It’s the Silver Anniversary of Weihnachtsmarkt. Can you believe it? For 25 years the Sophienburg has been putting on this event. Weihnachtsmarkt means “Christmas Market”. Patterned after the Christmas Markets in Germany, the purpose is to allow tradesmen to offer customers goods and gifts for Christmas gift-giving. Of course, our purpose is also to help keep the doors open to the Museum and Archives. The event will be at the Civic Center from Friday, Nov. 22 through Sunday, Nov. 24.

There are some unexpected connections between Weihnachtsmarkt and the Civic Center. Stretch your imagination and see if you can guess the first connection.

Karl Matern

In 1844 when the first group of immigrants on the ship Johann Dethardt arrived in Galveston, there was a young man aboard named Karl Matern. He was typical of the single first emigrants looking for a new life. Early in March, Prince Carl went to San Antonio looking for land to buy and bought the Veramendi Tract (Comal Tract) from the Juan Veramendi heirs. Karl Matern accompanied Prince Carl on this trip. As a first founder of New Braunfels, Matern received Lot #63 from the Adelsverein, on which he built a log cabin without using nails. He had been trained in forestry in Germany.

A year later Matern attended a picnic in Austin County where he met his future wife, Ulrike Fuchs. After they married in 1853, the couple moved to land on the Colorado River in Burnet County where her family had settled. Matern was gone from New Braunfels and so was his little log cabin.

Now you have connection #1. Lot #63 is where the Civic Center now stands and I’m sure lots of nails were used in construction. In front of it is the statue of Prince Carl. This is where Weihnachtsmarkt will be held.

Alonzo Garwood

About the time the Matern left New Braunfels, a child, Alonzo Garwood, was born in Bastrop, Texas. He was destined to have a successful medical practice in New Braunfels. Dr. Garwood built a grand home on the corner of Seguin and Garden Sts. sometime in the mid-1920s. The lot number was #63. He married Irene Pfeuffer, the daughter of Senator Georg Johann Pfeuffer and Suzanah Gravis and two children were born to the couple – Lucille in 1885 and George in 1889.

After Irene’s death, Garwood married Bertha Harpstrite. When Dr. Garwood died in 1932, his widow lived in the house until her death.

After several owners, the property was purchased in 1969 by the City of New Braunfels, including most of the block, that included lot # 63.

Chamber of Commerce

Fast forward to an ad in the l00th Anniversary of the Neu Braunfelser Herald-Zeitung in 1952. This ad stated that the Chamber of Commerce began in 1920 when the town was a “neat little town” of 3,590 to almost 15,000 in 1952 (today’s population is at least six times that amount). In its infancy, NB had ideal living conditions, was favored by nature, and was strategically located in the heart of Texas. Originally called the Merchants Association, the Chamber of Commerce organization became the Board of City Development and eventually the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce.

Now go way back in time. As long as commerce existed, traders grouped themselves together for protection and then eventually to set up rules of governing the conduct of trade. As a world-wide organization, the Chamber goes back to the end of the 17^th century in Marsaille, France when the city council formed an association of traders.

In the British Isles, it was in Glasgow, Edinburg, Manchester, and London in 1881. In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm saw the advantages of such organizations for promoting trade. Its success spread over Germany.

The oldest Chamber of Commerce in America was formed in New York in 1768 and was chartered by King George of England and by 1870 there were 40 U.S. Chambers. Each was an association of tradesmen for promotion of the sale of goods. When businesses realized that their success depended on a healthy community, the Chamber of Commerce became a true community organization. That’s true of the New Braunfels Chamber. To attract new industries and to involve the community in governmental affairs on a local, state and federal level became major goals for Chamber programs.

Our Civic Center opened its doors in 1971. Most of the building is smack-dab in the middle of lot #63.

Weihnachtsmarkt

Now let’s get back to Weihnachtsmarkt. Eighty years ago the Sophienburg Museum and Archives was organized for the purpose of preserving the unique history of New Braunfels and Comal County. Weihnachtsmarkt began in 1989 as a primary fund raiser.

The Civic Center was the location of the event. During the expansion of the Civic Center, Weihnachtsmarkt was held as a one year event in the Wursthalle. Although the atmosphere was charming using huge murals of Germany, the event returned to the new Civic Center in 2008. More geared to this type of event, Weihnachtsmarkt has been there ever since.

The sounds and smells of Weihnachtsmarkt will put you in the mood for the holidays. Sophie’s Kaffee Shop gives you an opportunity to eat and rest in between shopping. There is so much variety in the shopping and if you want to experience old world Christmas charm, come to Weihnachtsmarkt.

Letter to Prince Carl:

Dear Prince Carl,

Perhaps you can be with us in spirit at Weihnachtsmarkt. We think you would like what we have done at Sophie’s Castle on the hill. We will use the money we make at Weinhachtsmarkt to keep alive the history of the community you helped found.

Sincerely,
The Sophienburg Museum and Archives

The post Letter to Prince Carl appeared first on Sophies Shop.

It did not surprise me to find out that Harry Landa was the first president of the Comal County Fair Association. In those early days before the turn of the century, his name appears over and over for new projects, new industry, innovative ideas, and most of them succeeded. He would have gotten the Chamber of Commerce’s Besserung Award.

Here’s how the Comal County Fair began: The editor of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, Anselm Eiband, (the second editor after Lindheimer) asked the question in an editorial, “Why don’t we have a fair here in New Braunfels when towns like Fredericksburg and Lockhart have one?”

An opportunity arose, as it so often does. The newly built Krankenhaus (hospital) needed money, so they decided to have a fair on their lot (corner of Zink and Seguin Sts.) during their dedication Sept. 30, 1892. It was a huge success.

Shortly thereafter, a group of civic-minded men met in the courthouse and formed the Comal County Fair Association. They elected Harry Landa to be president, so in 1893 they set the date for the fair to be in November on Landa’s pasture.

