Dr. Carl Windwehen’s wedding gift to his bride, Lena Coreth, was a beautiful home on 257 E. Bridge St. now owned by Joel and Merry Saegert, and that home is being nominated for the prestigious designation as a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark.

In Comal County, there are presently 50 structures that have achieved this designation. Just to give you an idea about what this entails, here are six structures that you no doubt are familiar with: CC Courthouse, Faust Hotel, First Protestant Church, Gruene Hall, Henne Hardware and Old New Braunfels High School. Look at sophienburg.com for a list of all 50 structures. The designation is awarded to not only residences but also bridges, churches, commercial buildings and schoolhouses.

The Windwehens

Dr. Windwehen practiced dentistry in NB for 40 years. He married Charlotte Stocker in 1902. A daughter, Stella, was born in Lockhart. In 1905, his wife, Charlotte, died and Windwehen moved with his daughter and his mother, Ida, to New Braunfels. By this time, NB had emerged as one of central Texas’ significant market towns. There were lots of teeth to fill and pull. The 1906 telephone book lists Dr. Windwehen as the only dentist with a telephone, perhaps the only one in town.

In 1910 Dr. Windwehen married Lena Coreth, a granddaughter of Ernst von Coreth, an Austrian nobleman who came to NB and purchased land on Mission Hill. Lena grew up near Mission Hill and attended school in NB. Many of you will possibly remember her brother, Rochette Coreth, prominent rancher and business man.

After the Windwehens married, they moved into their new home where eventually two more daughters were born, Mabel (Faust) and Florence (Eikel). Dr. Windwehen died in 1946 and Lena lived in the home until her death at age 90. She was well known socially, known for her art work and her gardens. The Saegerts have kept up the tradition of outstanding gardens on the property

The house

Originally pioneer homes utilized readily available building materials, caliché and lumber. It was a very basic one-room shelter. After a while, a fachwerk half-timber folk tradition house using rough-hewn cedar for the structure, clay as infill and lime to seal the walls. It is thought the immigrants either learned this technique in Germany or from Prince Carl who had the idea that this form of construction should be used because he felt it was more “pure”. OK!

A Queen Anne style architecture used in homes really started locally after the railroads arrived in CC in 1885 for the IGN and 1900 for the MKT. Prefab buildings became available. Steeply pitched roofs with full width porches and decorative trim, they were often built of wood siding or shingles, brick or stone, or a combination.

Looking at the Windwehen house from the outside, you see many of these Queen Anne features. Going inside, however, reveals a very personal, livable home. I decided to describe the inside of the home to you by combining not only recollections of grandchildren (mostly from the 1950s) but also the architectural description done by Bob Warnecke for the CC Historical Commission. The grandchildren are Jerry Faust, Kay Faust Specht, Carol Faust Patton and Jon Eikel who all have memories of the Windwehens and their home.

A compilation

Built on one of NB’s original town lots, the house is of wood frame construction on pier and beam. From the front, one can see the attic, finished in 1968, and a large porch to the left. There are two brick chimneys visible, used for pot-bellied stoves that are no longer used. Originally the house was heated by a coal-burning stove in the basement and the coal chutes are still visible at the back of the house.

Walk into the central corridor through the original front door. The parlor and then dining room with a large table and kitchen beyond are on the right. On the left are a living room, solarium, master bedroom/bath combination and second bedroom.

Most of the doors and transoms are original. The entry hall contained bookshelves, a piano, table and chairs. Grandson Jerry Faust recalls sleeping on the porch. Everyone slept there because there were many beds and no air-conditioning anywhere. Granddaughter Kay Specht remembers four or more white wrought iron beds and as she slept, she could hear the bells of the Catholic Church. All of the Windwehen babies were born in the house. Daughters Stella and Florence both married in the parlor and daughter Mabel was married in the Methodist Church, but had the reception at the house.

Kay’s mother Mabel told her stories of the Christmases celebrated at the Windwehen house and how Dr. Windwehen had played Santa Claus and the children were not allowed to see the tree until Christmas Eve, a practice in NB. In the dining room, a large tiffany-type chandelier hung over the damask covered table laden with silver, crystal and china. Granddaughter Carol Patton remembers the traditional afternoon Kaffee Klatsch with her grandmother, drinking coffee out of demitasse cups.

