By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

New Braunfels citizens have never been shy in expressing their opinions in print or in demonstration. No other subject was more hotly contested than the issue of prohibition.

In December 1917, the 18th Amendment – the Prohibition Amendment – was passed. It banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquor. However, the political, moral and constitutional fight over prohibition in Texas began when The Republic of Texas passed the first local-option law in 1843. This allowed towns and counties, not the Republic, to decide the issue for themselves. The ensuing years saw the slow swing from anti-prohibition to prohibition.

In 1887, prior to a statewide prohibition referendum, the local newspaper ran many articles and editorials against prohibition. The referendum failed spectacularly across the state: 220,627 votes against, 129,270 in favor. After the referendum’s defeat, Bulverde made it known that there was not one vote cast in favor of the referendum in their precinct. Clear Springs held a huge victory dance. One local establishment even refused to sell a beer to a local prohibitionist telling him to “go drink water”. In the following month, the “Victory Banner of 1858” was delivered to New Braunfels from the States Executive Committee of the Anti-prohibitionists. The banner, featuring Sam Houston and his motto “Texas and Freedom”, was given as an award for the staunch anti-prohibition feelings displayed at the polls. The banner also commended Comal for being the leading democratic county of the State.

Prohibition gained ground after the turn of the century. Texas “drys” tried to pass prohibition legislation again in 1908 and 1911.

The most colorful and “heartfelt” demonstrations Comal Countians have ever undertaken were anti-prohibition events. In October 1908, several rallies were held in the county with the largest taking place on Main Plaza. Symbolically empty beer kegs and planks performed the job of bench seating. Participants needed to be comfortable while listening to the several important and influential men speaking in German about the loss of personal liberties from prohibition laws. German speaking events were very popular and drew people from all the neighboring counties.

Then in 1909, New Braunfels made headlines across the state. Prohibitionist Texas Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell declared war on the counties not enforcing the 1907 Baskin-McGregor Act. The act mandated that saloons in Texas be closed on Sundays and prohibited women (waitresses, bartenders or prostitutes), musical entertainment and gambling from barrooms. “Sunday closing” or “Blue laws” meant that establishments in urban areas selling alcohol had to close at midnight on Saturday and stay closed until Monday morning. For New Braunfels, the part of Baskin-McGregor that applied was the enforcement of the Sunday closing law. It was a true infringement and violation of their personal liberty; never in 63 years had local businesses been forced to “put the lid on” Sundays.

The governor issued ultimatums to towns with large German populations like Galveston, San Antonio and New Braunfels. These were followed by threats to enforce the Baskin-McGregor Act by sending in the Texas Rangers. Governor Campbell put on more pressure and considered holding back money from the County Commissioners until they agreed to comply and enforce the law. Men from Austin came to talk to the locals and local leaders went to Austin to talk. December 29th was set as the day of reckoning. With Rangers enroute, New Braunfelsers locked the doors of their drinking places at noon and participated in a very formal, very somber “Funeral for Lady Liberty and Lady Freedom”.

Hundreds of local men, donned in their best black suits and top hats, met on West San Antonio Street. Following the famed “Victory Banner of 1858”and the “Banner of 1887” carried by Ferdinand Paulus and Julius Wills (both famed for their acting abilities), the men walked slowly and purposefully in mourning behind a decorated caisson carrying life-size coffins fashioned from heavy paper. Inside were paper “corpses” of Liberty and Freedom. Local leaders were pallbearers. On either side of the funeral wagon were large signs flaunting the words, “We close of our own accord and not by force” and “Farewell to our local self-government”.

A 25-piece brass band followed the hearse playing a specially composed, “Baskin-McGregor Waltz”. The waltz was “pronounced by music critics to be a gem in its own way.” Straight rows of male mourners walked in stately manner behind the band. Black draped bicycles, wagons and carriages of more mourners made up the rest of the parade. Another draped wagon filled with an orchestra brought up the rear.

The funeral march made its dignified way three quarters around the Plaza. The male mourners then joined women and children already gathered around the Bandstand. The newspapers estimated that a crowd of more than a thousand attended the demonstration.

Incredible photos of the event show that a long paper banner was unrolled which was covered with a tongue-in-cheek German poem and illustrations. After the obligatory speeches and obituary, the townspeople cremated the effigies of Lady Liberty and Lady Freedom. Yes, they were burned right there on the Plaza.

You have to wonder if the Texas Rangers were standing there watching this truly remarkable example of First Amendment freedoms along with the reporters. I am certain many out-of-towners agreed with the New Braunfels citizens.

You will be able to learn more about this event in a special exhibit at the Sophienburg Museum & Archives opening this summer.

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

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Another downtown building, the Phoenix Saloon owners Ross and Debbie Fortune, are applying for a Texas Historical Marker. The Phoenix Saloon history really does live up to the story of the Phoenix, a legendary bird that builds its own funeral pyre, throws itself into the fire, lays an egg in the ashes and hatches a new Phoenix bird. This legend has been used often as a metaphor for rebirth or resurrection. The metaphor fits the local Phoenix Saloon.

The property at the corner of east Castell and west San Antonio Sts., according to the late Roberta Mueller, was owned by Valentine Sippel, her great grandfather. Valentine married Anna Ossman and they had three children: Kaytrina, who was crippled, Henry, who was killed in the Civil War, and finally son John, who lived to be 50 years old by his own choice, when he committed suicide.