“No Rain, No Fair” screamed the newspaper headline. That first fair was called off because of a drought. In other words, too much dust for everything that was going to happen, livestock and horse races. The fair was postponed for a year.

That first fair in 1894 was a huge success according to the newspaper, and I’m sure Harry Landa relished in that success. For that matter, he rented the pasture to them to have four more years of fairs until they bought their own land.

Harry Landa became interested in horses although he admitted that he knew nothing about them. He bought a string of standard bred trotters. In the bunch was a magnificent dark brown stallion that he said he appropriately named “Bankrupt”. He not only spent a lot of money on this new venture, but he decided to dress the part himself as a racehorse owner. He bought a white plug hat (bowler), a loud checkered suit, gaudy shirt and tie with an immense Hot Springs diamond on the tie. To top off this outfit, he put a cigar in his mouth twice the ordinary size.

Possibly this new interest in horses had something to do with his interest in forming a fair association. Before the New Braunfels races, Landa decided to try out his horses at other tracks: Austin, Baylor, Waco and in all these races his trainer sent word that the horse was either lame, cast a shoe, or couldn’t be seen for the dust. Now came the New Braunfels Fair. By this time, Landa’s desire to be a big time racehorse owner had reached an all-time low. Landa’s brother, Morris, traded his horses for him for 30 carloads of hay and then sold the hay for $1,030 . This was the end of Harry Landa’s racehorse adventures.

Here is a little bit about the Landa family and how they came to own the property later known as Landa Park:

Joseph Landa, Harry’s father, ran away from his home in Germany to escape his father’s desire that he become a Rabbi. Working his way to England, he saved enough money to buy his steerage passage to America. He arrived in New York and after a few jobs, he bought a horse and loaded down a wagon with merchandise. He made his way to Texas selling his goods and arrived in San Antonio in 1844. Here he opened a little store and three years later rode his mule to NB and opened up a store on the corner of San Antonio St. and Castell Ave. now occupied by the Phoenix Saloon. Source: (Harry Landa, “As I Remember”)

He would make an annual trip to New York to replenish his stock where he met and married Helena Friedlander. She was 16, he was 41. In New Braunfels they stayed in the Millett Boarding House (where the CC Courthouse now stands). Right behind this boarding house Joseph and Helena bought the property adjoining it on the Plaza. For 75 years, members of the family lived in the beautiful Victorian home, a real showcase.

By 1862, Joseph was a prosperous merchant, owned a gristmill, owned the Comal Springs and the surrounding areas. He owned a cotton gin, a sawmill, a flour mill and a store. Then in 1896, Joseph Landa died. Harry and his mother, consequently carried on the various businesses in NB. This successful business partnership of Harry Landa and his mother bought small river frontages on the Comal River until they owned the entire stream on both sides.

A large contribution to the city was Harry Landa’s establishment of the Landa Electric Light and Power Co. Electricity for street lights would be furnished to the city at the rate of $1.50 a light a month. Soon everyone wanted electricity.

In 1927, Landa sold the entire estate including the park in compliance with the will of his mother, which called for liquidating and dividing the estate ten years after her death. The property was purchased by an investment company, suffered reverses during the depression years, and the park was closed with barbed wire surrounding the property until 1936, when the City of New Braunfels finally bought the area of Landa Park.

This week in all the excitement of the fair, let’s give a little thought to the guy that brought us Landa Park, electricity, and of course, spearheaded the Comal County Fair.

The post Landa first fair president appeared first on Sophies Shop.

A designated post office can reveal a great deal about an area and about who lived there. In Comal County the Spring Branch Post Office was at one time headed by Gottlieb Elbel and he had the forethought to keep a journal from 1867, when he became postmaster to 1872. From the journal, we learn who lived in the area, what they were interested in by what publications they subscribed to, and many more tiny insignificant things mentioned.

It’s hard to keep a journal. You don’t believe that? How many of you started a diary? How many continued one?

When the emigrants from Germany came to Texas with the Adelsverein, many moved on to the hill country surrounding New Braunfels. Routes into the hill country were along the waterways and creeks towards Western Comal County. Many land owners purchased their land from holders of Spanish or Mexican land grants, or from land speculators.

These small settlements were relatively self-sufficient with their own sawmill, gristmill, blacksmith shop, stores, schools, church and cemetery. They also developed a post office along postal routes which connected with New Braunfels, San Antonio, Blanco, Boerne, and the rest of the hill country.

One of those settlements was 23 miles NW of NB on the Spring Branch Creek and was consequently called Spring Branch. “The Branch”, as it is sometimes referred to, was known to have clear, cold water year round and land around the creek became the home of the Knibbe, Elbel, Porter, Horne, Fuhrmann, Imhoff, Beierle, Acker, Kriegner, Willke, Monken, Becker, Bergmann, Moos, Neugebauer, Knebel, Bartels, Esser, Specht, Bender, Busch, Kretzel, Stahl, Gass, Jonas, Rust, Schaeferkoeter and Wunderlich families. Many of those names are still familiar in the area. Brenda Anderson Lindemann did extensive research on families in the area in her book, “Spring Branch & Western Comal County Texas”. A revision of this book will be on the market shortly.

In 1858, the first Spring Branch post office was established with Louis Willke as post master. The next postmaster was Dr. Charles Porter in 1860, and his untimely death in 1861, closed the Post Office. As a result of Texas seceding from the Union and joining the Confederacy, all US government post offices were closed. The Comal Ranch, a Confederate post, about a mile from Spring Branch was designated as the post office and remained the area’s post office until after the Civil War in 1865.

After the war, a post office was opened in New Braunfels and Spring Branch residents had to rely on notices in the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung that mail had arrived in their name and that they were to pick it up at the post office in NB. Two years later in 1867, Gottlieb Elbel became the postmaster in Spring Branch out, of his house.