As a child, grandson Jon Eikel was impressed with the basement. He recalls the coal stove and the ducts that brought the heat to each room. He would walk to Hollmig’s Drive-In to pick up hamburgers for dinner with his grandmother. When he married, he and his wife lived in the back of the house converted to an apartment. In her bedroom, his grandmother had a small table where the three would play dominoes.

The Windwehens were significant to NB and the home embodies distinctive characteristics of a type of construction during the change of the century. Joel and Merry Saegert have maintained this external and internal model of preservation. Thank you, Joel and Merry.

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This article was published in the March 26, 2013, edition of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. The regular publication schedule will resume June 2, 2013.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Like so many young men, Ernst Gruene had heard the exciting stories of Texas, a Republic in its own right. He was ready to leave Germany and take his mother with him. Freedom was the driving force in his decision; freedom from demands of the aristocracy, freedom from conscription, and freedom from excessive taxation. Little did he know that in 100 years, he would have a settlement here in Comal County with his family name.

Gruene was engaged to a young woman, but she broke off the engagement when she heard of his Texas plans. He consulted a “marriage broker” who made an appointment with Antoinette Kloepper. They married and soon after in 1845, the couple, his mother, and two servants left for Texas. After his stepbrothers bought out his family interests, he had ample funds. He carried about $5,000 in gold coins sewed in his vest. When he was almost washed overboard (gold can be quite heavy) he gave half of the coins to Antoinette who sewed them in the hem of her skirt.

They arrived on the coast and migrated to New Braunfels on May 15, 1846. So begins the amazing story of Gruene, Texas.

Ernst and Antoinette Gruene settled in Comaltown on Rock St. (building still standing) where three children were born. He continued to buy land. In 1872 he bought the land east of the Guadalupe River called Goodwin. This is where his second son, Henry D. would build a home and start a business and this would become Gruene.

Cotton was the #1 cash crop at that time and H.D. advertised for sharecroppers interested in growing cotton. Twenty to 30 families moved onto his land and each was assigned from 100 to 200 acres. Small three or four room farm houses were built for tenants and a school provided.

The first mercantile store in the area was built where tenants could buy groceries, implements, and hardware supplies and could buy them less expensively and on credit until the harvest came in. With the mercantile store, a lumberyard was set up. Because of the success of the store, Gruene constructed a large two story building (now an antique store). It held a working bank, holding mortgages and farm financing.

Soon a cotton gin was constructed powered by water pressure from the Guadalupe River. (This first gin burned down in 1922. It is the site of the present Grist Mill Restaurant.)

The IGN Railroad built a freight and passenger depot about a mile west of the community

in the 1880s and MKT built another in 1901, allowing Gruene to export cotton and grain and import goods for his mercantile store. What is now known as the Gruene Mansion became the home of Mr. and Mrs. H.D. Gruene in 1872. It started as a one story residence and a second story was added in 1886.

A dance hall with saloon was built in 1878. That was Gruene Hall, the communities social center. H.D. Gruene became Goodwin’s first postmaster in 1890 operating out of the mercantile store. This store was on the original north & southbound stagecoach route. Gruene became a stopping point for the Tarbox Stagecoach Line.

The settlement changed its name from Goodwin to Gruene as the whole town rotated around the Gruene family. When H.D. retired in 1910 he turned over the management to his two sons, retaining that Gruene tradition. His daughter resided in Gruene and eventually his parents did also. At one time Gruene had visions of subdividing but the project never got off the ground and when he died in 1920, thoughts of the development came to a halt.

By 1924 a Chrysler agency opened its doors across the street from the big mercantile store, the site of the first store.

The boll weevil stripped the cotton crop and the tenants were hit hard and many moved away. After recovery of the cotton crop, the Great Depression hit. This brought on a decline in cotton production and an end to the tenant system. A result was the closing of the mercantile store. The two railroad stations closed and the depots were destroyed. Various businesses inhabited the buildings, but the one business that never closed during these tumultuous times was the dance hall and saloon.