John Sippel married into the successful Gruene family by marrying Johanna Gruene. After six children, the marriage ended in a bitter divorce, according to family members. Sippel had built the Phoenix Saloon in 1871 and moved into the second floor. Christian Hohmann and Henry Meier operated a bar and billiard room on the first floor of the two-story building. H.R. Schumacker operated a brewery in the basement from 1872 to 1875, selling a keg of beer for $2.25 and a glass for 5 cents, the going rate at the time.

About 40 different persons are associated with the proprietorship, bartending of the saloon, and sometimes restaurant, too many names to put in this column. The building was also called by several names until 1895 when it was finally called the Phoenix Saloon and Restaurant.

Trouble

An unfortunate incident occurred in 1885 when proprietor Walter Krause fought with a customer named James Alexander. Testimonies of two men in the saloon that day (Harry Mergele and Emil Schertz), stated that Alexander asked Krause how much he owed and Krause told him a quarter. Alexander said that he would pay him after pay day. Krause took exception to this and called him ugly names. Alexander left the building to go to Naegelin’s Bakery (apparently he worked there) and returned with one dollar, put it on the bar and retaliated with more ugly names. Krause jumped him from behind the bar and they exchanged blows. Alexander then left the bar as Krause was bleeding near the eye. Twelve days later Krause died as a result of the wounds.

Beer garden and chili

One of the attractions of the Phoenix was its beer garden facing San Antonio St. Women were welcome out there, but not inside. Women never went inside a saloon. The beer garden was between the saloon and the old Comal County Courthouse facing San Antonio St. The garden was also accessible from Castell St. at the back of the building next to the Ludwig Hotel which was located in what is now the parking lot of Chase Bank. Sippel had built a small pool with a fountain in the garden containing gold fish, a large catfish, and even a baby alligator. It was a popular gathering place downtown. Bells hanging from the trees summoned waiters from inside.

Another big attraction was William Gebhardt’s cafe at the back of the saloon. Gebhardt developed a sort of stew using ground up ancho peppers that he called Tampico Dust. This extremely popular concoction caused Gebhardt in 1892 to move to San Antonio where his brother-in-law, Albert Kronkosky, Sr. helped him organize the Gebhardt Chili Powder Co. Gebhardt’s wife was Rosa Kronkosky, sister of Albert. Incidentally Albert Kronkosky, Jr. was a very successful businessman who eventually owned the San Antonio Drug Co. as well as being a major stockholder in Merck & Co. Thus the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation was founded.

Prohibition

In 1895 a fire caused damage to the saloon as well as Fritz Maier’s “German Advocate” newspaper on the second floor, but the Phoenix rose again. After the reopening of the saloon there were many proprietors and “when everything was going right, up popped the devil – PROHIBITION”. The advent of prohibition dealt a blow to the saloon world. In NB as early as 1887 the second floor of the Phoenix had become the headquarters of the Anti-Prohibition movement for Comal County. Prohibition was a national issue so each state was to vote either for or against. New Braunfels held rallies around the Plaza and when the vote came up, Comal County voted 100% against prohibition. ”Gambrinus”, the legendary inventor of beer, had many followers in Comal County. At that time there were four breweries in New Braunfels: Rennert Brewery, Dampmann Brewery, Guenther Brewery and New Braunfels Brewing Co. This last one managed to stay open by producing a “near beer” called Busto.

During WWI, prohibition had linked itself with patriotism. First saloons were closed to soldiers and then in a burst of wartime feeling in 1918 the state of Texas voted in favor of prohibition. Rumors of an illicit brewery have circulated in NB but there is no proof. In the basement of the Phoenix there is a hole in the wall that some have speculated was an underground tunnel, but it turns out that it was probably a storage place for coal for the heating system.

Prohibition went into effect January of 1920, but the Phoenix Saloon closed down from 1918 to 1922. Then came two financial blows to the country, especially the government – the Great Depression and the fall of the stock market. One solution to these problems for the government was to repeal Prohibition so that taxes could be collected from the sale of liquor. Prohibition was repealed by 1933.

Building expansion

In 1922 the building was bought by Albert Ludwig, who expanded the building and added a third floor for the Masonic Lodge #1109. Jacob Schmidt bought the building in 1927 and operated a clothing store for 60 years. Several other businesses followed from 1996.

The latest rise of the Phoenix occurred when the Fortunes bought the property and brought it back to its original purpose, a saloon that has music and even serves chili. The Phoenix has risen again and remains a historic site!

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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.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

On February 27, 1977, Herb Skoog recorded the 21st interview of the Sophienburg Museum’s “Reflections” oral history program. Herb interviewed Jerome Nowotny. It is one of the best episodes in the series — a real humdinger.