Elbel had arrived in Texas from Germany in 1849. He met and married Christine Zeh who was a waitress aboard the ship, “Gallant Flora” on which both were traveling. Arriving in NB, the couple was married by Rev. Louis Ervendberg of the German Protestant Church. After a short stay in NB, the couple moved to Spring Branch. They built a two room house where they raised seven children. Mrs. Elbel died giving birth to the 8^th child. Gottleib then married the widow Auguste Wehe and together they had four more children.

Now the Journal. Gottleib Elbel kept a post journal from the time he became postmaster until 1872 when he ended his term. In the two-room house with all the family, he also ran the post office.

The first mail arrived on August 27, 1867 between New Braunfels and Fredericksburg by way of Spring Branch. Young 22-year-old Adolph Jonas delivered the mail on horseback and continued to do that for eleven more years. A coachline was established from Austin to Blanco to Fredericksburg and San Saba, however, Jonas delivered the mail six more years from NB to Blanco.

Here is a sample of what is in the Journal. Col. Charles Power, the 1862 postmaster at Comal Ranch during the Civil War, subscribed to the following publications: “Weekly Picayune” out of New Orleans, “Texas State Gazette” from Austin, “New York Tribune” from New York, “San Antonio Weekly Herald”, “The World” out of New York, and “The Two Republics” out of Mexico City. What do these publications tell you about Col. Power? I didn’t see a Sears and Robuck catalog or “Good Housekeeping”. Col. Power sent a letter to Dublin, Great Britain and had to pay 50 cents to send it.

In 1868, Heinrich von Rittberg paid 15 cents postage on a letter received from West Prussia. He sent a letter to Bruchsac Baden via Hamburg, for 10 cents purchase.

After all those children plus the postal business, Gottleib and Augusta built a larger home nearby in 1871. Both buildings are still standing. The property was sold to Robert and Betty McCallum in 1949 and then eventually to the present owner, Harlan Henryson, in 1998. The property of almost three acres has the original 1852 homestead constructed of cedar logs, adobe brick, stone, and cypress, in addition to the 1871 home. The tract also contains the original family cemetery where Gottleib Elbel and family are buried.

Henryson is in the process of applying for a Texas Historical Marker. The people in the Spring Branch area are very proud of their history and just like the Esser’s Crossing Comal County Historical marker, will no doubt celebrate this recognition.

The post Journals are important to history appeared first on Sophies Shop.

Have you heard of Sylvester’s Abend? Have you heard of New Year’s Eve? Two names for the same event. To arrive at the Gregorian calendar that we and most European countries use was not an easy process. Many changes took place before the final calendar set up by Pope Gregory XIII was adopted.

Sylvester’s Abend was what the German emigrants called New Year’s Eve, or Dec. 31st.The name “Sylvester” translates from Latin as “wild man”. The German “Abend” translates to “evening”. Sylvester’s Abend is named after a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 314 A.D. to 335 A.D. Ever since the Gregorian calendar was adopted by most of the world, the feast day celebrated Sylvester’s death on Dec. 31st. The name Sylvester’s Abend was used locally for many years but eventually changed to New Year’s Eve. The local German American Society still uses Sylvester’s Abend.

Speaking of Sylvester’s Abend traditions, some of the interpreters at the Sophienburg who grew up in Germany remember a practice carried out on New Year’s Eve called Bleigiessen or “lead pouring”. It resembles the practice of reading tea leaves to predict the next year’s events. A small amount of lead is melted in a spoon over a candle. Then the molten lead is poured into a bowl of water and the pattern that forms predicts events of the coming year. There is a long list of what these forms could mean. Sounds like an entertaining game.

Advertisements in the old Zeitung newspapers give a hint of how New Year’s Eve was celebrated locally. Dances at halls in town and in nearby settlements were prevalent. A popular early hall was Matzdorf Halle which eventually became Echo Hall and then finally, Eagles Hall. There were dances at Sweet Home Hall at Solms, Walhalla at Smithson’s Valley, Teutonia Halle, Anhalt, Landa Park, Reinarz Hall, Schwab Hall, Lenzen Hall, and smaller ones. Downtown Seekatz Opera House, built in 1901, was a popular dance hall with its stage, dressing rooms, kitchen, and large main floor with seats that could be removed easily for dances. An added feature was a balcony for onlookers and private club rooms on the second floor in the front of the building. At midnight the fire siren would blow.

All of the dances furnished trappings of the celebration of the coming of the New Year with noisemakers and fireworks. Designed to ward off evil, fireworks and noisemakers go back to ancient times.

In a Sophienburg Reflections program, the late Kola Zipp recalls a custom in her younger years (early 1920s) that had to do with New Year’s Eve. She called the practice “New Year’s Callers”. Young men would hire a carriage from the local livery stable and go out on New Year’s afternoon to visit girls. Girls would stay at home to welcome them and offer the boys wine. (That’s a switch) These New Year’s Callers would visit and then move on to the next house.

Marie Offermann and her sister Jeanette Felger often went to dances at Echo Hall as children with their parents. There was even baby-sitting service in one of the back rooms. People brought food that was placed in the basement under the stage. New Years was a dress-up time. Look at the picture.

New Year’s Eve is celebrated around the world, often with strange customs, from throwing dishes, to wearing red underwear, to congregating in a cemetery to ring in the New Year with departed loved ones. In France the wind direction predicted the year’s crops and weather and in Spain if one could consume 12 grapes in 12 seconds from midnight, good luck would follow.

Since the invention of television and computers, millions watch the New Year’s celebration at Times Square in New York. Since its beginning in 1907, a huge 12 foot diameter ball suspended above Times Square is lowered. When it reaches the bottom of the tower, it is midnight.