Gruene has a very prestigious historic designation; it has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Gruene Historic District, the only National Register Historic District in Comal County. In addition there are several buildings with Texas Historical Commission designations: Gruene’s Hall, Gruene Mansion, Erhardt Neuse House (now Gruene Haus Country Store), Original Gruene Mercantile (now Gruene General Store) and the H.D. Gruene Mercantile (now Gruene Antique Company). There are also two THC subject markers titled Gruene Cotton Gin (outside of the Grist Mill Restaurant) and Gruene. Additionally, there are City of New Braunfels historic designations on several properties. Gruene is a prime example of “Historic Tourism”.

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The Zuehl Family Book at the Sophienburg contains a rather well-known story to local historians. It was written by Wilhelm Zuehl when he was in his 70s as he recalled coming to Texas with his family as an 18-year-old in 1846. His family was on a brig going from Galveston to Indianola.

When the brig would get stuck on a sand bar, the 60 emigrants would have to run from one side of the ship to the other until the vessel was again buoyant.

They landed at Indianola at the time when “northers” were making life miserable and cholera was rampant. Freezing rain tore apart their makeshift tent. The family was stuck on the beach, as there were no means of transportation. Wilhelm and his brother Fritz took on a temporary job aboard an English surveying vessel. Six weeks later when they returned to Indianola, their parents had left for New Braunfels, leaving instructions for the boys to make their way.

A young man named Adam Wuest was delivering mail from New Braunfels to Indianola and told the boys that they could come along with him on his return trip. Fritz left the two at Peach Creek and Wuest and Wilhelm finally arrived in New Braunfels in the middle of the night. Wuest had a small one room house without room for Wilhelm so Mrs. Wuest made him a bed of cedar logs and he slept out in the street.

This spot where the Wuest house was located on Seguin St. later became the site of the Homann Saddlery and finally the location of the subject of this article, the New Braunfels Coffee Company (across from Naegelin’s Bakery).

If Wilhelm Zuehl could have looked into the future, he would have seen what became of that property; a saddlery and eventually a two story building in which Otto Vogel operated a coffee company.

In 1921, brothers Arthur and Gilbert Zipp purchased the New Braunfels Coffee Co. from Vogel. The business moved in 1940 to the corner of 315 W. San Antonio St. next to the railroad track. The New Braunfels Coffee Company ended its business in the basement of the San Antonio St. building, finally closing forever in 1950.

Coffee beans were purchased in 100 lb. bags from Brazil, Columbia, and Mexico and roasted in a large steel tumbler. Then the beans were ground and sold in one and two pound bags. Their Model A truck delivered the coffee to local merchants and restaurants like Ma’s Café, Reimer Grocery, and Valley Fruit Stand. At its height, the company sold 60,000 pounds a month.

The Zipp brothers sold their 100 percent pure coffee under the name “Zipp’s fancy Peaberry” and “Rio”. Then in 1933 they decided to have a contest to name their new blend of coffee. One could enter the contest by filling in a blank enclosed in every package of coffee. Karl Zipp, son of Gilbert has a metal box containing the entries – 385 of them. And the winner was Mrs. Adolph Forke with “Cup-O’Joy”. She won a ten dollar gold coin. Don’t laugh; think of how much that gold coin would be worth today.

Here are some of the entries that attracted my attention, not necessarily good, but interesting:
Remember it was 1933, so some had political connotations like: “Depression”, “Roosevelt”, “New Deal”, “Daily Need”, “Roosevelt’s Prosperity” and “Liberty Bell”.

Others were “Beatsall”, “Howazat Coffee”, “Want More”, “Zipp’s Super Stimulant”, “10 Shun Please”, “Talk of the Table”, “Zipper”, “Zipperior”, and “Wake Up”.

In their heyday, the Zipps had quite an advertising campaign. In 1939, Zipp’s Cup O’ Joy was sent to Gov. W. Lee O’Daniel when the 133rd Field Artillery Band from NB went to Austin to give a concert in honor of the governor. At Gruene Hall, one can still see a sign advertising “Zipp’s Cup-O’Joy” and “Peaberry Coffee” on the left side of the dance floor. Now I think I’ll have a “Cup-O’Joy”, thank you.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

“And so,” Michael Freiherr von der Tann continued, “we are so pleased to have these documents returned to our family. They will join the rest of the Tann Archive in the Hesse State Archives in Marburg.” With a hand-off of an acid-free box containing four vellum documents, this chapter of Susanna von der Tann nee Waiblingen’s story ends.

