The next time you drive downtown, take a look at the old IGN train depot at the intersection of San Antonio Street and Hill Avenue. Although it’s now a museum, with just a little knowledge and imagination, you can transport yourself back to the olden times known as the Railroad Era.

Back when Texas was the Republic of Texas, in 1836, the first congress chartered the first railroad company, the Texas Rail Road, Navigation, and Banking Co. to construct railroads where needed. This was ten years after the first US railroad was chartered. The company lasted two years but the railroad was never built. Other companies were chartered, but still no railroads.

In 1847, Gen.Sidney Sherman acquired lots in Harrisburg, acquired northern capital and established the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado as the first railroad in Texas. By the end of 1861, there were nine operating railroads in Texas, mostly in East Texas. One was the International & Great Northern (IGN). Jay Gould was the controlling stockholder. This name would come up later in New Braunfels history. Politics played a big part as far as where railroads would locate.

After the Civil War and Reconstruction, new lines formed and some merged. In 1875, New Braunfels, as well as other small towns, saw the advantage of a railroad going through their town. Brian Weidner, who has done extensive research on railroads in NB, states that in the New Braunfelser Zeitung, editor Anselm Eiband, began writing about attempts to offer the railroads cash and property to build in NB.

In the meantime the International & Great Northern Railroad in 1879, requested right-of-way land to build a depot in NB. The railroad was able to acquire town lots 10 & 17 from Ferdinand and Anna Nolte. Lot 10 faced San Antonio Street and Hill Street and Lot 17 faced Mill Street. The railroad was in business! The first freight passenger trains entered NB in the fall of 1880.

The first ticket office was a store front owned by Mr. Nolte’s business on San Antonio Street. IGN constructed a small depot and the old store front was removed.

The era of the railroad brought tremendous changes to the economy of Texas and to New Braunfels as well. Many small towns that were overlooked by the railroad completely disappeared. A big advantage of the presence of a railroad was that goods could be brought in and local goods could be sent out. Tourism flourished in towns, like New Braunfels, that had natural beauty.

Remember Jay Gould? The story goes that his daughter, Helen Gould, visited the Harry Landa estate in 1898. According to Landa, Miss Gould liked the beauty of Landa Park so much that she proposed to him that the IGN build a spur track into Landa Park, which they did.

The second railroad line into NB, the Missouri, Kansas, Texas Railroad, while extending their tracks from NB to San Antonio, also built a station plus spur track into Landa Park. The railroads were helping New Braunfels become a tourist destination. In his book, “As I Remember”, Harry Landa made this comment:

“Beer, bathing, boat riding, bands, and dancing, and other recreations were enjoyed by picnickers and Landa Park became one of the most popular resorts of the Southwest.”

The president, Theodore Roosevelt, made a political speech from the rear of a Pullman car passing through NB, and the whole city turned out to see this spectacle complete with a children’s choir, a decorated station and an assembly of young women dressed as Roughriders.

Pressure was on by the public for the railroad to build a larger, better depot to accommodate all the visitors who were arriving. In 1907 the firm of Moeller, Mordhurst & Blumberg were contracted to manufacture cement blocks to build a new depot. Adolph Moeller was responsible for building many public buildings and Victorian homes in NB, and Mordhurst was the one who produced the cement blocks and also decorated the graves with concrete-filled shells. There are at least five homes still standing that were built of Mordhurst’s cement blocks in New Braunfels and also many graves in Comal Cemetery.

Brian Weidner’s research reveals that the new station was made of concrete-colored tiles with red grout between the tiles. There were ornamental wrought iron details supporting the roof. The large entrances were surrounded by diamond latticed glass transoms and side panels. Look for these features. You may have to get out of the car to see all the details.

The construction of the interstate highway system had a big effect on the railroad and its station. Eventually by the 1960s, passenger service was discontinued and then replaced by Amtrak.

The city was given the IGN station by the railroad in 1986 with a yearly lease on the land. The same year, the city leased the station and property to the New Braunfels Historic Railroad & Modelers Society who run it as a free museum to the public.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Have you ever experienced a Christmas where you thought you would get nothing from Santa?

I am sure that there are several good children that have worried about getting gifts due to their parents’ circumstances. During the Great Depression, it was the generosity of angels that helped out needy children in New Braunfels.

