Oscar Haas, the Battleship Texas and the “Spirit of the Spanish-American War”

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — How great is this photo of New Braunfels boys! The image was copied for Oscar Haas by Mr. Seidel in 1960, but it dates way back to March 17, 1900. The young men, dressed up for the Kindermaskenzug (Children’s Masquerade Parade), are standing in front

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Haelbig made lasting music impression

By Myra Lee Adams Goff — An outstanding early citizen of New Braunfels and one who contributed much to the culture of the community was a man named Stefan Haelbig. Haelbig organized many of the early musical groups and was the music instructor of hundreds of children and adults alike

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Photo Caption: Martin's Picture Palace was the first movie house in New Braunfels. Advertisements for films begin in March 1914.

Movie memories

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — We go see the latest movie and think nothing about it. It is an easy and common thing to do. I don’t even remember the first film I saw, though I’m fairly certain it was a Disney movie. Not so in the early 1900s. I

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New Year’s traditions around the world

By Myra Lee Adams Goff — 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

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Remembering when Wurstfest was at a hole in the ground

Encore of November 1, 2006 By Myra Lee Adams Goff Get ready to celebrate New Braunfels’ heritage. Long before the Chicken Dance entered the city limits, the Wurstfest was held in a hole in the ground next to Main Plaza. Of course, this wasn’t the first location. The brainchild of

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The cold facts of New Braunfels

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — New Braunfelsers were giddy with joy when snowflake clusters fell on December 7th. Waking up that next morning was a “blessed event” of sorts for us locals. Some newcomers amongst us wondered at our ecstasy over snow, and in trying to explain, I realized that

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Original Seekatz Opera House built for traveling shows, local entertainment

By Myra Lee Adams Goff 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

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Downtown renovations important

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Ron Snider has been awarded the Dr. Frederick Frueholz Comal County Historical Commission Award for his work in the restoration and preservation of downtown New Braunfels buildings. In the 1960s a trend of tearing down old buildings, remodeling them into modern buildings or using the

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Historic Kindermaskenball Parade This Coming Saturday

By Myra Lee Adams Goff Eleven years ago Rosemarie Gregory and I wrote a book called “Kindermaskenball, Past and Present”. It’s about an event here in New Braunfels that goes back to the early days of the settlement. At the beginning of the book we made this statement: “Kindermaskenball is

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We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet for auld lang syne

By Myra Lee Adams Goff 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

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