No New Year’s Eve celebration would be complete without the ever popular traditional song, “Auld Lang Syne”. Poet Robert Burns is given credit for translating the Scottish song. Here’s the last verse of Burns’ rendition:

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!(friend)
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!(give us your hand)
And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught,(take a good-will draught)
For auld lang syne,(long, long ago)

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

The post We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet for auld lang syne appeared first on Sophies Shop.

In 1867 when cotton was “king”, Andrew Jackson Hunter bought a tract of land in eastern Comal County for the purpose of raising cotton. He lived nearby on York Creek. In 1880 when the IGN Railroad came through that area, the small settlement was called Hunter. As you drive out past Gruene, you’re on Hunter Road and one of the oldest businesses in Hunter is Riley’s Tavern.

There were about 60 people in the settlement of Hunter when its namesake lived there. Businesses sprang up. About 10 years after the railroad came through, Gustavus A. Schleyer opened a general store, post office and saloon. There was a blacksmith, a church, a barbershop, meat market and school. The population soon grew to 200.

Andrew Jackson Hunter died in 1883 and his acreage and holdings were divided among his children. In 1894 Hunter’s daughter and son-in-law, Edward M. House, organized the Hunter Cotton Gin Co. and went into business with Harry Landa of New Braunfels. Six mule wagon teams hauled cottonseed from the Hunter Gin to the Landa Cotton Oil Mill on Landa Street. Eventually Landa bought out House’s interest in the gin and the House connection to the community of Hunter was no more.

Let’s look more into the background of Edward Mandel House. His father, Thomas William House, was a wealthy landowner from Houston who also owned sugar plantations and was eventually mayor of Houston.

As a young man, Edward House went to boarding school and was always interested in politics. He entered Cornell University and stayed there until his father became ill. He went home to Houston to take care of him. When his father died, House married Louise Hunter of Hunter, Texas. The couple honeymooned in Europe and then returned to Houston to supervise the extensive landholdings of the family.

In 1885 the couple moved to Austin to be nearer the cotton plantations. In Austin, House entered the political scene and helped several governors achieve the governorship. He wintered in New York and gradually moved to the east permanently. He became involved in national politics by participating in the presidential campaigns of Woodrow Wilson and later Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Hunter died in 1938. (Source: Handbook of Texas Online, Charles E. Neu)

But let’s get back to the small town of Hunter. When another railroad, the MKT, built a line through the area in 1901, the populations was still about 200. When the cotton industry declined, businesses began closing. By 1947 both railroad depots closed. The little one-room school was consolidated with the NBISD and the final blow was the closing of the post office in 1953.

Riley’s Tavern was alternately a house and tavern. It was at one time Galloway Saloon, and then the home of the Bernardino Sanchez family. Along the way, the house and tavern was rented to the Riley family and then finally sold to James Curtis Riley in 1942.

A tavern or saloon is a “beer joint” and Prohibition dealt it a mighty blow. In 1933 when prohibition ended, 17 year old J.C. Riley drove to Austin with his uncle in a Model T to get a permit for a liquor license. They arrived early and waited on the steps of the capitol for the doors to open. They were the very first in Texas to get a permit to get a liquor license.

Some of you may remember that Hays County was a “dry” county and all up and down the county line between Hays and “wet” Comal County were saloons. Riley’s Tavern was active. Once Hays voted “wet” in 1977, business was not as active.

When Riley died in 1991, his wife sold the saloon to Rick and Donna Wilson. Eleven years ago Riley’s Tavern was purchased by long-time Hays County resident, Joel Hofmann. His clientele are sometimes third generation customers. The tavern is open seven days a week and boasts a band every night.

Hofmann is working towards an application for a Texas Historical Commission marker for Hunter and Riley’s Tavern. Cotton is gone, the cotton gin is no more, the school is gone, the depots are gone, but Riley’s Tavern lives on. York Creek trickles along through Hunter.

The post Riley’s Tavern in Hunter lives on appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

“There was a little custom that, I think, has completely died out. It’s called New Year’s Callers.” So began a story told by local New Braunfels resident, Kola Albrecht Zipp. She was born in 1899 and remembered her older sisters participating in New Year’s Day Calling in the early 1900s.

Like me, you may wonder just what New Year’s Day Calling is. “Calling”, an old custom, was when one paid an informal visit to family friends and acquaintances. Its purpose was to renew old friendship ties or settle family differences. It required a calling card which announced the visitor’s name. It was rather restrained and elegant. Think about the young heroines meeting men in Jane Austen’s novels.

In the mid-1800s, it seems that the “Dutch” population in New York began a new custom which combined this old one of “calling” with what can only be described as the equivalent of a 19th-century dating app. Let me explain.

It became a New Year’s Day tradition for young single men to “call” on young single women during the afternoon. Often, a group of two to four men would visit a home where two or more women had gathered in anticipation. The men were welcomed into the best room of the house and served refreshments. The visit only lasted 10 to 15 minutes because there were a lot of “calls” to make. And that meant, there were more eligible young women with whom you made acquaintances. Yes, the guys were checking out the girls and vice versa. The calling cards made perfect tour tickets into the ladies’ homes. They would be left at the home and remind the women who had made the visit.

By the late 1800s, the New York New Year’s Calling scene began to look a lot like “speed dating.” It became a competition between the men as to who could visit the most houses and between the women as to see who would collect the most calling cards.

So, back to Kola Zipp and the New Braunfels rendition of New Year’s Callers. “The young men would hire a carriage from the livery stable and they’d go out on New Year’s afternoon and they’d go calling. The girls would stay home to welcome them and they just made the rounds of their girlfriends … the girls sort of expected them, you know?”

As for refreshments, “The girls would offer the boys wine. Mother always bought a gallon of wine for Christmas and a case of ginger ale. Oh, that was a treat, you know! And the New Year’s Callers would come in, and oh, they were a happy lot. Of course, by the time they’d get all around, they had a lot to be happy about!” (Wink wink!)