Jerome Nowotny is perhaps best remembered for his enormous “Beer Bottles of the World” collection. 6,000-plus bottles are on permanent display on the Wurstfest grounds inside the Spass Haus. In his oral history interview, Jerome revealed that his passion for collecting beer bottles began when he was a child growing up during Prohibition. I’ll share a bit of his reminiscing:

… There were so many wonderful places to buy illegal homemade beer. They were called bootlegging joints. New Braunfels was very famous for good bootleg joints. People from Houston, San Antonio … they came from everywhere to get this good New Braunfels beer…

Albert Nowotny was Jerome’s dad. Albert ran a business known as “The House the Jack Built” on W. San Antonio Street. It was a restaurant, gas station and Indian relics museum with a tourist camp of cottages out back. The business began in 1927 and added a concrete building in 1930. It flourished through the 1940s, then became Zoeller’s Funeral Home in 1953. In 1981, the building became the Comal County Juvenile Residential Supervision and Treatment Center. Just a few weeks ago, the building was demolished to make way for a new building on the Connections Individual and Family Services campus. (See https://sophienburg.wpenginepowered.com/the-house-that-jack-built/).

The House the Jack Built sold near-beer during Prohibition. Near-beer had only ½ of one percent alcohol. Jerome explained to Herb Skoog that breweries still made real beer and then “distilled it, warmed it up” to evaporate the alcohol. Only near-beer could be legally sold.

… When people came to our place for hamburgers, they would often ask, “Where can we get good beer?” There were so many places it wasn’t difficult to find one if you knew … but you could drive all over town and never find a place if you didn’t know, because every yard had a ligustrum hedge …

Many yards in New Braunfels were bordered by ligustrum hedges instead of wooden fences. It was common practice to set up your bootlegging operation behind the hedge in the back yard. As a child, Jerome’s father would periodically send Jerome to one of the known bootleg places to get real beer for the customers. He always had to go to different ones so that “the Revenuers” wouldn’t catch on and friends get in trouble. Customers tipped Jerome $5 to go on these procurement expeditions. Jerome jokingly said that some people said he was “a pimp for the bootleggers.”

The 18th Amendment made it illegal to SELL alcoholic beverages from 1920-1933. As a citizen, you could brew up to 200 gallons of beer a year to use for personal consumption. You could NOT SELL beer to anyone else. Legally, you needed to have a doctor’s prescription to purchase any kind of alcohol to use “for medicinal purposes.”

Comal Brewery was the only beer brewery still in business by the time of Prohibition (the building is now the New Braunfels Smokehouse Ice Plant facilities). Comal Brewery made real beer and then turned it into near-beer; however, over time, the alcohol content began inching its way back up to real beer. At that point, “the Revenuers” (government agents who collected taxes and enforced laws against illegal alcohol manufacture) raided the place and destroyed all the brewing equipment:

… ”The Revenuers” came in and chopped up all the big copper kettles and everything…that was the end of it. Then it became an ice factory …

I am envisioning a whole “Andy Griffith” episode. I can only imagine how distraught the citizens of New Braunfels were.

Mr. Skoog asked Jerome if there were other folks in New Braunfels who got caught and sent to jail for bootlegging. The answer was “yes”, but they both agreed it was still too early to drop any names — several well-known bootleggers were still living! In New Braunfels, those men who did a spell in jail for bootlegging were not looked upon as hardened criminals.

The discussion on bootlegging is just one part of this great interview. Jerome also told wonderful stories about collecting the almost 14,000 beer bottles that made up his collection. Jerome also shared fascinating memories about his time as a comic actor in Hollywood!

If you want to hear all of Jerome’s interview, you can visit the Sophienburg Museum & Archives to hear or purchase this oral history; there are over 2,000 recordings of other New Braunfels citizens to choose from. You can also go to the New Braunfels Public Library and check out “Reflections” interviews to listen to.

FYI: Jerome Nowotny passed on in 1992 at the age of 77. Sadly, for many of us locals, Herb Skoog passed away recently on February 3, at the age of 93. Herb and his velvety voice will be truly missed.

Sources: Sophienburg Archives, “Reflections” oral history program #21 — Jerome Nowotny.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg

Change. One of the few constants of life. Because change is occurring rapidly in and around New Braunfels, rural cemeteries are endangered. Cemeteries and graveyards are sometimes the only connection to the history of an area. York Creek Cemetery is one of historical importance, as it documents the lives of early permanent inhabitants of the York Creek and Hunter communities.

Where the heck is York Creek, you might ask? The actual York Creek begins somewhere around Wegner Road in Comal County and travels southeast through Hays and Guadalupe counties before flowing into the San Marcos River. The creek naturally attracted farmers to the resource.

Along about 1867, a man by the name of Andrew Jackson Hunter settled his family on York’s Creek (now York Creek). He operated a thousand-acre cotton farm. The land was strategically located along a stagecoach line that ran from New Braunfels to San Marcos before the railroad.

In 1880, the townsite of Hunter was established with the arrival of the International and Great Northern Railroad. By 1883 a post office opened in Gustavus A. Schleyer’s general store, with the owner as postmaster. Schleyer’s store, a cotton gin, a grocery store, and a saloon were in operation there by 1884, when Hunter had about sixty residents. By 1890, Hunter was a bustling community of 200 that included two saloons, a barbershop, a blacksmith, a wagonmaker, a meat market, and a gin and gristmill.

York’s Creek Cemetery came into being on October 7, 1882, when Ernst Gruene, Jr. sold one acre of land to D. G. Posey, Frank Tate, and Charles Crawford to be used as a community cemetery. Posey, Tate and Crawford were the first cemetery trustees. The cemetery doubled in size in 1904, when William Simon, Sr. sold one acre of land to cemetery trustees, D. G. Posey, Charles Crawford, and William Simon, Jr. That is when they formed an association and officially named it York Creek Cemetery. They elected D. G. Posey, C. B. Crawford, and H. Wiegreffe as commissioners. A. J. Wallhoefer was elected secretary and treasurer. Currently, Mr. James B. Skarovsky and his wife, Lynn, are the only trustees of record.

