Much has been written about the Indians of Texas, especially the Comanches. No one has given us more information than Dr. Ferdinand Roemer. In the field of research, Dr. Roemer becomes a primary source in which a person is actually present at the event being researched. All other sources are secondary in nature. Dr. Roemer gave us a first-hand account of the Comanches in his book “Texas 1845-1847”, published two years after his sojourn in Texas.

Roemer’s first person account was made possible by Prince Carl who contacted the Berlin Academy of Sciences and requested, on behalf of the Adelsverein, a survey of the geology of Texas. The Berlin Academy responded by sending 27- year- old Ferdinand Roemer on the recommendation of famous scientist, Alexander von Humboldt.

After arriving in Texas in 1845, Roemer made the acquaintance of other scientists in the area such as Ferdinand Lindheimer, Nicholas Zink, Louis Ervendberg, and John Meusebach who took Prince Carl’s place as Colonial Director. All of these men played a major part in the early days of New Braunfels.

It was on the sojourn with Meusebach in 1846, that Roemer made his personal observations of the Comanches. Meusebach was attempting to open up the land on the Llano and San Saba Rivers to emigrants by making a peace treaty with the Comanche chiefs. Roemer was at this important accomplishment by Meusebach and had the opportunity to observe the Comanches first hand.

Meusebach traveled to Fredericksburg, followed by Roemer who had been slightly delayed. Roemer stayed in Fredericksburg a few days before he left with the agent of Indian affairs for the U.S. Government, Major Neighbours. Neighbours was told to warn Meusebach to abandon his plan to meet with the Comanches, but Meusebach had already left Fredricksburg.

Roemer and Neighbours eventually caught up with the Meusebach group on the outskirts of the San Saba valley. They set up a camp and soon after entering the San Saba valley, a group of Comanche warriors visited them and inquired as to their purpose. After mutual greetings were exchanged, a royal reception was accorded the Meusebach group with 80 to 100 Indians, dressed in their festive war attire.

On the other side of the river, Roemer visited the camp village of the Comanches. The tents arranged in an irregular fashion with several hundred horses nearby, were made of 14- foot high poles crossing at the top with an opening to let the smoke out. These poles were covered with buffalo hides and a small door made of bearskin. The nomadic Comanches never settled down in one place because hunting buffalo was their main activity. These tents could be taken down quickly, placed on the poles, and then pulled by horses. Many early roads were made by the dragging of these poles.

Comancheria, as the hunting ground was called, was located generally between the upper course of the Red River and the Rio Grande. These most powerful of Indians at one time, numbered 10,000. The “lords of the prairie”, as they called themselves, used horses brought by the Spaniards for their buffalo hunts and warfare .They mastered the art of hanging on one side of the horse, using it as a shield as they used their bow and arrow and long spear. Keeping control of this large area of Comancheria was their main occupation in order to keep other Indian tribes and whites from infringing on their territory.

Roemer had an opportunity to view the habits of the Comanches. Their clothing was much like that of other Indian tribes – leggings, moccasins, breech clout (curtain), and a buffalo robe. (By the time of Roemer’s visit, many presents of cotton shirts and woolen blankets had been given by the U.S.) The wives were slaves to their chief and their main function was to take care of the children and sew decorations on the costumes for the men. The men wore their hair in a long braid on the back of the head, but the women’s hair was cropped. The Comanches scorned the use of alcohol and believed that the use of it would someday be the inevitable extinction of the “Red Race of North America”.

In his book, Roemer recalls a famous Comanche story from 1840. The small village of Linville was on Lavaca Bay. The inhabitants were few and when they heard that the Indians were coming their way, they abandoned their homes and stores. The Indians seized everything they could get on their pack horses and retreated towards the hills. The news spread and a number of armed settlers pursued them to retake the plunder. As the makeshift army found the Indians, they were wearing the stolen silks, top hats, and umbrellas making quite a comical sight. The Indians were finally overtaken close to San Marcos. Many were killed on both sides and the cotton and silk goods were scattered over the prairie. This became known as the Battle of Plum Creek. Local author, Janet Kaderli, wrote a book about the Battle of Plum Creek in her children’s story, “Patchwork Trail”. This battle was the last large battle of the Comanches in South Texas.