“This was from the time of my very oldest sisters … and some of their friends that came were Udo Hellmann, Herbert Voss, Ben Nuhn and Paul Jahn.” Check out the photo of the card to see their names.

Erna Heidemeyer Rhode, born in 1896, was also a local lady who remembered this interesting custom. “I was thinking back on an activity which happened on New Year’s afternoon. A boyfriend, of course — by that time we were teenagers and we each had a boyfriend — would rent a buggy or surrey from the livery stable. There were no cars at that time; maybe one or two boys had them. They would bunch up in fours or fives or whatever amount they could get into the rental buggy and they would come to the different houses and call on the girls. Usually, two or three girls would go together and be at somebody’s house. [The boys] would stay for maybe an hour or so, and if the house had a piano and one of the girls could play the piano, then we’d sing and we’d have refreshments for the boys. They’d stay for about an hour and then they’d go back … I mean, they’d leave and would go back to somebody else’s house where they got the same courtesy and entertainment.”

“I have pictures of two or three of these boys who used to come: Julius Voelcker, Erwin Shaw, Herbert Haus, Paul Young and Oliver Eikel. We’d dress up in long dresses, evening dresses, because it was a very special occasion. The house was decorated, flowers and everything, and it was quite an event.” If you look at the photo of the card with young men, you will find Julius Voelcker on the far right.

I wondered if these were chaperoned events for the young ones. It was a time when stricter conventions were in place for the interactions of men and women. Erna Rhode answered my question. “They might come in and shake hands and say hello … maybe bring in the refreshments, but it was all very permissible. This was the New Year’s custom.”

New Year’s customs sure have changed.

This year, while munching on snacks and watching football games, think back on those gentle times when young men and women set their sights on new relationships in the new year. Not a bad idea.

FYI: These memories and others have been collected and recorded at the Sophienburg Museum & Archives through the “Reflections” oral history program and can be accessed at the Sophienburg or the New Braunfels Public Library.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum’s “Reflections” programs #8 and #202; https://friendsppm.wordpress.com/2019/12/09/the-long-lost-custom-of-new-years-day-calling/; https://nycpast.org/2016/12/29/calling-in-new-york-a-new-years-day-tradition/.

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

The post New Year’s Day callers appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

This year, the New Braunfels Hermann Sons Lodge #21 is celebrating 135 years. What sounded like a simple “Happy Birthday” article soon became a rabbit hole that I could not ignore. Hold on!

First of all, who is Hermann and why do his sons have a lodge? I learned that the answer is somewhat complex. The Order of the Sons of Hermann fraternal (men only) organization was founded in 1840 by German immigrants in New York. Originally established under the German name “Der Orden der Hermann Soehne”, sometimes shortened to ODHS, it was created to provide mutual aid to members while promoting and preserving the German language and traditions in their new homeland.

Hermann is a hero. The Hermann Sons organization was named after a first century Germanic hero, Hermann the Cherusker (Defender) who destroyed three Roman legions at the Battle of Teutoberg Wald (Teutonia Forest) in 9 A.D. Hermann was revered for helping prevent Roman rule over the Germanic tribes. The Sons of Hermann organization protects its members and their German traditions just like Hermann did centuries before.

It took more than twenty years for The Order of the Sons of Hermann to make it down to Texas. There, several German-speaking San Antonio residents gathered and voted to organize a lodge, mainly to be of assistance to one another. The Harmonia Lodge #1 of San Antonio was created in 1861. Upon the death of one of their members three months later, several in the brotherhood paid for his coffin and grave, as well as provided financial assistance to the widow for several months afterwards.

Strong feelings about assisting and supporting their members in times of need became the driving force behind Harmonia Lodge’s request to National Grand Lodge for an obligatory life insurance program for members. In 1876, The National Grand Lodge adopted the recommendation, mandating a life insurance purchase with each membership so that each brother would receive $300 life insurance and $60 if his wife preceded him.

By March 1890, Texas Germans had organized ODHS Lodges in seven other cities for a total of eight, granting Texas the right to establish a State Grand Lodge of the Order of the Sons of Hermann. Ninety-two more lodges were established that same year, including Teutonia Lodge #21 of Hortontown in Comal County. Teutonia was in deference to the Teutonia Forest region of Germany.

Hortontown, is also sometimes written as Horton Town in documents. It was named for the owner of land where it was located, across the Guadalupe River from New Braunfels/Comaltown, A.C. Horton. Albert Clinton Horton, originally from Alabama, fought in the Texas Revolution and served as the first Lt. Governor of the State of Texas. He was extremely wealthy before the Civil War. According to records, he owned at least three tracts of land in Comal County, including a league (4428.2 acres) that stretched from the Guadalupe River to FM 306, then Nacogdoches-Austin Road (Broadway and Post Roads) to Gruene. Hortontown, by my best calculations, is thought to have been situated at the old Goodwin school grounds and then along Broadway Street (Loop 337 cuts through it) toward the backside of the old textile mill. In Comal County property records, older properties (not subdivisions) located on the Horton league will bear the name Foster, since he surveyed the land.

The Teutonia Lodge was the first one in Comal County. At one time, there were actually 24 separate Brother lodges located in Comal County. Comal Lodge #45 was established in 1892, followed by York Creek #63 and Steuben #73 in 1893. Casper Real #104 was chartered in 1894. Johann Sahm #116, Marbach #125 and Prinz Carl #127 were all chartered in 1895 and then Prinz Solms #136, Hunter #145, Ullrich von Hutten #146 and Thornhill #149 (Gruene) chartered in 1896. There were only four more lodges organized over the next thirteen years: Lone Star #91, Schuchard #181 (Comaltown), Fischer Store #219 and Marienthal #248.

