As the last article of the year 2013, I would like to tell you a story that is factually true but of little historic significance. I remember the programs put on by school children for their parents before Christmas vacation, in the Spring, and at the end-of-school. They had one thing in common – everyone was glad when they were over.

My first teaching job was here in New Braunfels at Lamar Elementary. Although I had a secondary degree, my first job was in elementary school. That’s because I could play the piano and in those early days it was very important for a school to have a teacher that could play the piano. Every grade had a music and an art class.

On Friday afternoons all the children filed into the auditorium where they learned patriotism through singing “Texas Our Texas” and the “Star Spangled Banner”. There were other historical songs like “Over There” from WWI and “Just Before the Battle Mother” from the Civil War. The idea was that history could be learned through music and I do think it works. What teacher could resist the teaching moment when a child would ask, “Why is it our Texas?”, or “What’s a Star Spangled Banner?”, or “Where is over there?”, or “What battle?”

Not having any training in what children were capable of singing, my expectations far outreached the limits of their capabilities. I still remember for example one Easter program when the little fourth graders sang “The Holy City”, a piece that only the Mormon Tabernacle Choir could perfect.

In the mid-1960s, I was teaching music at Carl Schurz Elementary. The Texas Education Agency decreed that sixth grade students were to be taught music, art, and performing arts every day. It was loosely called Fine Arts. Teachers were not supplied a curriculum; it was up to the teachers.

My fellow sixth grade teacher Georgia Brooks and I guided 60 sixth graders through Broadway classics, old songs from the 1920s that my mother taught me and a few that her mother taught her. We taught anti-war songs like “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, “Yesterday”, and “The Cruel War”.

I led the music portion of Fine Arts while Brooks held those 60 children in place. When we taught the art part of Fine Arts, Brooks directed with me helping with discipline. For Performing Arts we taught the students to dance. Brooks danced with them while I played piano. We danced “Put Your Little Foot”, “Ten Pretty Girls”, the polka, two step and waltz. They were ready for the Kindermaskenball.

Then the sixth grade was transferred to New Braunfels Middle School. The transition to a school where there were 7^th and 8^th graders was difficult. There was no bad influence on these younger children like many were afraid would happen; the older students would have nothing to do with the 6^th graders.

Our Fine Arts program transferred with us to Middle School, only the music was in the boy’s gym with basketball going on at the same time. The art segment was in a double classroom shared by Brooks and me.

At Christmastime our principal asked our Fine Arts class to put on a program in the gym before the holidays. This was a most difficult audience but 6^th graders were eager to perform. We put on our version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. The art part of the Fine Arts class made elaborate scenery – mountains, artificial snow and a little red wagon for a sled. It was a success. And so our stock went up with the 7^th and 8^th graders.

The next year our Fine Arts class was again asked to put on the pre-holiday program. What glory there is in success! This time we created our own version of “Toyland” and we worked like little elves.

The day arrived and once again the 7^th and 8^th graders poured into the gym. Everything was going as planned until the last number.

Picture this: Two rows of students lined up facing each other playing the part of the figures that come out of a German “cuckoo” clock. They look at each other and then go back in the clock. To make things a little more exciting, each child had an aluminum pie plate filled with shaving cream. They were SUPPOSED to act like they were going to throw it at each other. Instead of acting, one pie flew through the air and hit another child. Now twelve pies flew and soon the gym floor, covered with shaving cream, became a slip and slide for merrily sliding children.

Can you imagine the audience? They were wild with enthusiasm and wild with the appreciation of our talent! These people have a strange sense of humor. The assembly was called off, every one filed happily out of the gym and Brooks and I stood there stunned. One math teacher came back and helped us mop the entire gym floor.

The floor has never been so clean and this, our swan song, was the last time our Fine Arts class was asked to put on the Christmas program. Without saying a word, the look on the principal’s face said it all.

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Ron Snider has been awarded the Dr. Frederick Frueholz Comal County Historical Commission Award for his work in the restoration and preservation of downtown New Braunfels buildings. In the 1960s a trend of tearing down old buildings, remodeling them into modern buildings or using the property for parking lots caused the loss of many beautiful homes and business buildings downtown. This trend seemed to be growing but when civic minded people became aware of the trend, conservation groups began to pop up to save what was still left of the irreplaceable buildings.

Often it takes people from the outside to really see the value of what you have. Ron Snider was one of those people. Snider and his family moved to New Braunfels in1982 when he began a business called GYM-N-I, building wooden playground equipment. It was a good, safe and welcome business in New Braunfels. For years parents had been aware of the danger of certain metal playground equipment, especially on the school playground. One by one, these iron swings, slides and merry-go-rounds had been removed.

Snider grew up inner city but both his grandfathers lived on farms so he liked small towns. He had German roots and he chose New Braunfels to live in. With a background of ten years as a salesman for Lane Furniture, traveling to small towns made him aware of what was happening to downtowns especially the business districts. Beginning with the first purchase in 1996 by Snider and Darrell Sollberger under the name of S&S Properties and then with Dr. Frank Hampel as S&H Properties, he renovated eight buildings in the downtown area, built from early 1900s to the latest in the 1940s.