The U.S involvement in World War I lasted from 1917-1919. During that time, everything went to the war effort to support our soldiers, causing restrictions (read shortages) of meat, wheat, sugar, eggs and more. Once the war was over, with a short readjustment, the economy rebounded with gusto. Oil was flowing, business was booming, new construction was up and all was well again for nearly a decade. Texans were looking to the future, that is, until the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929.

Texans were not initially affected by the downturn. In fact, they were optimistic that it was a little recession, a short-lived blip on the radar. The cotton crop was already harvested and sold at very good prices. The population had grown by 25 percent. New Braunfels’ new building projects were still being built in 1931. Then reality hit. The battered economy caught up to New Braunfels.

Many people did not have money to spend. Business suffered. The one-year-old Montgomery Ward store closed along with others. Men were out of jobs. Some lost their farms. Some lost their homes. Women went to work doing what they could. Many people were hard pressed to survive. Some went to the poor house with their family. Others reached out to charities for help with food and clothing. In 1931, Christmas joy was a faraway memory for many.

To lessen the heartache of a Christmas without presents for the children, the Lions Club joined with New Braunfels firemen to collect toys. The Lions Club of New Braunfels (chartered April 1925) was founded on the basic tenets of loyalty and service to community, state and nation. The Lions jumped right in to make Christmas better for the children of the less fortunate with a city toy drive.

Unlike the toy drives of today, (think KENS-5 Bill’s Elves or Marines’ Toys for Tots), they were not asking for new toys or monetary donations. They wanted old, used, castaway toys. The idea was for the Lions to do the collecting and the firemen to repair and refurbish the toys.

The wheels may be turning in your head thinking, “my child would flip out if they got a broken toy.” Perhaps, but toys were made differently in the ‘20s and ‘30s and were not generally considered disposable. They were made to last. We are talking metal scooters, tricycles, pedal cars, velocipedes, kiddie-cars, doll buggies, mechanical toys and wagons (these are all of those wonderful things that catch your eye in the big antique stores). Replacing a wheel or putting on a new coat of paint made it all new again.

Calls went out for old toys beginning in November. The toys were collected by Lions Club members and dropped off at Central Fire Station (now the New Braunfels Fire Department Museum on Hill Avenue). Why partner with the fire department? At that time the New Braunfels Fire Department was made up of approximately seven to eight paid men located in three stations with 60 on-call volunteers. The paid men were basically confined to the fire station premises during their shift when not on a call. After daily chores were completed, they had some down time to work on repairing and painting the toys. Paint was furnished by Louis Henne Company and Jacob Schmidt & Son provided cloth for new doll dresses, which were made by Mrs. Walter Staats, wife of the fire chief. The campaign was deemed a success as there was an incredible number of toys turned over to Associated Charities for delivery to identified needy families.

As the Depression dragged on, the Lions and Fire Department continued their Christmas Toy Drive. In 1932, the Lions and Fire Department were already organized and ready for the toy campaign. They enlisted cloth donations from Eiband and Fischer and paint donations from Cameron Lumber Company.

By 1933, the firemen were not only repairing toys, they were also in on the delivery of the toys with Santa (the best part). That year, Santa named Chief Staats and his firemen as Special Agents to Santa Claus, meaning that the toys, along with apples and oranges provided by the American Legion Auxiliary, were loaded up on a big red firetruck for special delivery to each and every recipient.

In 1934, the firemen rode the big hook-and-ladder truck to make deliveries themselves to those children identified by the Comal County Relief Board. By 1935, the recipients were identified from relief rolls along with input from the elementary school principals. Each year, the Lions Club provided new toys to help meet the demand of needy children.

The toy drive continued through 1936. In 1937, the fireman’s and Lions Christmas toy program was postponed when an investigation determined that there was no longer a need. However, in late December of 1937, an urgent plea went out to the public from the Junior Chamber of Commerce for old toys.

So, here we are. It is December. The economy is rocky. Inflation is high. Food prices are high, and people are struggling. I hope that you will follow the lead of the Lions Club and New Braunfels Fire Department to do something good for your fellow man and for the community. If you have a little extra in your pocket, be an angel, pay it forward to a non-profit organization or something that warms your heart … and theirs.