The ladies were not to be left out. In 1896, the National Grand Lodge allowed for Sister (all women) lodges, but it was not until 1900 that the first Sister lodge was organized in Comal County, Prinzessen Heinrich #12. The other seven lodges organized between 1907 and 1911, included Freiheit Sister #45, Fruhling #48, Marie #91, Gludaus #101, Gloeckenbluemen (Bluebell) #104, Gartenlaube (Gazebo) #105, and finally, Heimat #99.

By 1920, the Order of the Sons of Hermann in Texas had more members and greater financial stability than all of the lodges in the rest of the United States combined. The Texas Grand Lodge broke away from the National Order of the Sons of Hermann and became independent and autonomous. They eventually transitioned from the German language to the English language by the late 1930s, although Teutonia meeting minutes were still recorded in German through 1942. Since Hermann Sons was organized for German immigrants, all of the members were of German descent, but by 1965 only about half were. By 1994 membership was open to all ethnic groups.

At the height of its popularity, there were more than 250 Hermann Sons lodges in Texas, with at least 100,000 members. Now the lodges number approximately 125 with less than 65,000 members. Comal County lodges have dwindled to three. Many of them dissolved after trying to survive by merging with others: Casper Real consolidated with Gludaus Sister Lodge, but dissolved in 1943. Johann Sahm, Marbach, Fruhling all merged together and then consolidated with Carl Rompel #268 before dissolving. Fischer Store and Marienthal merged before dissolving in 1954.

The three remaining are Prinz Solms #136, Spring Branch #127 and New Braunfels #21. Prinz Solms (who merged with Heimat Sister Lodge #99) is the only one to retain its original name. Spring Branch (originally Prinz Carl #127) joined with Gloeckenbluemen #104 and took on the name of Spring Branch #127. All of the other lodges, through various moves and mergers finally consolidated with Teutonia #21, which changed its name to New Braunfels #21 in 1962.

Since 1957, the New Braunfels Hermann Sons Hall has been located on Union Street, where the local lodge holds meetings and operates a dance school. Hundreds of girls have taken dancing in that hall, including all three of mine. They have also attended Hermann Sons summer camp along with their friends in Comfort, Texas, which has operated since 1954. True to their mission of lifelong support, the local lodge also offers scholarships to the youth, insurance for every level of life and has a retirement home in Comfort.

In 2017, The Order of Hermann Sons in Texas changed its name and rebranded their organization. Originally founded in 1890 as a fraternal benefit society for German immigrants in Texas, the name became Hermann Sons Life to better reflect its broader mission and inclusivity.

Alles Gut zum Geburtstag, Der Orden der Hermann Soehne, Neu Braunfels #21!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives, New Braunfels Hermann Sons Lodge #21.

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

The post Hermann Sons #21 celebrating 135 years appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Created by Augustus Koch in 1881, the “Birds Eye View of New Braunfels” is so much more than just an etching of early New Braunfels. An aerial view of the city lying nestled between the rise of the Balcones Escarpment and the black dirt farmlands, it is almost photographic in its detailed rendering of buildings and streets. It is also a phenomenal piece of late 19th Century city marketing.

Augustus Koch was one of a handful of skilled artists/draftsmen who walked the American landscape after the Civil War. These men drew at least 1,800 town and city maps by the 1920s. Augustus, born in 1834 in Birnbaum, Prussia, was well-educated when he arrived in America. He enlisted in the Wisconsin Infantry in 1861, was commissioned in 1863, and became an engineering officer to an African-American regiment. While in the army, he produced maps of Vicksburg and other places which were used for battle planning.

By 1868, Augustus had begun his career as a panoramic map maker. Koch had been mentored by Albert Ruger, another German immigrant in Wisconsin, who was one of the earliest panoramic map makers in America. Augustus produced views of Cedar Falls, Iowa (1869), 8 views of towns in California (1870-71), and views of cities in Tennessee, Illinois, Texas, New York, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota and Maine (1872-1875). In the 1890s, Koch made views for cities in Virginia, Washington, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota. By the end of his career, Augustus had drawn 110 birds eye views of cities and towns in 23 different states. He had crisscrossed his way across America several times. Can you imagine the changes and growth he saw?

To produce a birds eye view was an intensely painstaking process. Koch first sent an agent, or went himself, to a prospective town to drum up business. He would talk with local businessmen and civic groups and get them interested in a map of their community and commit to buy subscriptions for the finished map. Augustus began with a large basic sketch set on a street grid. He often looked at photographs and other maps of the town if they were available. He and his assistants then walked every street making sketches of each building and noting details in field notes that included compass directions and the relationships of blocks to one another. Simple figures of people, wagons and trees were added to the grid map to make up a conceptual drawing to show new would-be customers and sell more subscriptions. To insure better accuracy in placement, smaller houses were rendered rather alike — accuracy was more critical than aesthetics. Important buildings were drawn in much more detail.

Augustus then worked with a lithographer to produce a final drawing which was transferred and etched into a limestone slab that was inked and used to print the highly detailed image. It took at least two weeks to sketch out the map before it went to the lithographer. The finished prints were delivered directly to the subscribers. Koch had to work quickly so folks would stay excited. Time was indeed money.

Most birds eye views show the town center and street grid. The street grid was always drawn at an angle to allow a better view of the buildings. The more details of buildings captured in the drawing, the more folks would buy it to see their home or business. The most important feature of the town was usually front-and-center in the drawing. Civic and personal pride was leveraged at every turn to encourage more buyers.

The 1881 Birds Eye View of New Braunfels is drawn from an elevation of about 2000 feet. It has a high horizon line so that more detail can be placed in the body of the print. Important buildings or businesses who paid for a subscription are emphasized. In the New Braunfels view, Koch highlights both the history and the progressive nature of the town. Center front above the title label, Augustus drew the old Sophienburg building, the original site of the city’s government by the Adelsverein; it was destroyed by wind in 1886. Koch conveyed the city’s growth and prosperity by adding the railroad tracks; steam engines belching smoke come in from two sides, one train carrying passengers and the other carrying goods. The rail line had been completed in 1880.