There are over 180 burials recorded in York Creek Cemetery. According to existing records the earliest burial in the newly established cemetery was John B. Taylor, in 1885. Seven of the graves must have been moved to York Creek, as the death dates predate the cemetery. Most of those buried in the cemetery were born in Texas although at least 16 were born in Germany. Over half of those buried bear German surnames. Occupations of the deceased and their families included farmers, homemakers, laborers, railroad workers, blacksmiths, military, and saloon keepers. Hobart Gilmore, who was killed in 1972 Flood, is also buried there.

Walking through the cemetery, it is easy to see the various family groupings with over 68 different surnames (no way to write about all of them!). Some families are represented in greater numbers. The Soechtings have twenty-one graves. Friedrich Heinrich Andreas Söchting (German spelling) immigrated to Texas in 1852. While preparing to emigrate, he met Christine Katarina Gold, also planning to emigrate. Since married couples received special consideration, they married, before leaving Germany. They moved inland to New Braunfels and in 1866 they purchased 17.5 acres on York Creek. In 1878, they purchased an additional 338 acres for 4.90 an acre. They raised five children.. The children in turn had large families and most continued to farm in the area.

In 1850, Henry Rutherford Crawford and wife, Ann B. Wilson Crawford moved from Tennessee and purchased a 300-acre farm on Hunter Road. The couple established a school in the nearby Bonito settlement. Prior to that time, the first school was conducted in their home with their daughter, Lizzie Crawford, as teacher. Lizzie also taught at the Hunter School. In her will, she designated 500 to build the cemetery fence. Her brother, Charles B. Crawford was one of the first cemetery trustees.

Frances D’Gress Posey came to Texas at age 5 in a wagon train with his parents, brothers and aunts from Tennessee. The Posey family arrived in Texas at the Watson Campgrounds in Comal County (or could be Hays County) in early fall of 1853. That was their home for several years. Eventually, his parents, John Bennett and Amanda Posey, farmed cotton on 539 acres in the York Creek area. Frances D’Gress Posey married Mary Elizabeth Neill in 1869. Frances was a farmer and one of the first cemetery association trustees. He, his wife and many descendants are buried in the York Creek Cemetery. Posey land is now part of TXI.

John Dix Watson conveyed one acre of land in exchange for 1 for the nearby Watson School. It was located on Neill homestead land off Watson Lane. The school was closed in 1949 and combined with other schools as the Goodwin School. Mr. Watson was a Confederate veteran. He is one of seven veterans buried in York Creek

James Curtis Riley was a saloon keeper and started Riley’s Tavern in Hunter after the repeal of Prohibition. Riley’s Tavern has a Texas Historical Commission marker and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the oldest taverns in Texas and reported to have the first liquor license issued after the repeal.

Alwin Merz was a trustee when the cemetery was established. He was a farmer married to Annie Braune Merz. Alwin’s parents were John and Elise Strempel Merz, who immigrated from Germany and farmed the York Creek area. Both couples are buried in the York Creek Cemetery.

York Creek Cemetery is a perfect example of a rural cemetery: quietly resting under huge oak trees, protected by a chain link fence with rock posts. Unfortunately, the two-acre cemetery is no longer located among the green pastures and farmhouses. The York Creek/Hunter community was sheared in half when Interstate 35 was built; and the cemetery is now surrounded by industrial warehouses just off one of the most travelled highways in Texas. Little has changed inside the York Creek Cemetery, but much has changed around this true Comal County treasure that holds so much history. It was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery by the Comal County Historical Commission 2022.

Sources: Handbook of Texas Online; The Comal County Historical Commission; Jim Skarovsky; Paul Soechting; Wilfred Schlather; John Coers; Karen Boyd.

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

I often think about living in New Braunfels and how fortunate we are to have wonderful century-old buildings everywhere. I don’t necessarily think about that when I am trying to dodge tourists crossing the streets of downtown or hurrying to be on time to some destination, but I do think about it. I love how the downtown buildings have evolved over time and taken in new businesses. A recent visit to Myron’s Steakhouse on North Castell Avenue reminded me of visits to the same building many years before, piquing my curiosity about its history and how my memories match up.

The sleek stucco building was built in 1924. The Palace Theatre, owned by A.J. Loehman and John H. Stahl, was one of several movie and entertainment houses in New Braunfels. The partnership dissolved by October of 1925, but Stahl continued to run the theatre for a few more years. By June of 1932, the building was sold to R.B. Gode to satisfy debts. Clearly, I was not around in 1924, but we need to back up even further to pick up the details of what came after the theatre.

Just before the turn of the century, a young girl named Milda Richter moved to New Braunfels with her mother. Money was scarce, so the girl began doing housework for the Gruene family at a very young age. She later worked for a restaurant in town. In 1912, Milda met and married a young man and they set about their life’s journey.

There was an establishment at that time, on the corner of San Antonio Street and North Castell Avenue (where Callahan’s stands now), that sold wine, liquor and cigars, otherwise known as a saloon. If patrons wanted food, they were directed through the saloon to a restaurant connected in the back. There was also a door facing Castell Avenue. The young couple bought said restaurant from Mr. Edmund Runge, the owner, for $175.

