West San Antonio Street — Now and then

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — While scouring an old Herald-Zeitung for some trivial unrelated detail, I came across a photo of an early 20th century view of downtown New Braunfels. It was taken from a postcard of West San Antonio Street. The corresponding article described the names and locations of the businesses that would have […]

Agricultural Society of Fischer’s Store history sometimes violent

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Rural communities in Comal County outside of the City of New Braunfels formed mostly around land for farming and ranching. Stores, post offices and dance halls sprang up around these farming communities. Around Comal County roughly 30 of these small settlements developed. One of those communities was originally called Fischer’s […]

Tenacity leads to progress

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Recently in the “Smithsonian” magazine, consumer sensor expert, Kevin Ashton, talked about successful innovator skills. His observation was that they possessed tenacity. “The difference between successful innovators and everyone else is that innovators keep failing until they don’t.” He also said “For most of history, creation was seen as a […]

Naegelin’s Bakery still baking

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Let’s talk bread – white bread, rye bread, pumpernickel and even a variety of different yeast breads that are sweet. All these goodies come out of the oldest continuous bakery in town, Naegelin’s Bakery. Zuschlag In early, early, early New Braunfels, the bread that was purchased was a real treat […]

Henne Hardware survives 148 years downtown

By Myra Lee Adams Goff I walked into Henne Hardware and the bell rang above the door alerting the clerk that someone had entered. I was immediately greeted by two cats named Clifford and Eugene, so named by owner of the store, Paul Martinka. These cats, or at least their names, will bring back memories […]