Koch drew many important buildings in meticulous detail and highlighted them in a numbered legend. These were specifically chosen to show off the town. The inclusion of the County Courthouse and prison proclaimed law and order. The tall-steepled churches and the cemetery depicted a town of morals and decency (note that the First Protestant church has a bell tower which was not completed until 1889). Factories, mills and cotton gins emit plumes of smoke indicating that industry is booming. Train stations and hotels showed that New Braunfels was big enough to encourage tourism and business trips. The inclusion of the New Braunfels Academy expressed the citizens’ passion for education. Amenities such as good bridges, wide plazas and orchards lent an air of comfortable living and prosperity.

These specifics are not random. Koch intentionally illustrated New Braunfels at its best. People were proud to hang the view in their homes or businesses and be able to point out their buildings. The city leaders used the panorama to sell the city to new businesses to promote growth. New Braunfels now stood out from other towns; Koch had drawn birds eye views of San Antonio and Austin and now New Braunfels was among the big guys.

The Sophienburg Museum sells prints of the 1881 Birds Eye View of New Braunfels in Sophie’s Shop. You can purchase your own sepia-toned or colored print. Be it Landa’s Rolling Mill, Rennert’s Brewery or the Turnverein’s equipment fields, you will have fun recognizing buildings and places and finding out more about New Braunfels history from Augustus Koch’s unique incredible view.

Sources: “Patterns of Progress: Birds Eye Views of Texas”, Amon Carter Museum, 2006; View and Viewmakers of Urban America: Lithographs of Towns and Cities in America, by John William Reps, p 184-186; Brenham Daily Banner May 29, 1881; Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, Koch, Augustus (October 15, 1834-1901); News+Media, “Cover Artist: Augustus Koch”, Saturday Oct. 1, 2016; Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc., “Antique Maps by Augustus Koch”; https://texasartisans.mfah.org/digital/collection/p15939coll5/search/searchterm/WM-TA-KochAugustus; https://www.Geologywriter.com; https://preservingperkasie.com; https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/a-matter-of-perspective/Content?oid=11439594; https://www.boisestate.edu/sps-cihp/atlas-2/idyllic-settlement/

The post 1881 bird’s-eye view of New Braunfels appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

The forty-eighters were refugees of the failed German Revolution of 1848. They were idealists. They fought to establish a liberal and unified Germany using liberty, democracy and unity as their main tenets. The designation “forty-eighter” excludes the hundreds of thousands who emigrated from 1848-1852 for mostly economic reasons. It also does not include political refugees from previous periods of political unrest.

There were as many as 4,000 forty-eighters who came to America. Many of the Forty-eighters were young men in their twenties and thirties willing to risk their future. Many of them came from the southwestern Germanic states, from towns like Baden, Hesse, Wurtemburg, the Palatinate, and the Rhineland. Many were highly educated professionals: journalists, soldiers, physicians, pastors, bankers, engineers, lawyers, innkeepers and merchants. And many were “free-thinkers” or even atheistic in their views.

In the book, The Forty-eighters, edited by A.E. Zucker (1950), eleven professors put together a list of several hundred of these men who fled to America. The list includes six who emigrated to Texas — and interestingly enough, five of them have ties to New Braunfels. Let’s take a look at these guys.

Eduard Degener (1809-1890) was the son of a wealthy banker in Braunschweig. He was privately tutored and studied in England. He ran in aristocratic circles even though he favored liberal, democratic ideals. In his elected government positions, he voted for proposals pushing a German republic. He was a member of the first German National Assembly at Frankfurt in 1848. When the revolution failed, Degener emigrated to Maine and in 1850 he made it to Texas. He lived near New Braunfels, and then in Sisterdale, as a gentleman farmer. Degener was a German Unionist and vocal abolitionist. Two of his sons were in the group of young men who tried to get to the North via ship from Mexico in 1862. Overtaken at the Nueces River by a force of Confederate soldiers, many of the men, including the Degeners, were killed. Eduard was put in prison in San Antonio for several months. After the war, he was a wholesale grocer in San Antonio, elected to two constitutional assemblies in Texas and also served in the Forty-first Congress for two terms. In 1865, Degener, with William Steves and William Heuermann, bought land in Comfort. There, they buried the remains of those massacred at the Nueces and put up the “Treue der Union Monument” in their honor.

Carl Daniel Adolf Douai (1819-1888) was born in Altenburg. He studied at the University of Leipzig, got his doctorate and then travelled to Russia where he became a private tutor. He also married a baroness. From 1846 to 1850, Douai was in and out of prison five times! His revolutionary writings and his experimental school made him a target. Leaving Germany in 1852, he settled in New Braunfels and founded his own school. By 1853, he had become editor of the San Antonio Zeitung in which he advocated the gradual abolishment of slavery. Public outcry against his editorials necessitated the help of the Sam Antonio Turnverein (Athletic Club) to protect his offices. He moved to Boston in 1856. He founded a kindergarten and school but after several years this closed due to his atheistic articles. Moving to New York in 1866, he opened another school and edited a socialist newspaper. Through it he became one of the first to popularize Marxist philosophy in the US. Douai wrote articles on philosophy, German grammar, world history and education, as well as short stories and a novel. He was “a brilliant and courageous writer, unafraid of offending his readers’ opinion.” He was also a musician who composed over 60 songs.