The couple opened their new business under the name Fritz Bloedorn’s Restaurant. It was hard work. Everything was cooked on a wood-burning stove. No gas or electric ovens. No microwaves. Plus, they had two children to care for. Fritz soon left. When they divorced in 1921, Milda retained the restaurant. Milda lived above the restaurant, raised her children and ran the restaurant by herself. Milda was friendly, outgoing, and compassionate in caring for her customers. She earned the name “Ma” from Walter Faust, Sr. and the name stuck. She built a great reputation; she built a great business; and she survived the Great Depression.

By the end of 1932, Milda had a terrific opportunity to rent the much larger space right next door in the former Palace Theatre. The building renovations allowed enough space for the restaurant and one other tenant, the Central Meat Market, owned by A.G Startz and Erwin Startz. Bloedorn Café opened in the renovated Palace Theatre building on February 1, 1933. It eventually became known as just “Ma’s Café”.

Restaurants in New Braunfels were a little different than today. There were a lot of people who lived in a boarding situation. In other words, they rented a room with no kitchen, so they had to take their meals at a café. Every meal. Ma cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was usually a special of the day with limited choices. Many of the patrons ate there several times a day.

Ma was an innovative cook. She bought fresh vegetables from farmers who came to the back door. Fresh chickens were delivered on Fridays, LIVE, which then had to be plucked and butchered to cook for Sunday dinner. On one occasion, someone brought soft-shell turtles to the back door and she made turtle soup.

When Prohibition was repealed in 1934, Ma’s was one of the first restaurants in New Braunfels to get a beer license to better serve her customers. Before that, beer was only consumed in saloons.

Food was rationed during World War II. The purchase of meat, sugar, coffee, and butter required ration stamps. Restaurants were required to take their menus and the sales book for the month in order to obtain food stamps for the coming month. Ma survived many hardships — single motherhood, the Great Depression, and World War II — and yet was very generous with others. She never turned away a hobo, but she would give them something to do to earn their food. Ma was known to open the café to boarders on Christmas Eve. On New Year’s Eve, she would start her day early in the morning, preparing the day’s meals as usual, before hosting a huge New Year’s Eve dinner and after-dance meals. There were a lot of people that even showed up during intermission from a nearby dance for a bite to eat. Then she would start all over again at 5 a.m.

Milda’s children Arthur and Erna helped their mother a lot. She operated the café for 47 years until her death in 1961. Her son, Arthur, and his wife, Louise, ran it for 19 more years. People are more likely to know Arthur by “Schimmel”, which in German means “white horse.” He was given the nickname because as a child he had very white blond hair. I remember Schimmel as a gregarious man who served the biggest, best hamburgers ever.

It was during Schimmel’s time at the helm that a group of men began meeting after work to discuss the affairs, events and politics of the day. This group was composed of local bankers, businessmen, doctors, dentists, lawyers, and salesmen. Their camaraderie developed into a Stammtisch table. For those who do not actually know what a Stammtisch is (even though you might see the word as a heading above the events in the Herald-Zeitung) it is a “regulars’ table”. Twenty-six men routinely met at Ma’s to enjoy discussion and a round or two of adult beverages. Besides meeting regularly, the group took a page out of Ma Bloedorn’s playbook and sponsored a yearly feast for the people who worked downtown. Ma’s generous soul fed the community for many years from downtown New Braunfels.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Dennis Schwab.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

I have heard some murmurings in town lately about a place called The House that Jack Built. As often happens at the Sophienburg, I had already done some research into this business. Let me share some facts and a couple stories that I discovered along the journey.

In February of 1927, Albert Nowotny began working on improving his cold drink/confectioners stand located at 1413 West San Antonio Street. Over the next couple of years, he enlarged the nice wood-framed confectionary to accommodate his collection of Native American artifacts as a little museum. Behind that, he constructed a tourist camp which included little cottages facing a central court and a modern bath house and restroom for tourists to use. A tourist court was a fairly new idea that came with the proliferation of automobiles and building of the highway system.

Nowotny’s business was good and in 1930, the little attractive wood-framed confectionary gave way to a new “fireproof” structure. The carpenter on the job was Jack Gill, so the name of the business became The House that Jack Built. The House that Jack Built was designed to mimic the Pueblo-style architecture found in New Mexico and Arizona which better suited Nowotny’s burgeoning Native American collections. The new multi-level building featured a stucco exterior with exposed, extended roof beams and natural pole ladders between the levels for authentic detailing.

The interior had a unique, multi-colored broken tile-and-concrete patterned floor. Cases lining the walls were filled with Native American artifacts collected by Nowotny in the New Braunfels area as well as other examples from the American Southwest, Mexico and even head-hunter axes from the Philippines. Displayed were large quantities of painted pottery, stone tools and points, and shell and bone jewelry.

The “free” museum also contained “a part of Chief Geronimo’s poisoned arrows and water jug.” Amongst the many antique pistols, guns, swords and daggers from the Texas-Mexican War, the Spanish-American War and the Civil War, were “Jesse James’ pistols, a dueling sword lost in 1541 belonging to Coronado and bullets fired by Zachary Taylor into the walls of Mission Obispado at Monterrey on his way to Mexico City.”