I love that New Braunfels is a generous community. The number of people that volunteer their time, talents and money to non-profit organizations in New Braunfels proves it. We take care of each other. I wish you joy this Christmas season!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Handbook of Texas History Online.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg –

Working in an archive or research library probably doesn’t top the list of dream jobs for very many people, but it is really cool to be a History Detective. In fact, there are more history detectives out there than you would think. While it is not exactly like “The Librarians” featured in the fantasy movies who work to collect magical artifacts for safe keeping, we do protect historical artifacts and documents. More importantly, we delve into the documents to bring hidden information to light.

Not too long ago, we accessioned a couple of documents called Abstract of Title by the Comal County Abstract Company for properties located in the Jahn Addition. One document is fifty-seven pages, typed, single spaced legalese, bound in a blue cover and tied with a pink string. To the common eye, it just looks, well, boring. It is in fact packed with information about the history of New Braunfels, including the original land grant and every transaction concerning that property all the way up to December 1928. I had never seen anything quite like it. I knew what a title was, but what exactly is an abstract?

From my experience, real estate transactions usually end up in title company office, across the table from a very knowledgeable woman/man, whose superpower seems to be reading upside down while pointing out where to sign. The packet we take home is several sheets of financial stuff, specifically about the transaction. I had questions. I contacted Heidi Aleman at Corridor Title, who put me in touch with Erin Campbell, Senior Vice President of Title Operations and Compliance. An abstract, she said is basically a summary of all transactions regarding any piece of real estate. She explained that every property transaction is recorded in the county courthouse, including the who, what, where and when of the transaction, along with the land survey information. The title company’s job is to research every one of those transactions as far back as possible to make sure there are no gaps in the chain of title. Erin, a self-professed Title Nerd, says that she loves the challenge of putting together the puzzle of the properties, looking for missing heirs or deeds. The historical summary she produces is called an abstract. Today, most of the property records, back to at least the late 1800’s, are digitized, which makes the job a little easier.

The 1929 abstract at the Sophienburg contains a copy of the documents from each and every transaction beginning in 1831, as recorded in Bexar County, with the grant from the State of Coahuila and Texas, by Jose Antonio Navarro, Commissioner to Juan Martin De Veramendi. It was recorded again in Comal County in 1855. In 1844, it shows the transfer of properties to the heirs of Veramendi upon his death.

March 14, 1845, is a date we should all know. It is the date of the agreement, recorded in Bexar County, for Prince Carl on behalf of the German Emigration Company, the purchase of approximately one-fourth of the Two League (a league is 4428.4 acres) Comal Tract for the sum of $1111, paid in two installments, $500 and $611. It is also recorded on May 1, 1845, that Prince Carl purchased another portion of land for the sum of $800. Further along in the abstract, is the 1869 ruling of the District Court of Guadalupe County against the Veramendi heirs in their suit to reclaim properties. The judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Texas. Now that is some serious history sleuthing!

In 1848, Johann Jahn & Andreas Eickel received from the German Emigration Company Acrelot No. 204, containing about 14 3/5 acres of land between what is now Seguin Avenue and Academy Avenue. The following year, it shows that the two businessmen divided the property. One of the most interesting things to see out of this whole thing has to do with streets. After the deaths of Johann Jahn and wife Anna in 1883 and 1904 respectively, the Jahn property went to their heirs, who in turn subdivided it and conveyed some land to the city for streets. You might need a map for this next part.

They conveyed a strip 66.5 feet wide as a continuation of Castell from Butcher Street to the end of Blocks 12 & 14 (unknown). It also gave land 60 feet wide, extending from Butcher Street to Jahn Street and parallel with Castell Street to be known as Grand Avenue (was changed to Hill Avenue in 1926). Another strip of land 60 feet 5 inches wide was given as the extension of Academy Street out to Nacogdoches Street. Land 70 feet wide extending from Seguin Street to Boenig Street, running perpendicular to Castell, was named Jahn Street. Boenig Street ran parallel to Academy from Butcher to Nacogdoches. It became more of an alley in later years. Now called Braddock Avenue, it is only one block long, between Butcher and Jahn. They also gave a strip 60 feet wide from Academy to Boenig Street that was called Elm Street. Elm was later extended and runs beside the Post Office where the mailboxes stand and across Seguin Avenue, but it no longer exists between Boenig and Academy.