Legend claims that the Comanches were direct descendants of the subjects of Montezuma in Mexico and migrated north when Cortez destroyed the Mexican Empire. Supposedly when they came to the Rio Grande, they looked across the river to the other side and called out “Tehas!”. In the Comanche language, this word means “happy hunting ground, the home of departed spirits”. Thus Texas was their new home. This is one of many legends about the origin of the word.

After Meusebach made the treaty with several Comanche chiefs, he is given credit for opening up this area to settlement. Roemer was sent to give a report of the geology of Texas. He did this, plus a description of the animal and plant life. Most of all, he provides us insight with the Comanches.

The post Roemer’s insight in Texas, 1846 appeared first on Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Shortly after the immigrants arrived in New Braunfels in 1845, small communities sprang up in the outer reaches of Comal County. Settlers were interested in good farmland which was available in the area. One of these small communities was called Ufnau, located in the western area of Comal County off of present Hwy 46. The community began in 1858.

By 1872, the settlement found a need for a school for their children. Several families purchased a four acre plot from Ludewig Moeglin for $1.00. That sort of thing was possible in those days. Those that negotiated with Moeglin were Henry Wehe, Charles Georg, Louis Beuche, Phillip Wagner, Christian Hanz, William Haas, Frank Ahrens, and Fredrick Foerster.

A small rock one room school building was built of coursed limestone. A fireplace with chimney heated the room. Shortly after this room was built, a cedar log room with caliche chinking was added to the west side. The attic above was floored and probably used for storage. Kerosene lamps were used for light. Nearby a log teacherage was built for the school’s first teacher, Phillip Stroeck. Outside a storm cellar was built east of the schoolhouse. A large bell called the students to school in the morning.

Fast forward to 1931 when a well-known New Braunfels educator, Werner Rahe, taught at Ufnau. In 1936 he transferred to New Braunfels Schools and eventually became principal of Lone Star School. Interestingly, Rahe’s father, William Rahe, took his son’s place at Ufnau after his son left. William taught there until 1940, at which time his brother, Ernest Rahe, began teaching there. Many Rahes lived in the teacherage.

As with many other one room schoolhouses, Ufnau along with other small schools was consolidated into the Bulverde Rural High School District in 1945 and was no longer used after that year.

The property was sold to Mrs. Reuben Bagby in 1952 and she sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Wolfe in 1966. They were devoted to the restoration of both buildings. Also salvaged at that time was a back gate through which children rode their horses to school and the large bell which still stands in the shade of an old oak tree.

Time once again took its toll on the property and in 2003 the present owners became Wallace and Margaret Brumley. A massive restoration project began. The bell, the gate leading to the school and the double doors were intact. Inside the school, a 1910 wood stove was converted to electric and in the teacherage a 1932 cast iron General Electric refrigerator was restored. In the school house, the Brumleys began collecting furnishings typical of the old one room school house. An old teacher’s desk and old student’s desks fill the room along with a collection of old books, one dating back to the 1700s.

One question remains: Where did the name Ufnau come from? One thing that is known is that Ufnau (Ufenau) is an island in the middle of Lake Zurich in Switzerland. It is also known that many of the original inhabitants of the Texas Ufnau were of German-Swiss origin. Did they decide to name the area after a well-known landmark in Switzerland? Did they decide like so many immigrant groups to name the area after the area in which they lived? Remember the Prince Carl named New Braunfels after Braunfels, Germany.

Here’s what we know about Ufnau Island in the middle of Lake Zurich: By the second century A.D. a Roman temple was built on the island. Then by the eighth century the first Christian church was built. Two centuries later, a Swiss duchess named Reginlinde, suffering from leprosy, retired to the island. Isolation was a common practice for lepers.