Stuffed animals peered from the corners and case tops. Trophy heads and horns hung above on the walls vying for attention amongst beautifully-colored, hand-woven Indian blankets. Nowotny also sold Native American and Mexican artifacts, jewelry and blankets as well as tourist trinkets made in Japan. At one point in time, according to Ogden Coleman, there was even a live bear on a chain!

The confectionary/café featured Mexican food, fried chicken dinners, hamburgers and sandwiches which were served at tables scattered in the center of the large room amidst the historic collections.

Albert Nowotny’s sons helped to run The House that Jack Built. Jerome described an interesting prohibition-era story in his oral history recording at the Sophienburg.

Local newspaperman, Fred Oheim once said, “… that the making of beer at home was legal. You could make up to 200 gallons of wine per family and a certain amount of beer per year, but, it required a federal license. Selling beer, wine, etc. to other folks was illegal … the Revenuers would come and put you in jail for selling not producing it.”

Businesses, also, could not sell alcoholic beverages, but during Prohibition, tourists would stop at The House that Jack Built for a hamburger and ask where they could get real beer. According to Jerome Nowotny, there were “many, many, many men” in New Braunfels that made and sold beer. The stills were usually hidden by hedges of Ligustrum which were commonly used around town in place of wood fences.

Albert would tell son Jerome, “Gehen mit die Leute, nicht der Herr.” (Go with the people, not with God.) He then gave Jerome an address for a local “small businessman”. Jerome would escort the tourists to that location where they would buy beer and then usually tip him $5 — very good money in those days. Albert never sent him to the same place twice in a row in order to make sure all “small businessmen” got a fair chance for a sale and to protect them by “spreading the risk, so-to-speak, of the illegal operators.”

In the 1940s, Percy and Norma Rose Richter rented and operated The House that Jack Built. My dad, Carroll Hoffmann, worked there as a busboy. It was no longer a museum but a very popular café and bar. It did, however, have a totem pole out in front of the building. Open 11 am to 11 pm, the café often ran out of food on Saturdays. My dad would ride his bike to work from Academy Street in the morning and Mr. Richter would put his bike in the back of the truck and take him home at night. Dad had to be there early to mop the colorful floor. He would always check for change beneath the tables and in the coin return slots of the little jukebox selection boxes on the tables. Does every little boy do this?

The building was altered again before my Dad’s time. The second-floor rooms had been enlarged into a banquet hall and the front half fenced in to create an outdoor terrace. Newspaper advertisements announce dance bands and society articles record parties that took place at The House that Jack Built. My dad said it was tricky for the waitresses to get food and drink up the stairs. He remembers that NB Highschool Head Coach Weldon Bynum took the ’48-’49 football team up there to eat steaks one night. Apparently even back then, football players were BMOC.

After the Richters, the café was run briefly as the Langston Café. In 1953, Felix and Harry Zoeller purchased the building and it became Zoeller Funeral Home until 1978. Harry Zoeller said that the unique tile floor was one of Nowotny’s selling points for the building. The Comal County Juvenile Residential Supervision and Treatment Center (Teen Connection) bought the building in 1981. The House that Jack Built/Zoeller Funeral Home presently houses Connections.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; “Reflections” oral History program #21; NB Herald archive; Heritage Exhibit notes; personal interviews.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman –

“Peyote!” in muffled but gleeful voice shouted the Comanche medicine man. Two other Indians sprang from the sedan which had been parked on the shoulder of the road. Carefully the two crawled through the barbed-wire fence and hurried to where their fellow aborigine was standing. Constable Bill Jones, who happened to be behind a cluster of huisache bushes, noticed that the three men quickly filled a sack with a certain specie of cactus.”

So begins a story written by former county clerk and city historian Oscar Haas for the San Antonio Express-News in 1965. There is no reference to time and place but I didn’t care; I was hooked and read through to the end.

Constable Jones watched as the medicine men gathered sticks made a small fire of leaves and sticks near the ground where the peyote cactus had been harvested. Each man placed a hand-woven rug on the ground, threw some peyote on the fire and inhaled the smoke. After a while, they rose, turned around three times and hurried off to their car.

The constable went over to the fire and stirred it. He looked up and saw an old Indian chief motioning to him to follow, and so he did, all the way to a cave by a creek. Constable Jones had known of the cave since childhood and let the old chief lead him down a side passage to a deep chasm. On the opposite side of the chasm was a pile of jewels in heavy gold mountings. Guessing that the treasure was from an old Mexican temple and had been hidden during a war, he looked over at the old chief in time to see the chasm’s edge give way and the old man plummet into its depths.

The following day, Constable Jones returned to the cave with a load of wood planks, long enough to bridge the chasm. Where was that side passage? Day after day he looked for it. Friends and neighbors told him that he had had a peyote- induced vision, but the constable refused to believe that what he had seen had not been real. Poor Constable Jones continued to visit the cave, searching, yearning for the treasure.

The medicine men in the story had come from the reservation in Oklahoma to acquire peyote. Native Americans still travel to buy peyote (Lophophora williamsii) from the “peyote gardens” on the Mustang Plains in south Texas — Starr, Jim Hogg, Webb and Zapata counties. The cactus is utilized by over a quarter of a million Native Americans as ceremonial sacrament in the Native American Church.