Julius Dressel (1816-1891), born in Geisenheim, Rhineland, was the son of a prosperous wine merchant. He studied history, literature and law in Heidelberg. Julius joined his father’s wine business and promoted Rhenish wines around Europe. The Dresel home welcomed guests with radical political ideologies; Julius soon joined the ranks of these revolutionaries and was present at their major meetings. At the failure of the 1848 Revolution, Julius was exiled and he emigrated to Texas where his brother Gustav was employed by the Adelsverein (The Society for the Protection of German Immigrants) as general agent. He was good friends with Lindheimer and many of the early New Braunfelsers. He bought land in Sisterdale but he first worked the New Braunfels farm of John O. Meusebach. Several years later, he moved out to the Sisterdale property. During the Civil War, his abolitionist leanings caused the Confederates to place him in prison in San Antonio. After release, Julius did business in the city until his brother Emil died in California. He became heir to the estate and moved his family to the Sonoma Valley where he took over his brother’s vineyard until his own death. Dressel wrote and published essays and poems in various journals and newspapers, many dealing with the subject of homesickness for his Vaterland.

Gustav Wilhelm Eisenlohr (1811-1881) was born in Loerrach, Baden. He studied theology in Karlsruhe, Halle and Heidelberg. He became the vicar in Emmendingen. Eisenlohr was very outspoken in his support of the 1848 Revolution. Accused of high treason and imprisoned, Gustav was given the choice of being sentenced or to leave Germany. Fleeing to Switzerland, he then emigrated to America in 1850 with his young son. He first took a pastorate in Richmond, Ohio. Eisenlohr then answered an advertisement for the pastorate of the German Protestant Church in New Braunfels. He was installed by Hermann Seele in 1851. After six years, he accepted a pastorate in Cincinnati. He edited and wrote many poems for the Protestantische Zeitlaetter (newsletter) for 20 years. It was “for the instruction and edification of thinking Christians.” Educated in Greek and Latin, this liberal theologian also translated the poems of Petrarch! Pastor Eisenlohr and his second wife returned to New Braunfels 22 years later to retire. Both he and his wife are buried in Comal Cemetery.

Oskar von Roggenbucke (1811-1883), born in Suhl, Thuringia, was a career soldier who attained the rank of major in the Prussian army. Like many other soldiers, he resigned his commission and joined the forty-eighters. A political refugee, he emigrated and came to Texas in 1854. He and his family stayed six months in New Braunfels before settling on a farm in Comfort. He was also an abolitionist. His two sons refused to become soldiers for the Confederacy. They joined the group of Germans headed for Mexico and were among those slaughtered on the Nueces River. Von Roggenbucke lived in Comfort until his death.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives: Oscar Haas Collection; Dresel Family History; The First Protestant Church Its History and Its People, O. Haas; The Forty-Eighters, A.E. Zucker; A Hundred Years of Comfort in Texas, G. E. Ransleben.

The post New Braunfels forty-eighters appeared first on Sophies Shop.

Museums tell the stories of our lives over and over again in detail. It becomes challenging to present annual events – like Christmas – in a new and interesting way. Our current special showing is an 18-month long exhibit of War Stories: Memories of New Braunfels in WWI, so Christmas during WWI is an easy pick.

Since that time frame predates us by quite a few years, Keva headed for the archives to find an image to create the scene. Image found. Perfect. The archives, however can provide just as many puzzles as it can solve. The photo is catalogued as “Christmas tree given to the children of Amanty, France, 1917. Unfortunately, it came to us and was catalogued during the early years of the museum, when very little detail was included about the donors or the provenance of the artifact. With a little further research, we learned that Amanty was located in the Meuse department in Lorraine region in northwestern France. Early in 1917, farmer’s fields were appropriated to set up a temporary airfield, or aerodome, about one mile from Amanty by the French escadrille (squadron) C4. Most temporary airfields during WW1 made use of already existing fields for takeoffs and landings. The hangars were fashioned of canvas stretched over metal tubing frames providing cover for aircraft maintenance. Wooden structures were built for barracks, operations offices, and other out buildings. In October 1917, the escadrille C 43 and 1st Aero Squadron made Amanty their home. The airfield was then used by the U.S. 1 Corps Observation Group School and 91st Aero Squadron.

WWI was the first war of the industrial age, bringing with it the use of poison gas, submarines, tanks and aerial warfare. “Aeroplanes” were just coming into military use at the beginning of the war. Initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance. 1 Corps Observation Group School trained both pilots and observers for the new aerial observation and photography. The 91st Aero Squadron was assigned to general surveillance. The 91st Aero Squadron, originated at Kelly Field, on August 21, 1917. From there they traveled to New York and New Jersey before being shipped overseas. They arrived in France on November 15, and at “Amanty Aerodrome” on December 14, 1917. Could the photo of the Christmas tree have been taken at that time? The photo shows a tree with decorations of looped tinsel, American flags and paper ornaments. Small parcels and cards surround the bottom. Above the tree, it is easy for you to see the ceiling joists of the hanger-like building. American doughboys sharing gifts with the children in war-torn France is such a beautiful expression of the Christmas spirit!

The “Amanty Christmas tree” scene was recreated on the stage of this year’s Weihachtsmarkt in honor of those American doughboys and flyboys. The Sophienburg continues its centennial commemoration of the American involvement in WWI by adding the Amanty Christmas Tree to our “War Stories” exhibit.

You can visit the Sophienburg Museum and Archives Tuesday through Saturday to learn about the history and heritage of New Braunfels and Comal County. We invite you to bring your children out on December 5th to learn about and experience the “Legend of St. Nikolas”. This annual event is only $5 per family and includes a short program, a children’s activity and an opportunity to walk through the exhibit floor. Choose either the 5:00 pm or the 6:30 pm program. by calling 830.629.1572 to make your reservation. Space is limited.

Sources:

• Sophienburg Museum & Archives
• History of 12th Aero Squadron; History of 91st Sqadron; Amanty Airdrome – Wikipedia

The post Amanty Christmas Connection appeared first on Sophies Shop.