This is just one abstract from one section of town. Oscar Haas, history detective extraordinaire, was the Comal County Clerk for 30 years. He had access to these types of documents every day and used them to piece together the History of Comal County. What can you find in your old documents that give clues to a mystery?

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Corridor Title Company; Heidi Aleman; Erin Campbell.

Samples of Abstract of Title documents in the Archives.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

It’s happened again. While looking for an old house address in the archive, my eyes strayed across the page to an unknown item, and my curiosity got the best of me. I needed to solve the mystery of a street named Pecan. I had no idea where that was. Having lived nearly my entire life in New Braunfels, with the exception of a few years away at school, I thought I could tell you where almost every old street was in this town, but it seems that was not the case.

With magnifying glass in hand, I headed for the map drawers. I went for the earliest representation of New Braunfels as surveyed by Nikolaus Zink in 1845. Zink was an army officer on leave and at the disposal of Prince Carl. He is responsible for laying out the newly established colony in the manner of European towns, with streets and town lots arranged around a large open main plaza. Zink even added a smaller market plaza a little further from the center of town. For his efforts, Zink was granted 25 acres along the Comal Creek along with his own named street designated along the edge of his property. Early street names were in German. The two main ones, San Antonio Strasse and Seguiner Strasse (strasse means street), obviously marking the direction to those cities, intersected at Main Plaza. I also found Berg (Hill) Strasse, which ran along the base of the hill where the Sophienburg sat. There was Brücken (Bridge) Strasse, which led to the pecan tree bridge across the Comal: Fahr (Ferry) Strasse, which led to the ferry crossing on the Guadalupe; and Sack Gasse, (sack alley), which led from Lindheimer’s garden to the ferry crossing. No Pecan Street on that map.

Moving on to an 1868 map, I found it. Pecan Street was short, only two blocks long, located between Zink Street and the Comal Creek. But that mystery led to others with more streets that I did not recognize, many names of which are now different. New Braunfels more than tripled in size in just twenty-three years, challenging the numbers of today’s rapid population growth. Prince Carl settled New Braunfels on 1285 acres purchased from the Juan Martin de Veramendi Family. The Veramendis in turn, hired an agent named Murchison to develop and sell lots in Comal Town, situated across the Comal River, but that’s another story.

The two settlements were quite separate, as it required a ferry to cross the river. Two separate cities easily explains the duplication of street names: Commerce, Liberty, Washington, Union, Ferguson. It looked like a patchwork quilt, where the subdivisions and streets did not quite line up. It seemed that each developer did not take into account that it had to connect to other already existing streets. So, in October 1926, the City Commissioners voted to change all that, marking the streets in a uniform manner for city delivery.

In downtown New Braunfels, Grand Avenue, was somewhat in line with Hill and therefore changed to Hill Avenue. Both sides of Market Plaza, parallel to San Antonio St. were changed to Tolle Street. Ferry Street, one block long, was made an extension of Jahn Street. Pecan, Market and Solms (a little short street by Boy Scout Hut) were sort of in a straight line, so they all became Market Avenue. Coll Street, Church (the piece of Coll that ran beside First Protestant Church) and Warnecke (may have been the little street running from Solms to river) streets were all changed to the Coll Street that we know now. They also took Yankee (beside the mill, supposedly named for Torrey, who was from Connecticut), Gilbert and Ferdinand (possibly the short street perpendicular to Warnecke) and made a very disjointed Gilbert Street. Sack Street became Simon (See-mon) located near Lindheimer Plaza.

The 1926 action also included changing Prinz Road, where Prince Carl is said to have once owned 100 acres, to Landa Street. There is now a Prince Drive in the subdivision in the same area. High became Willow Avenue. Hoecke Street became West Bridge Street. An unnamed street in the Schulze addition on the west side of town was designated Katy Street. The street running north of Comal Creek was named Floral Avenue, as it ran along the Locke Nursery property from the hill to the creek. Later, maybe in the 70’s, a railroad crossing was put in connecting Floral and Walnut. The whole street became Walnut, except for the little dead end piece of Floral on the hill. They also changed South Union in the Kuehler addition to Kuehler Avenue.

