Charcoal burners of the Guadalupe
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — A year ago, I alluded to a book, Charcoal and Charcoal Burners, published in 1950, by Fritz and Emilie Toepperwein of Boerne. From around 1870 until 1919, the name Charcoal City was given to a region of land in the Guadalupe River Valley that extended
“Ein Prosit, ein Prosit” to music
By Myra Lee Adams Goff We are celebrating the 175th Anniversary of New Braunfels and its unique culture in which music played a large part. Music creates sounds that evoke different emotions. Sounds representing joy, sadness, patriotism, history and love and can be produced through many different instruments and particularly
The Moeller family of Comaltown
By Myra Lee Adams Goff — New Braunfels has an historic and active downtown. In order for that to happen, three things are necessary. First, the buildings themselves must be of lasting quality. Secondly, an active preservation philosophy must be prevalent. The third is to have creative successful business owners. We
Where exactly is Comaltown?
By Myra Lee Adams Goff — To know the history of New Braunfels is to know the history of Comaltown. This is somewhat true but not entirely. In 1845, there were two towns, separated only by the Comal River‘s original channel which basically runs from Landa Park Lake between the
Goff Scholarship winner shares history
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Every child passing through the Texas Public Education System receives an introduction to history. I say an introduction, because they may not remember all of it, but they are definitely shown it. Elementary students begin learning about their own community history in third grade, eventually
All that glitters …
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — It’s been reported that Texas has more buried treasure than any other state. There are 229 sites within our borders with an estimated total of $348 million in unclaimed treasure. Generations of Texans and starry-eyed treasure hunters have sought for the hidden loot of famed
A cycling trip
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — In 1975, Oscar Haas (known as the historian of New Braunfels) delivered a talk on things he remembered in his youth. Oscar was born in 1895, so by youth, he means somewhere between 1905-1915. One of the things he talked about was his cycling escapades.
The Friedrich brothers (Part 2)
By Keva Hoffman Boardman — I ended the last article talking about Oscar Friedrich, the brother of the old naturalist, Otto Friedrich. I continued looking into this family of naturalists, artists, and come to find out, big game hunters. Oscar’s son, was named Frederic Louis, but he went by the name
The Friedrich brothers (Part 1)
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I should have known that receiving a scanned copy of a pencil sketch of “The Meusebach-Comanche Treaty” would send me down yet another historical “bunny trail.” The sketch was signed in block letters — “FRIEDRICH 1847” — and depicts hundreds of Commanche, horses, Meusebach, U.S. Indian