (gone with a flood) at the rapids area at Camp Warnecke. In the late 1800s, Harry Landa had created the first electric power plant. Electricity did not extend across the Comal River into the Gieseke property. Gus Tolle furnished the water wheel and his wheel was to furnish electric power for lights. Giesecke borrowed a motor and generator set from A & M College the first summer. The light produced from the waterwheel was unsatisfactory because the paddles were water-logged on one side and the wheel ran with a lope that caused the lights to dim and flare up with each revolution. The second year, Harry Landa had a power line run to the camp from his power plant at the entrance of Landa Park.

Drinking water was hauled from the headwaters of the Comal. Classes were held in the shade of the trees along the river where blackboards and seats were arranged according to the direction of the light. The A & M football squad trained there for two seasons under Coach Chas. Moran. (100^th anniversary edition of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung in 1952)

In 1912 Professor Giesecke left A& M College and accepted a position as head of the University of Texas, Austin, Dept. of Architecture. He wanted his three daughters to be educated there and also his son would be able to do graduate work. Aside from teaching at U.T. and running the summer school, Giesecke had time to study at the University of Illinois and receive his PhD.

Realizing that 60 acres was a lot of land, more than he needed, he sold all but four acres to Otto and Martha Warnecke, who developed the famous Camp Warnecke, home of the rapids. Eventually 103 cabins were built on this property plus a screened dance hall and a restaurant run by Martha Warnecke.

In 1927, Dr. Giesecke was back at A & M College and became the director of the Engineering Experimental Station. He was also a professor of architecture and appointed as the college architect. As architect he was responsible for designing over 15 buildings on campus, most of which are still standing.

When Dr. Giesecke died in 1935, his daughter Alma Hodges managed the property and moved from the Camp Giesecke home that had been turned into a motel, to the original Julius Giesecke home on E. Coll St. She managed Camp Giesecke until 1946 when the camp was sold to Dr. Stanley Woodward, Jack Krueger, and William Hovestadt. The new owners named the camp “The Other Place”. The present owner is Woodward’s daughter, Sarah Shea and her husband Barry.

As I have said many times before, “Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end.”

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