But wait! Isn’t there anything more? Indeed there is. Every chance I got I asked questions and listened to Michael’s stories about his family, which are now a part of the Sophienburg’s story and family, too.

For example, Michael spoke of Susanna’s father-in-law, Eberhard the Elder. He played a role in the Protestant Reformation. He was Catholic like everyone else until he met Martin Luther. He even hid Luther when the Church was looking for him. Eberhard the Elder then built the first Protestant church in Tann (remember Susanna’s wedding?) and the village converted from Catholic to Protestant. “Not so today,” says Michael, “we now have Catholic, Jew, Muslim and other churches.”

Eberhard the Elder controlled land all over Bavaria (some of which became Hesse) and the Rhine provinces. The village of Tann grew up around the ancestral home. The forests surrounding it belonged to the Church in Fulda, but were on a kind of “medieval loan” to the von der Tanns for care and use. It wasn’t until after the Napoleonic wars, that “The Tann”, the village and 2000+ acres, became the property of the von der Tann family. The governance of the city was by the von der Tanns until the 20th century when it became a city government with elected officials.

Michael von der Tann is an unassuming thoughtful man, with a deep sense of duty and responsibility to his family and the area of Tann. That sense of duty and responsibility was a character trait he inherited from another of his ancestors. He spoke a bit about Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen. Ludwig was born in 1815 and received that name from his sponsor, King Ludwig I, the second king of Bavaria; Ludwig’s second name “Arthur” came from Arthur Wellesly, the 1st Duke of Wellington. Talk about connections…Ludwig was destined for greatness.

Ludwig became a soldier and a highly decorated war hero during the various wars and campaigns of the 19th century. He was a close personal friend of King Maximillian II of Bavaria. He served in King Max’s army during the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars leading troops to numerous victories and attaining the post of Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Bavarian Corps. In 1849, a gunboat was christened Von der Tann. A WWI German battle cruiser, the first large German warship to use steam turbines, was named SMS Von der Tann. Kaiser Wilhelm I renamed Fort No. 8 “Fort Tann” in 1871, and streets in the cities of Munich, Erlangen, Dortmund, Wuppertal, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Neustadt and Regensburg bear the name Von der Tann and show the esteem Germany had for this man.

I told you this was an important family.

As a few of us sat enjoying Shiner beer at the Gristmill in Gruene, Freiherr von der Tann said that after World War II, ”which we started,” that the Iron Curtain then became the eastern border of the Tann. There was no war damage to the town. “Thankfully, the Americans got there first.” The town spread westward from that border. The Russian threat of the Ukraine truly resonates with his family and village. Like most Europeans, Michael is keenly interested in world news and asked many questions about American feelings on global subjects.

Since he took over the reins of running the family estate, Michael has been active in promoting the sustainability of Germany’s forests. He is president of the Hessian Forest Owners’ Association which advocates policies to protect them from government control and laws. This volunteer position has taken him to many places around the world. He attends countless gatherings in small villages and listens to forest farmers’ concerns. He advises mayors of city-owned forests on upcoming laws, issues and solutions. He regularly lobbies members of the Hessian state parliament and government to make them aware of the association’s concerns. Michael speaks with a quiet but very real passion about forests. And he loved our cedar and oak trees…his forests are fir and beech.

The von der Tanns still serve in city council positions and are involved in Tann politics. After all, the town of Tann sits at the feet of their ancestral home. With a bit of dry humor, Michael described this home — which is roughly rectangular with a central courtyard. “It is actually three castles. There is the Blue Castle which is really white with blue around the windows and there is the Red Castle which is also really white with red around the windows. My family, the von der Tann-Rathsamhausens, live in the Yellow Castle which is actually all yellow.” The three conjoined castles have housed the different lines or branches of the original Tann family. Michael has spent many years constantly updating and restoring the over 500-year-old structures.