Peyote has been used by native tribes in its growing areas in Central America for thousands of years. Current thinking is that the Carrizo Indians of South Texas brought the peyote ceremony to the US and taught it to the Lipan Apaches who in turn shared it with Plains tribes like the Comanche in the 19th century. The increased use of the cactus by more tribes led to the birth of the peyoteros around 1900. These men and women find colonies of the cactus in the brush country and carefully cut the “buttons” or tops off — – preserving the underground root so that it can grow again. The buttons are then carefully dried before they are sold. Before 1900, this cottage industry went on relatively unnoticed as the peyoteros quietly supplied the Native Americans with the cactus.

In 1909, William H. Johnson was appointed chief special officer of the United States Indian Affairs Bureau, His job was to reduce the alcohol problem on the reservations. While investigating in Laredo, Johnson learned of the peyote trade that was centered in the small town of Los Ojuelos (Mirando City). He was not happy, and confiscated 200,000 peyote buttons and burned them. (I can only imagine how that affected the local area…). He continued his crusade eventually making the cultivation, harvesting and shipping of peyote illegal and subject to stiff fines. Reports from the reservations on the disastrous effects of the loss of peyote, both physically and spiritually, on the people led the government to scale back their crack down and allow shipments by special permit to only “wet” counties. The Native American Church was formalized, and recognized in part, so peyote could continue to be used legally as sacrament in certain ceremonies.

During Prohibition, the peyote was looked into as a possible “whiskiless drunk” alternative according to several newspaper accounts. Later in the 60s and 70s, hippies from all over traipsed into the South Texas peyote gardens to try out the cactus. Through the years, Native Americans from many tribes have adopted the traditions of the Native American Church and have continued to go to South Texas for peyote.

Texas is the only state where selling peyote is legal — it is also the only state where the cactus grows. Peyoteros must register with the Drug Enforcement Administration in order to legally sell peyote to members of the Native American Church. They also have to register with the Texas Department of Public Safety. The handful of registered peyoteros keep records on how much is harvested from the wild, who purchases the peyote and how much is sold. They have to renew their license annually.

The peyoteros see themselves a little like pharmacists dispensing a medicinal product to the right person. To buy peyote, church members must prove their ancestry; they have to have their Certificate of Indian Blood, because that shows who they are, who their parents are and their blood quarter. It is necessary to be at least one-fourth American Indian to purchase or possess peyote in the state of Texas.

It is not legal to grow peyote; it must be harvested from naturally occurring patches on private land that is often leased by the peyoteros. Ecologists have noted a drastic decline in the cactus and in new growth due to the use of “root plowing” by ranchers who need grassland for cattle and for the creation of lucrative hunting leases which limit the time peyoteros can search. The increase in the Native American tribes who utilize peyote has upped the demand which makes harvesting smaller buttons necessary and doesn’t allow the cactus to recover. Hopefully, the end result will not be the eradication of the cactus and a change in the habitats of South Texas.

There you have it — one more strange collection of facts to impress your friends with.

Sources: Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 6 (1995); www.texasstandard.org ; www.texasobserver.org ; Haas collection, Sophienburg Museum & Archives; San Antonio Express and The Houston Post, April 28, 1909, May 7 and 9, 1909, May 14, 1913.

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The sharing of history comes in many formats including murals, oral storytelling, books, newspapers and sometimes social media. Recently a photo of the New Braunfels Brewing Company was posted on the “Remember in New Braunfels, TX when…” Facebook page questioning where that building was. The answer is the New Braunfels Smokehouse Plant on North Guenther Avenue, but for all those new to the area, here is a little more to that story. The following article appeared in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung on July 27, 2010.

Prohibition unpopular in New Braunfels

By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

At 12 noon on October 12, 1920, an airplane crashed into the New Braunfels Brewing Company, one of four breweries in New Braunfels at the time. The NB Brewing Co. was located at the end of North Guenther Street (NB Smokehouse Plant).

Two pilots from Kelly Field in San Antonio had landed in NB, eaten lunch, and taken off again. Suddenly the pilot seemed to lose control of the plane and was heading straight towards the brewery. When it seemed certain that the plane was going to crash, one of the pilots unfastened his safety belt and jumped out, landing safely on the galvanized roof. The other pilot perished when the plane hit the third floor of the brewery. The impact created a large hole and the heavy motor dropped to the cement floor in a blaze of blue flame.

As if the NB Brewery didn’t have enough problems! In January the federal Prohibition Amendment (18th) made the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal and this brewery resorted to making a weak beer called Busto just to stay afloat and not drown.

The question of Prohibition had been in politics for a long time. Drinking alcohol was thought to be one of the main reasons for wide-spread social problems.

When Texas was a Republic, Prohibition was dealt with by “local option”. (Decisions of law would be left to towns, counties, even neighborhoods.) I have read that Texas banned saloons in 1845. I don’t think the Germans knew that here. Obviously the law was never enforced.

The state constitution of 1876 had required the legislature to enact a local option law. Eleven years later the “drys” (those in favor of Prohibition) presented a state Prohibition referendum, but lost. Add another eight years and 53 counties were dry. Can you guess which category Comal County fell into? A very strong push by the Anti-Saloon League in 1908 to put all of Texas under Prohibition failed, but slowly the number of dry counties was increasing.