And what of the other duplications mentioned earlier? They were not addressed in the 1926 reports, so it is not clear when the changes happened. The new names do appear on the 1936 map. Comal Town retained Commerce, Liberty, Washington and Union. In New Braunfels proper, Commerce became Clemens (named for businessman Johann Wilhelm Clemens of Clemens Dam fame) Avenue. Liberty became Hampe Street; and Washington became South Guenther. Ferguson, a one block long avenue connecting San Antonio and Mill streets, was retained by New Braunfels. In Comal Town, Ferguson Street, so named because it was adjacent to Ferguson-owned property, along with an earlier version of Basel Street, went away when Liberty Street was extended to East Dittlinger/San Antonio Street.

There is so much information to be found in these old maps, some of which can be found in articles by Myra Lee Adams Goff on our website or in her book, Around the Sophienburg, available at the museum. If all of this street information is more than you can absorb, just know that the Commissioners tried to make it simple for us when they adopted the ordinance stating that San Antonio Street is the dividing line between north and south and Seguin Avenue the dividing line between east and west. All streets parallel with Seguin Avenue would be known as avenues, and all streets parallel with San Antonio Street would be called streets. Easy, Right?

Sources: Sophienburg Archives, Around the Sophienburg by Myra Lee Adams Goff; First Founders by Everette Fey

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Kids of all ages gravitate to superheroes. I come from a time when the superhero list was relatively short: Superman, Mighty Mouse and Sky King. My favorite was Sky King, of course. But my real heroes — the ones I pretended to be in the backyard with all my neighborhood friends — were firemen. When your family members and your friends’ family members are firemen, it seems kind of a natural thing to play. Perhaps that’s why I find the history of the New Braunfels Fire Department fascinating.

Back in January 2017, Myra Lee Adams Goff covered the early history of the fire department (from 1874 up to about 1918) in her Around the Sophienburg article, “New Braunfels Fire Department — years of service”. In 1918, the city built and outfitted a new state of the art fire station, complete with three engine bays and sleeping quarters upstairs for the first paid firemen. That station became known as Central Station. It was the heartbeat of the firefighting community, for both paid men and volunteers. As a child, Central Station WAS the fire station to me. It held the shiny red engines in its neatly painted bays with pressed tin ceilings. The bay doors were almost always open and the firemen would often sit on the metal benches out front. This station also had a tower with a siren that went off exactly at noon every day without fail (or some poor young fireman would catch heck). That siren was the signal that my Opa would be home for lunch in 5 minutes. The tower isn’t there anymore, but the original 1918 station stands ready right next to the new Central Station. That building, located at 131 Hill Ave. is now the Fire Department Museum, and you can see all the cool history inside.

As New Braunfels grew, so did the need to protect the city. A community’s fire rating (insurance rate) is based on the building codes and the fire department’s ability to reach and extinguish a fire in the shortest amount of time. In 1931, the city saw fit to build Station No. 2., the one-story building that stood on the corner of Coll and Sycamore (next to the water tower) enabling fire coverage without having to wait for a train. The station originally housed one truck (the 1913 American LaFrance moved from Central Station) and two firemen with their families. Yes, families. R. Ebensberger and Hilmar Voigt were the first to occupy the station with family living quarters. Hilmar H. H. Chili Voigt was my Opa. He and my Oma moved in for a short time when my aunt was 11 and my uncle was 5. The station was replaced with the current Station No. 2. located on Loop 337 near Solms in 1975.

Station No. 3 was in Comaltown which was annexed by New Braunfels in 1868. Comal did have a fire house on N. Houston Ave. near where Lamar school is now, but it was torn down in 1925.

In 1950 the city bought and refurbished a 2-story building on the corner of Union and Garza (now Christus’ parking lot). The building had housed Simon’s Garage & Service Station on one end and Dolle’s Saloon on the other with the Hermann Son’s Lodge upstairs. From 1925 — 1950, fire protection had to come from Central Station across the Comal River. Station No. 3 remained in service until 1983 when the current station was built on Hanz Lane.

The city passed a bond in 1968 that built Station No. 4 on Kerlick Lane. It came online in 1970, went out of service for a while and then came back into service. The current Station No. 4 was built on Alyssa Way in 2012. Stations 5 and 6 are relatively new. No. 5 was built on County Line Road before 2006 and No. 6, on Stone Gate, came online in 2008.