The “official hand-off” of Susanna’s documents occurred this past Tuesday, April 19th. In attendance were Mayor Brockman, members of both Rotary Clubs (Michael is a long-time member of his local club), Chamber representatives and Sophienburg board members and staff. The donor of the documents to the Sophienburg was also there. Ken Brandt and his wife were thrilled to join the festivities and truly happy that the vellum documents were going home; after all, Ken’s father had been the one to save Susanna’s history!

I need to mention that Michael Freiherr von der Tann was intrigued by the country music emanating from Gruene Hall so we took him inside to listen and watch the dancing. A couple of young girls in cutoff jeans and cowboy boots were two-stepping along adding a few swing turns in for good measure.

“Can you do this thing?” I nodded yes and said, “Since I was a toddler!” Michael just grinned.

I am fairly certain Michael Freiherr von der Tann will be coming back to visit us, this time with his wife. You can take her documents out of Texas, but Susanna will remain a Texas woman.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

I love driving the streets of downtown New Braunfels on a crisp, clear October morning. My favorite streets are the those laid out by Nickolaus Zink and the streets of Comaltown/Braunfels. Some of the oldest buildings in Comal County are located along these streets.

As with anything old, there is likely much more to those buildings than meets the eye. Some are old buildings refreshed with multiple exterior facelifts to keep up with the latest trends, leaving them looking much younger than they really are. Then, there are old buildings that remain the same (historically correct) on the outside, even though the inside has been updated and made more functional by adding electricity and indoor plumbing. These buildings, are the most beautiful. My favorite buildings? Those with hidden secrets, of course. Imagine learning that the building you own holds a treasure underneath!

One such treasure is Eagles Hall. From the outside, it looks like a plain stucco, sort of art deco building with a hodgepodge of multiple additions marked with the year “1922.” But there is more to that story.

In 1870, New Braunfels celebrated the 25th Anniversary of its founding. The parade wound through town and across the Comal footbridge, continuing the festivities on open lots located on South Street in Comaltown. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Heinrich Paul Weichold, an 1845 immigrant, purchased two lots facing South Street. He built a 54-foot by 100-foot hall out of Comal County limestone, complete with a 38-foot by 30-foot stage. It was the largest public place for merriment anywhere around. Did you get that? 1870! That is at least eight years before Gruene Hall was built. Weichold’s Hall served both as a community meeting place and center of entertainment, hosting Turnverein (gymnastics club) events, dances, concerts, meetings, 4th of July celebrations, masquerades, and theatrical performances. The hall even held a performance of Japanese aerialists. Since most of his patrons came from across the Comal River, Mr. Weichold had railings installed on the footbridge for their safety. On the evenings of performances, he also stationed two men with lanterns at each end of the bridge to light the way. Weichold fell into financial difficulty and his property was sold on the courthouse steps on June 16, 1874.

The hall sold to the Matzdorf’s and became known as Matzdorf’s Hall. The hall was leased and run by numerous managers throughout its years of operation. In 1877, Matzdorf took over again from Rheinlaender. He made repairs to the building and put in a new dance floor. Rudolf Brandt took over as manager in 1890. He promoted the venue as “Comal Concert Hall.” In 1893, Mrs. Matzdorf became the sole owner. Other managers of the hall were Moritz Schutz, Hermann Klein, and H. Lenzen. Matzdorf Hall continued hosting touring companies, balls, lectures, operas and more.

In February of 1922, the Echo Home Association was organized solely for the purpose of buying and remodeling the Matzdorf’s Hall property. The group had 300 subscribers (paid members). By April, they hired a San Antonio architect to draw up plans and let bids to build a new building. All of the bids were rejected as too expensive. The Association bought materials in May to renovate the building themselves and dedicated the building in July. Renovations included a layer of stucco over the building’s exterior. They marked the building with “1922 Echo Halle” over the South Street entrance. The original windows and doors were left open with ceiling fans overhead. Over time, additions were made to the long side of the building, including a bar and meeting areas, and at some point, indoor bathrooms were added to the rear. There was a large porch constructed on the front, perhaps in the early to mid-40s, with multiple arched openings. Echo Halle had events going all the time, hosting firemen’s benefits, precinct elections, singing festivals, speeches by governors, bridal showers, church programs, graduations, and dances with all sorts of orchestras and bands every weekend. Many a dancer found their life mate on the Echo Halle dance floor.

