Dressing Little Miss America

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — Remember the wonderful Sears or JC Penney Christmas catalogues that used to arrive in the mail each September? School had barely begun, the weather still hot enough to wear shorts, but I spent hours looking at the beautiful Christmas dresses. However, my Christmas dresses never

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Still chugging after all these years …

Keva Hoffmann Boardman – A research request regarding an old stage at the Landa Park dance slab led me to ferreting out what the Works Projects Administration (WPA) projects were in Comal County in the 1930s. I wasn’t at all surprised when I found myself looking into the Landa Park

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Public art in New Braunfels

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — The recently unveiled “Legacy of Our Journey” mural on Main Plaza got me thinking about public art in our city. I have always considered New Braunfels to be an historic city, but what if I broadened my thinking and started looking at it as a

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4th of July Parade That Wasn’t

By Tara V. Kohlenberg — That place we call HOME, New Braunfels, has long been a “go to” place for summer vacations. It seems especially so for the holidays, like the upcoming July 4th. Each year the excitement grows as Main Plaza is draped in her patriotic finery and the stars

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2018 Sophienburg scholarship awarded

By Tara Voigt Kohlenberg — School is out and summer is here, heralding the throngs of visitors that will be descending upon our beautiful rivers and lakes. They come because they are drawn by the water, not unlike people who have come here for hundreds of years. Or they come

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Look and Learn! Part 2

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — In the last article, I let you know about some of the wonderful and informative markers and memorials located downtown. There are so many more. If you really want to get into this, check out the Comal County Historical Commission’s website, http://www.co.comal.tx.us/CCHC.htm. But, until you do

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Blind Tom: Wonder of Nature

— By Keva Hoffmann Boardman New Year’s Eve was known in the New Braunfels area as Sylvester’s Abend even by my dad who was a child of The Great Depression. Myra Lee Adams Goff wrote an article, published Dec 30, 2012, on the tradition of grand, dress-up dances held on

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Karl Klinger: the first tour guide of NB

By Tara Kohlenberg, Sophienburg Executive Director — Tourism has been an important economic facet in New Braunfels for many years. All can agree that the beauty of natural springs bubbling out of a rocky hillside to form the crystal clear Comal River, Landa Park, historic homes and businesses, music venues in

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Birds of War

Keva Hoffmann Boardman, Sophienburg Curator Whether winging their way through barrages of shells, dodging shrapnel, maneuvering through clouds of gas, or flying through torrential downpours of machine gun and anti-aircraft gun bullets, pigeons were feathered aviators that played an essential role in the Great War. Both the Greek and the

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“Just a Grand Place to make a Living and a Grand Place to Live”

By Keva Boardman, Sophienburg Curator When the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce published a new brochure in the 1960s, they (rightfully) had a lot to boast about. New Braunfels was just beginning its change from a small town to a large town. Today, our community is changing from a large

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