Seekatz Opera House

The first building to be renovated at 265 W. San Antonio St. was the Seekatz Opera House built in 1901. It was a big success as an events center, badly needed by the town. This building was severely damaged by a fire in 1941. By that time it had become the Cole Movie Theater. After that it became a clothing store but it never became what it was in its prime. After seven years of renovation, the Seekatz Opera House has once again become an important events center in downtown.

The Seekatz Opera House had a long history in downtown. In the late 1800s Louis and Otto Seekatz saw a need for a building with a stage and auditorium style seating, mostly for the traveling shows that came through town and local events such as New Year’s Eve Dances, July 4 Celebrations, Firemen’s Dances and Kindermaskenball.

Richter Buildings 1910 and 1920

In 1998 S&S purchased the two R.B. Richter buildings. These buildings had some renovations done by Ernie Lambert and Luke Speckman and the upstairs apartment had already been renovated when the purchase was made. The complicated history of these two buildings was given to me by researcher David Hartmann who knows more about the Richters than they do. Richter set up his first pharmacy at 143 W. San Antonio St. (next to the Phoenix) in 1901 and then ten years later in 1910 moved across the street to 142 W. San Antonio St. where there had been a one-story saloon. A. Moeller began construction of the building housing the pharmacy and a second floor that became the residence of R.B. and Emilie Weilbacher Richter.

Now the second Richter 1920 building. Next door at 168 W. San Antonio St. was a fachwerk house and in 1915 Richter bought the property and tore the house down. On this lot an L shaped brick wall was constructed with a large wooden floor. The back wall was plastered white and chairs were set up for an open-air theater showing silent movies. During the day, the floor was used as a roller skating rink. In 1920 the building was enclosed and a second story was added and rented out to doctors and attorneys. Downstairs was Oscar Haas Mercantile, Richters Grocery, B.F. Goodrich and Tom Oliver’s clothing store.

Palace Theater

The next purchase in partnership with Dr. Frank Hampel was a series of three connected buildings that few here can still remember. Located in the 100 block of N. Castell Ave., one of the three buildings was originally the Palace Theater, a movie theater whose grand opening was Dec. 23, 1924. Records show that it was built by A.C. Moeller (my grandfather) and Herman Moeller, his brother. The theater didn’t last long and closed in 1932, possibly because of the Depression. At that time it became the home of Ma’s Café. This café was a favorite of locals run by Ma Bloedorn and her son, Schimmel. It finally closed in 1982 after 50 years. Now these buildings are the upscale Myrons Prime Steakhouse and the Blue Artichoke.

Bingo Café

The next purchase in 2004 by S&S was the former Hinman’s Bingo Café at 277 W. San Antonio St. Homer Hinman owned many cafés on San Antonio St. He actually began his business at the age of 14 when he drove a wagon to Landa Park and sold 5cent hamburgers from a grill that he had on a wagon. His first indoor café was next to Peerless Drug Store, a very small deli called “Hole in the Wall” from 1912-1915. From 1918 to 1923 he owned the Bingo Café where his wife and two children lived on the second floor. Then from 1923-1926 he purchased the “A” Café, so named so that it could be first in the telephone book. It was across the railroad track on San Antonio St. in front of the Huisache Restaurant. Then in 1926 he ran Homer’s Lunch Bar next to the Bingo Café and then finally from 1932 to 1936 he owned the Longhorn Café across from the Civic Center.

Herald-Zeitung, KGNB/KNBT

The former Herald-Zeitung and KGNB/KNBT building at 188 Castell Ave. was purchased in 2009. This renovation took four years, as there was the relocation of the Salvation Army office involved. Today it houses the restaurant called 188 South, the Blue Moose Pizza, the office of S&H Properties and the Farmer’s Market office.

Historically the Art Deco Style building was built for Claude Scruggs in 1945.This building style was covered up in an imitation German fachwerk style. The New Braunfels Herald newspaper was first published around 1892 and merged with the Zeitung-Chronicle in 1966.The paper was renamed the Herald-Zeitung in 1979.

The Farmer’s Market

The purchase of the Herald building and the ownership of the back of the Seekatz Opera House used for parking led to the very popular Farmer’s Market. Snider built stalls and the market has grown to 60 vendors, usually 30 in winter. Ron Snider through an early influence of both grandfathers who were farmers became interested in this type of business and a recent demand for fresh produce has made this market very popular.

Odyssey of the Mind

Here’s something about Snider that you may not know: He also knows how to build robots. Here’s the story:

In the late 1980s an educational program was entered into for 6^th and 7^th graders called the “Odyssey of the Mind”. OM is an international competition. Student teams are given a problem to solve by using divergent skills, and creativity for the purpose of promoting team efforts. Not only teachers are involved, but parents are a must. A group of seven boys from New Braunfels Middle School chose a problem having to construct an actual robot. Guess who volunteered to help this team. Yes, you have it – Ron Snider. For six months this team met with Snider and they constructed a life-sized robot. When the competition came along, the team won first place locally, then at the regional level and finally the state winner. The next step was the world competition. Teachers, parents, and seven boys flew to the University of Tennessee and won 13th place. This was the first and last time that any New Braunfels team competed in a world competition.

And now, as you could guess, Snider has a “work in progress’. He is renovating the very popular Krause’s Café. Congratulations, Ron, anyone who can put together a robot with 7^th grade boys is destined to continue great things here in New Braunfels.

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