In 1958, the Echo Halle was sold to the Fraternal Order of Eagles. They removed the words “Echo Halle” from the stucco but left the year 1922. They also added an inverted star/crescent emblem. Eagles Hall was ‘the’ place to have a dance, wedding reception, anniversary celebration, graduation dance. Bands like the Hi-Toppers, Cloverleaf and more filled the air with music. The well-worn dance floor is smooth as glass, due in part, to the trillions of kids who polished it with their knees or stockin’ feet during intermissions. Kids were part of the celebrations… no baby-sitters. Being the child of a Hi-Topper, I learned to dance back-stage. Others remember being put down on a palette under the tables while parents danced the night away. Eagles’ Hall has been painted a few hundred times, and paneling conceals the original windows and doors, but the bones of the structure are the same. 150 years of life and music is ingrained in every beam and every wall that surrounds the dance floor, because it really IS the old Weichold Halle.

2021 is the year that the Eagles sold the hall. Only those who have purchased it know what is to become of this historic structure that is older than Gruene Hall. In New Braunfels, we are surrounded by the historic buildings that define our heritage and city timeline. It ties us to our beginning. We have three Historic Districts established to protect old homes and buildings, including Downtown Historic District, Mill Street Historic District and Sophienburg Hill Historic District. Within these areas, rules are in place so the property owners will maintain the integrity of the original buildings, whether 50 years old or 150 years old. Eagles’ Hall is not in a historic district. New Braunfels Conservation Society has done an amazing job saving and caring for the buildings at their museum, although moving some buildings is not really an option. Eagles’ Hall is historic because of the site, the provenance and the meaning to the community. Would Gruene Hall be as wonderful sitting somewhere else? Only you, citizens of New Braunfels, and our County Historical Commission and City Council can protect the historic buildings of our metropolis. Once gone, these structures cannot be replaced. Help us preserve what makes New Braunfels special, like dance halls that are 150 years old. Older. Than. Gruene. Hall.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives

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Replica of the Wright Vin Fiz, 1911.

Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

On Saturday, October 21, 1911, James Ogletree and a buddy finished gathering pecans along the Guadalupe River near the Gruene Road bridge and walked up to his grandfather H.D. Gruene’s store. There, they heard the MKT depot manager exclaim that he had just received a telegraph message stating “a fella named Rodgers is going to fly an aeroplane right down the Katy tracks to San Antonio tomorrow!” To the boys, who were used to the wheel age, the idea of a man flying was more than a little hard to swallow.

The news of the fly-over of the first airplane to fly from the Atlantic to the Pacific made its way by word of mouth like a wild fire up and down the streets, roads and dirt tracks in and around Gruene, New Braunfels and Solms. Just after 12 noon, folks would see their first aeroplane!

Teenager Oscar Haas was working at a store in downtown NB that Sunday, October 22. All the stores and businesses closed up a bit before noon allowing everyone to make a beeline to secure a place along the MKT tracks. A steam engine hissed by, pulling a Pullman sleeper and a day coach (for the pilot’s family, sponsors, manager, and mechanics), a hangar car (for plane parts and a car) and a caboose the roofs of which were painted white to be easily seen by the pilot.

Youngster Fred Oheim and several of his pals had run to the courthouse and rushed up the stairs to the tower along with Dr. A. Noster to view the fly-over. Dr. Noster had brought a pair of field glasses with him which he shared with the excited boys. With those glasses they clearly saw the “box kite-like plane with a tail behind it for steering assisted by a pair of vertical flaps in front. The motor and radiator were in the center of the plane, with the propeller just behind the trailing edges of the wings.… Rodgers sat on the edge of the lower wing and worked two levers to warp the wings and move the elevators … his feet on pedals that controlled the rudder. A broad leather strap around his waist held him in his seat.”

