Roemer’s insight in Texas, 1846
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Much has been written about the Indians of Texas, especially the Comanches. No one has given us more information than Dr. Ferdinand Roemer. In the field of research, Dr. Roemer becomes a primary source in which a person is actually present at the event being researched. All other sources are […]
The one-room schoolhouse
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Shortly after the immigrants arrived in New Braunfels in 1845, small communities sprang up in the outer reaches of Comal County. Settlers were interested in good farmland which was available in the area. One of these small communities was called Ufnau, located in the western area of Comal County off […]
The rise an fall of the Darmstadt
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Called by some, “a catastrophic failure of dreamers”, the organization of about 40 intellectuals, university fraternity members and freethinkers banded together with a common cause. They were called “Darmstadters”, or the “Society of the 40” and their plan in 1847 was to organize a communistic utopian settlement in Texas. The […]
Time calls for change in roads
By Myra Lee Adams Goff Are you one who thinks that John Meusebach led the group that founded Fredericksburg up Fredericksburg Road, out Highway 46 and then straight on to Fredericksburg? I know that’s what I thought, but it’s not true. I ran across evidence that this more recent pathway from New Braunfels to Fredericksburg […]
The year of the courthouse and the Spanish-American War
By Myra Lee Adams Goff The year 1898 was the year of the Comal County Courthouse and the year of the Spanish-American War. In 1998 Dr. Robert Govier translated the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung” from German into English for the Sophienburg . The Govier and Adams families were old family friends. Before Bob died, he gave […]
Drought, floods, and war affect Comal County Fair
By Myra Lee Adams Goff There were only three times in the long history of the Comal County Fair that the fair was postponed. Two times had to do with weather and one time had to do with war. The very first fair was scheduled to be held in November 1893. The recently organized Comal […]
History of the fountain in Main Plaza
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — The world is full of magnificent works of art and sculpture, some of which are centuries old. New Braunfels is even home to one, featuring a female figure and gargoyles. Now somewhat obscured by trees and traffic, the 19th-century Victorian fountain was actually the beginning of our Main Plaza. In […]
Rancho Comal at Spring Branch
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — A Princely Estate — We learn that Maj Leland of New York, has settled among us, having purchased the Comal Ranch of Col. Sparks, fronting the Guadalupe River 9 miles, and laying 22 miles west of New Braunfels … all one body of some ten thousand acres with improvements thereon, […]
New Braunfels 25th Birthday (Part 2)
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — Day two of the 25th Jubilee of the founding of New Braunfels turned out to be just as wonderful as the day before. As it neared 10 am on Monday, May 16, 1870, citizens once again assembled at the school on Academy and Mill streets. The front of the building […]
Affordable housing in the 1850s
By Tara Voigt Kohlenberg — Judging by recent headlines, good, affordable housing in the Austin-San Antonio area is hard to come by, especially in New Braunfels. As is my usual, I was on a mission looking for something else when I ran across this excerpt from the Herald Zeitung. It is a portion of a […]