To give you an idea of the department’s growth, in 1918, the department operated with three to four paid men and four companies of 15 volunteers each. By 1973, there were 28 paid men and 60 volunteers. Today there are 135 paid firefighters. The volunteer organization dissolved in the early 2000’s.

My Opa started with the fire department as a volunteer in about 1922. He became a ‘paid man’ in 1931, made Assistant Chief in 1958 and retired as Fire Marshal in 1966 after 35 years on the job. He also was a house painter/paper hanger, as most firemen needed a second job to make ends meet. Both my dad and uncle were members and officers of the New Braunfels Volunteer Fire Department for over 20 years, as were many of their friends. It was a way to give back to your community. The “hero games” we played as kids revolved around what we heard and saw. We pretended that the “Plectron” would go off (an electronic notification system at each volunteer captain’s house). One of us would jump on the “truck” (bicycle) and the other would stay by the phone, activating the “phone tree.” We also practiced for Pumper Races with the garden hose. As we got older, we took pride in being able to identify any firetruck coming our way—without seeing it, just by the sound of its siren. My favorite story about Central Station involved my Opa and my uncle. During WWII my uncle had joined the Army and, after completing basic in San Antonio, the soldiers shipped out by train. No one was allowed to notify family of their new orders or duty stations. My uncle knew that the train would pass right in front of the fire station, where the men sometimes sat out front on benches. He wrote on a rock he had picked up before boarding. Just as the train pulled through downtown New Braunfels, he stepped out onto the platform and threw the rock towards the fire station. My Opa no longer worried about my uncle going overseas. The rock said, “Aberdeen, Maryland.”

Firemen were — and are — a brotherhood. They risk their lives daily to protect the community, buildings, and people from fire, flood and disaster. They work hard and play hard, but they alone know what they see in their work and they carry it with them. THEY are my heroes and their history lives in the 1918 Central Fire Station. She looks pretty grand for 100 years old.

Sources:

• Sophienburg Archives
• New Braunfels Herald
• Sophienburg “Reflections”
• New Braunfels Fire Department

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The New Braunfels Fire Department is celebrating its 130^th year of service to the New Braunfels people.

In 1886, Hermann Seele was named the chairman of the Fire Committee of the City Council by Mayor Joseph Faust. The purpose of the committee was to form fire protection for the people of New Braunfels. Seele had been on the Waterworks Committee for the city and now with the waterworks accomplished, a fire department could be established.

Just two months later, the mayor announced in the newspaper that the city had taken steps to acquire hose reel and hook and ladder equipment for fighting fires. Then two days after this announcement, on June 6, 1886, Seele announced that the New Braunfels Volunteer Fire Department was formed.

At the first meeting set up by Seele and Faust to form the department, forty interested young men showed up. The decision was to form two hose and reel companies and one hook and ladder company. Two bells on towers would be mounted in the north and south ends of town with a hose shed underneath to house the hose and pump cart. Obviously, the bells would ring to alert the firemen to a fire. One of the hose reel carts and a bell tower was stationed where Lamar School is now. Another was on the south side of town and a third one was located downtown. The hook and ladder hose reel equipment and bell tower downtown was first located next to the first courthouse where Chase Bank is now. When the present courthouse was built in 1898, the bell tower and shed were moved to that location and then in 1918 when the first fire station was built on Hill Avenue, the bell tower was moved there. We know these locations from looking at old photographs and also viewing the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps that showed the firefighting equipment locations as well as where the water mains were located in the street.

The need for such a service was so great that a list of 46 names was suggested as candidates for membership of this volunteer fire department. Each company, of around 15 men, would be a part of three companies. The company was frequently named after the citizen who paid for the equipment, hence, the Moreau (Franz) Hook and Ladder company.

The chief of the department was William Schmidt with S.V. Pfeuffer named as secretary. Paying for the equipment was quite a challenge and after working hard on this detail, only $323 was collected. After a month, the department purchased two hose reel carts, two one-inch nozzles, one bell, and as much 2 ½-inch hose as they could afford. A dance was held to raise funds for the second bell. In my family, both the Moeller and the Adams families were active in the volunteer fire department.