Back in Gruene, people had begun to gather at daybreak causing the bartender in the saloon (Gruene Hall) to open early and let in the menfolk. “It was a brisk, cool morning and [they] had a few shots.” Ogletree and his friends watched the ladies scoot off to the store across the street. After a while, someone suggested that the best view would be from atop the store. The bartender pronounced the bar closed but allowed the thirsty to take a bottle with them.

People then crowded into the store, up the stairs to the second floor, through a trap door to the attic and then through another trap door out onto the roof. This trip was accomplished by sober and drunk men, women in long skirts and petticoats and children like James Ogletree and his cohorts.

The jovial crowd braved the crisp, fresh wind all eyes straining to see up the tracks to the north. “The aeroplane!” alerted the group, but on closer inspection the brown spot was only a buzzard.

H.D. Gruene had put his gigantic U.S. flag on the rooftop flagpole (a rite reserved for the Fourth of July, Texas Independence Day and National Inauguration Day) to salute the pilot. The bartender had also passed Gruene’s assortment of fireworks and brought a large sky rocket with him to the roof. Shortly before noon, they heard “an odd humming sound from the north and a brown speck appeared in the sky over a train with white car tops…we could see it [the plane] plainly. It looked like a long framework with two white wings across it…the pilot sitting out in front of the lower wing.… On the bottom of the lower wing were the words ‘Vin Fizz’ (Cal Rodgers was sponsored by Armour Packing Co., who made the bubbly drink).

As the plane headed straight for Gruene, a cheer went up, men shot off their six-shooters, ladies screamed, children cried and then the bartender set off the giant sky rocket. As it “arched beautifully in front of the plane and burst into a brilliant red flare Rodgers saw it all and wobbled and flopped his wings.”

H.D. Gruene, anxious for the integrity of his old roof, coaxed the people down. The celebration continued in the streets and, of course, in the saloon. As Ogletree and his pals peered through the bar’s windows at the men drinking and playing cards (minors and women were not allowed inside), they witnessed an altercation. A stranger had pushed an employee back over and onto a table, scattering chips across the floor. “He then pulled a knife and made for the employee who dove through the windows over our heads and rolled under a wagon at the hitching rail.” The stranger made for the door and the wagon.

A deafening roar from an old Winchester 44 six-shooter in the hands of H.D. Gruene accompanied a well-aimed shot into the wagon showering the knife-wielding stranger with wood splinters. The stranger, with that subtle encouragement, rode out of town and Mr. Gruene calmed down the assaulted employee with a cold beer.

According to Ogletree, it was “a glorious day.”

Cal Rodgers began his transcontinental flight on September 17 at Sheepshead Bay, NY. He landed in Pasadena, CA on November 5. Out of the 49 days of elapsed time, he only spent three days, ten hours and four minutes actually in the air. He made 69 separate flights in crossing the US. By using westbound railroad tracks and his wife’s neck-chain watch sewed to his leather gauntlet to navigate, he landed in and took-off from open prairie land, uncut pastures and parks. He survived 16 – 39 major near-fatal crashes and minor mishaps; each time both he and his plane, the Vin Fizz, were fixed up by his support team. By the end of his trip, the Vin Fizz had been repaired so many times over that only one rudder and wing strut remained from the original modified Wright R airplane.

His flight over justTexas took two weeks and 23 stops.

Before his fly-over of New Braunfels that October Sunday, Rodgers was laid over in the little town of Kyle to wait for parts. Rodgers had his crew assemble a Wright Model B plane so he could take spectators for rides at a fee. When a little boy, Newt Milhollan, offered him a quarter, Rodgers set him in the passenger seat and said, “This one is a gift, a gift of flight, the sky and the wind. You will see your whole town and the fields around it. You will know a different world. Now that is a gift to remember.”

Sources: Oscar Haas collection, Fred Oheim collection, Reflections #133 James Ogletree, NB Zeitung Oct 29 1911, NB Zeitung-Chronicle Jun 12, 1959, NB Herald-Zeitung Oct 4, 1973 — Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Daily Bulletin, Brownwood, TX Oct 21, 1911; “Flying Across the Continent” by French Strother; http://www.nationalaviation.org/; http://www.aerofiles.com/

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