Locally in 1908 the Republican Club of Comal County organized for the purpose of fighting Prohibition in Comal County and Texas. They would send delegates to the next Republican State Convention and demand a straight-out anti-Prohibition plank “to protect personal rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States” (Source: Sesquicentennial Minutes, Roger Nuhn). The NB photo from 1908 with the message “Farewell to our Local Self Government” appears to be bearing a casket.

Then in 1916 under the leadership of Texas Senator Morris Sheppard the campaign in favor of national Prohibition successfully passed the 18th Amendment. The Texas legislature ratified the federal Amendment in 1918 and Texas voters approved the state Prohibition Amendment in 1919.

Organized crime sprang up, especially in large cities and the controversy continued in Texas about how to use the amendment. Did it mean strict enforcement or not? In 1925 Prohibition opponents were in control of Texas and refused to support enforcement measures. When the Great Depression of 1929 happened, the federal government, needing liquor tax money, repealed Prohibition with the 21st Amendment. Texas reverted to local option where it is today. Presently there are 51 dry counties.

Was NB affected? Yes and no. Some of the liquor production went underground. I’ve heard some crazy stories, including chases by the “feds” and underground tunnels, but none substantiated. It wasn’t illegal to drink liquor, only to manufacture and sell it. It was okay to ferment fruit (wine?); okay to provide communion wine; and okay for doctors to prescribe liquor for medicinal purposes.

Headlines in the Herald August 19, 1933: “Comal County Lays Plans to Dance Prohibition ‘Out’ in Monster Street Demonstration on Plaza August 19th”. A giant dance with Judge Klingeman and Mayor Fischer leading the grand march. Prohibition was over and so was Busto Beer.

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This article originally appeared in the Herald- Zeitung on January 23, 2007.

Marie Jarisch and Gaston Parsons have an obvious pride when they talk about their grandfather and the Seekatz Opera House. The current Seekatz Opera House owned by Ron Snider is on the exact site of the original building, which burned down in 1941. Brothers Louis and Otto Seekatz, Louis being the grandfather of Jarisch and Parsons, saw a need in the late 1800’s for a large building downtown to accommodate traveling shows and local entertainment. The brothers were butchers by trade and decided to build their building on the Seekatz homestead next to the butcher shop downtown. They chose local builder Chris Herry and architect James Wahrenberger to come up with the plans. I have seen the architect’s specifications and they read like the instructions for building King Solomon’s Temple. Example: the brick was to be good hard well-burned selected Laredo brick. It’s hard to believe that a building so solidly built could burn like it did.

The two-story building had a wooden floor with removable seating for dancing. The large, beautifully appointed stage was the focal point of the main floor, complete with backdrops, velvet curtains, and dressing rooms.

On entering the front doors there was a bar on one side and barber shop on the other. This bar was quite successful until the advent of Prohibition, at which time it converted to the Staats brother’s Candy Kitchen.

On the second floor were balconies on both sides for viewing the stage and happenings on the floor below. Upstairs were also private clubrooms. The basement housed a kitchen and tables and chairs.

Living up to expectations, the Seekatz Opera House not only became the scene of traveling vaudeville shows but just about every large event in town. There were New Years Eve dances, Firemen’s Balls, Kindermaskenball, Fourth of July celebrations, orchestra concerts, high school graduations and many dances.

Marie Jarisch remembers seeing the famous fan dancer Sally Rand on the stage. Dancing with only two large ostrich feathers to cover her, Rand had introduced this dance at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Supposedly she was good at creating the illusion of nudity while dancing “tastefully” to the music of Chopin. Hmmmm.

Gradually vaudeville and traveling shows became less popular as silent films made their debut. Jack Kaufmann, Sr. leased space to show movies as the stage productions decreased, and his son, Jack, Jr., who lived upstairs at the Opera House along with his parents and sister, Mary Virginia Brinkley, remembers some of those early stage shows. There was the freckle-faced singer and later movie star Arthur Godfrey and he recalls animal shows with live animals, especially monkeys.

Kaufmann said a Mr. Toepperwein did trick shots with a 22 rifle. He said Toepperwein stood in the balcony and fired at a screen over the heads of the audience. Can you imagine that today?

Then there was the 7 day bicycle rider whose bicycle was on a stand outside the theater. He actually rode 7 days and 7 nights.

Eventually movies overcame all the other entertainment. Kaufmann remembers the first silent movie,“The Great Train Robbery”, and the first “talkie” was Al Jolson’s “The Jazz Singer”. It was half silent and half talking. He said that his dad tried to keep up the show tradition by bringing in live animals when he showed the Frank Buck “Bring ‘Em Back Alive” movies. Otto Locke would bring in the animals and once he brought a giant boa constrictor.

In the 30’s G.A. Cole bought the movie business and the Seekatz Opera House became exclusively the Cole Theater. That’s what it was on January 21, 1941 when it succumbed to fire. “Stella Dallas” was showing at the Cole and outside the billboard advertised the upcoming “Misbehaving Husbands.” They never had a chance to misbehave at the Cole.

In the 1960s Gaston Parsons located the 300 plus pound marble cornerstone, which he still has. You can now view a display concerning the Opera House at the Sophienburg, including one of the 45 star flags flown in front of the building, plus the contents of the prematurely opened (due to the fire) time capsule. Shimmy on up the hill and see it.

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