In September of 1891, the Charles Floege Store and home on the Main Plaza caught fire. The building was a total loss because of the combustible material in the building, however, the firemen were able to save the adjoining structures. At the same time, the ringing of the bell called the fire fighters to a small fire across the Plaza at the Guadalupe Hotel (later Plaza) and then a third fire at the fire house next to the courthouse. These small fires were put out quickly. History tells us that the New Braunfels citizens became aware that additional equipment was needed. Gradually more hose companies were organized in the following years.

Until 1912, the fire department depended on hand-drawn hose reel and hook and latter carts. The volunteers were harnessed and provided foot-power to pull the equipment to the fires. Then Harry Landa offered a burned-out chassis of his Locomobile to the department. They converted it into a motorized truck that was used until 1925. Never heard of a Locomobile? Every car manufacturer produced one. It was a self-propelled automobile with some even utilizing steam power. The Landa Locomobile used was a converted touring car.

When the first fire engine was purchased in 1913, the newspaper ran an article with rules for all citizens to observe. First, they were warned that the fire truck should not be considered a toy. The public should know that the engine will travel less than the 25 miles per hour, the speed limit for other vehicles. When hearing the engine, citizens are to turn to the right and give the fire engine the middle of the road. This applies to people walking, on horseback, in wagons or automobiles. They are told not to follow the engine.

These rules, in 2016, still apply. Don’t you pull over when you hear the siren on the fire truck?

Later, after the telephone was in use, the public was informed that there were 63 fire districts and each person should know his district number. In case of fire in their district, pick up the telephone, answer to “number please” on the part of the telephone operator, and say the word “central.” Then give the fire district number. Then hold the receiver to your ear while the alarm is transmitted to the fire bell, and be connected with the fire station. I believe I would have to write down all these instructions.

Where did the water come from to put out the fires? Darren Brinkkoeter, New Braunfels Batallion Chief and historian, said that the three companies each had a hose cart. The carts were positioned in three areas of the city in sheds. The fire department relied on wooden water mains buried under the streets. Firemen would have to dig a hole in the street, then bore a hole into the wooden water main. The hole in the street would fill up with water and could be pumped through the hoses. Leather buckets were also used to get the water and after the fire, the hole was plugged up in the pipe and street. Think about this in relation to time. The bell rings, the firemen run to the equipment where they are hooked up, they run to where the fire is, they drill a hole in the wooden pipe under the street, they pump the water from the hole to put out the fire. By this time, the fire must be a roaring blaze. When the fire is out, the hole is plugged and the running begins again to take the equipment back to where it belongs. This was no easy task and the firemen were looked up to as super athletes. You can see why.

The fire museum that Brinkkoeter is in charge of, has an old fire extinguisher. “When the heating unit behind the glass bottle reached a certain temperature, the bottle, filled with carbon tetrachloride, would spew and put out the fire. The museum has a fantastic collection of old engines, including the 1923 American LaFrance pumper truck designed for the firefighters to ride on the outside of the truck. Four original engines are in the museum, including the 1925 REO Hose Wagon (REO stands for Reginald E. Olds), that was the first move from horse-drawn or man-drawn hose carts to motorized hose transport. The old trucks have been a part of every parade in the city.

Early on in 1886, a Volunteer Firemen’s Band was formed that also participated in parades. I can remember when the firemen would stop at the Plaza during the Comal County Fair parade and have competitions. They would shoot the water up in the air, giving everyone on the Plaza a welcome shower. This was, of course, long after wooden water pipes had to be drilled and when hydrants were installed.

Up until 1918, there was no actual fire station and the first station built now houses the museum. It is located at 131 Hill Avenue and almost 100-years-old.

There are six fire stations in New Braunfels and on September 1, 2016 due to its excellent record, the Insurance Service Office changed the city’s Class 2 rating to a Class 1 rating, the highest level to achieve. These levels control how much insurance premium we pay in our city. Thank you, New Braunfels Fire Department.

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Soon after moving to New Braunfels, Bill and Bonnie Leitch began “looking for a perfect place to live away from city life” in the city. For that matter, the house they found in 1971 is very close to downtown but has the feeling of being “outside the city”. The home was an old Victorian beauty in a neighborhood that had changed, located on a street whose name had even changed. The house itself was still preserved and the Leitches bought the house and made it their ambition to restore it.

The house was located on Grand Street. Never heard of it? That’s because Grand Street (only one block long) changed to Hill Ave. and I bet you know where that is. It parallels Academy running next to the railroad track and then goes up the hill for about a block. This property was located in the Jahn Addition. The whole area was originally owned by Johann Jahn, the furniture maker in 1846. The property was later given to Carl and Emma Jahn by their mother, Anna Jahn, upon the death of their father, Johann Jahn.

The lot on which the house is located is really a double lot and the original property was two double lots, extending from Grand St. (Now Hill) straight through to Academy.

When Carl Jahn inherited the four lots, he sold two of the lots to Heinrich Blumberg and two to Johann Wahl. In 1905 and 1906, both Blumberg and Wahl sold their four adjoining lots to Frederick Hofheinz.

Now we get to the builder of the house that the Leitches bought. Records show that Frederick Hofheinz was 11 years old when he emigrated from Germany to Texas with his parents, Johannes and Emilie Hofheinz from Nassau in Germany. In 1852 this family landed on the coast at Indianola. After a difficult nine-day trek inland, the family settled in Hortontown, a small settlement across the Guadalupe River from New Braunfels. Very shortly after arriving, Johannes died of cholera, which affected so many emigrants at the time.

Frederick, as the oldest child, took on the responsibility of taking care of his mother and his younger siblings. He went to work as a teamster, hauling freight from the coast into the interior from age 14 until he was 22 years old.

During that time Frederick had moved to Kendall County and joined Captain E. Jones’ volunteers organization to guard the frontier from Indian attacks. In 1864 he married Emilie Wilke of Kendall County and started farming and ranching. Emilie was born in Lavaca, moved to New Braunfels where she went to school, and later moved to Kendall County with her parents. This is where she met Frederick. The couple eventually had four sons- Adolph, Hugo, Bruno, and Max. They also had two daughters, Adele (Mrs. Otto Beseler) and Emma (Mrs. Hugo Liesmann).

Frederick Hofheinz was very active politically in Kendall County. For several years he was elected Justice of the Peace and County Commissioner. In 1903 he was elected state president of the Order of the Sons of Hermann. He finally turned over management of the ranch to his son and the couple moved to New Braunfels.

When the Hofheinzs moved to New Braunfels (1905), they bought the four lots from Blumberg and Wahl and began building their home in the middle of the lots with the front facing Grand St. and the back facing Academy Ave. The old carriage house is still standing behind the house.

Before he died in 1918, Hofheinz became one of the principal founders of the New Braunfels State Bank. Both he and Emilie are buried in the family plot in the Comal Cemetery. Their headstones include porcelain portraits of the couple.

Now the house began its own journey, reflecting the change that time brings. First the house was sold to Charles Knibbe in 1920 and when Knibbe died in 1927, his children inherited the property and house on Hill Ave. and the other property on Academy at the back of the house. These were the four lots originally bought by Hofheinz.

During WWII the house was divided into three apartments. During this time the neighborhood deteriorated. A lack of housing in New Braunfels and the increase of train traffic was probably the reason. If you ask anyone that lives close to train tracks if they are bothered by the trains, the standard answer is, “What train?”

Then Ella Bremmer, daughter of the Knibbes, sold the house to Bruno and Elizabeth Schoenfeld who moved into the house. Schoenfeld’s son, Herman, built a home for himself and his wife, Lila, on the Academy St. half of the lots. Bruno, who was a brick layer by trade, made many improvements. He planted the pecan trees that still embrace the property and cut a cellar under the front porch. The elder Schoenfelds lived there the rest of their lives. Bruno died in 1959 and then Elizabeth in1968. When both were gone, the house stood vacant for three years until it was purchased by Bill and Bonnie Leitch.

Much time and love has gone into the restoration of this house, done mostly by the Leitches. A central tower and spindled friezework (gingerbread) accent a curved porch. Sitting on that front porch is an amazing experience. The window shutters were replaced. The 14- foot ceiling inside, with transoms to let the air circulate by the fans, above the longleaf pine floors, are original. Longleaf pine wood is now extinct and this house has longleaf pine decorative wood throughout. All the windows are the original glass, giving the appearance that only wavy glass windows can create. The ceiling is pressed tin with tiles in the hallway that were salvaged from the original Carl Schurz School.

Once a building like that is gone, it’s gone. A beautiful Queen Anne house has been saved from the chopping block by Bill and Bonnie Leitch. Viele Danke!

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