In 965 A.D. Emperor Otto the Great gave the island to the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln. It was Otto’s wife who was the grandchild of Reginlinde. Reginlinde had built a larger sacred building (St. Martin’s) next to the original abbey. Reginlinde died there on the island of Ufnau and is buried on the grounds of the abbey. Her son, Monk Adalrich, was named the parish priest. By 970 A.D. there were two churches on the island, the church of Sts. Peter and Paul and the Chapel St. Martins.

As time went by, other churches sprang up on the shores of Lake Zurich and the parish of Ufnau lost its importance. Historically, every year a pilgrimage of people on barges go to the island. The island has become a popular tourist destination.

The concept of the one-room schoolhouse worked for the time it existed. All students and all subjects were taught by one teacher. My 1938 through 1950 school experience was totally different. In elementary school, there was one room and one teacher for each grade and in high school, there was a specialized teacher for each subject in different rooms. We don’t even know what the school of tomorrow will bring. Technology has entered the classroom. Changes are inevitable.

The Brumley’s property is not open to the public but they have hosted groups from Switzerland and groups of individuals that have a connection to the old school. They are to be complimented on their historic restoration and teaching us all about the days of the little one-room schoolhouse.

The post The one-room schoolhouse appeared first on Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

Called by some, “a catastrophic failure of dreamers”, the organization of about 40 intellectuals, university fraternity members and freethinkers banded together with a common cause. They were called “Darmstadters”, or the “Society of the 40” and their plan in 1847 was to organize a communistic utopian settlement in Texas.

The group of about 40 young men organized in the town of Darmstadt, Germany. Why 40s? Because there were roughly 40 of them in the 1840s.

Why freethinkers? Because their liberal ideas were very much against the norm in the small principalities that would later become united Germany. The freethinker movement claimed to be against political and religious tyranny. The Darmstadters wanted to create a classless society with no ruler and guiding themselves by common collective consent. There would be no private property.

The organization of the Darmstadt group of the 1840s was encouraged by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, John O. Meusebach, and Hermann Spiess, the first three commissioner-generals of the Adelsverein. Prince Carl and Hermann Spiess made speeches at the Universities of Giessen and Heidelberg about setting up a utopian type socialistic colony (The word Utopia was coined by Sir Thomas More four hundred years ago in which he described a perfect society). Prince Carl also made speeches at the Industrial School at Darmstadt. He said Texas would be perfect for their communistic and socialistic ideas of freedom and equality; it was a young republic and susceptible to new ideas.

The young university fraternity men’s social life was made up of a fondness for sword dueling, singing, drinking grog (combination of weak beer and rum), and talking. Immediately I pictured a scene from Romberg’s musical “The Student Prince” with its well-known song “Drink, Drink, Drink”. Five men gradually emerged as leaders – Gustav Schleicher, Ferdinand von Herff, Hermann Spiess, Friedrich Schenk, and Julius Wegner. Von Herff had the potential to become a famous surgeon and Hermann Spiess, a naturalist, would become Meusebach’s successor as commissioner- general. Spiess and von Herff first met in the 1830s at the Gymnasium (high school) in Darmstadt.

Spiess had traveled through the United States for two years in 1845-46. He visited NB, then returned to Germany and met with von Herff in Darmstadt. Von Herff was part of a social circle of idealists including Alexander von Humbolt, the Grimm brothers, and poets Bettina von Arnim and Hoffman von Fallensleben.

These endless talks on the university scene led to the intellectual groundwork of the Darmstadt group and finally created the resolve to leave Germany and move to the U.S. The group lacked money, so when Spiess suggested that they join the Adelsverein, they accepted, even though most of them were against the aristocratic system. The Darmstadt probably could never have financed their project alone and, after all, the Adelsverein had free land.

There was trouble within the group from the start. Immediately von Herff took over as leader and that was the exact opposite of the idea of everyone being on equal ground.

Arrival

The Darmstadters arrived at Indian Point on July 4, 1847, and used 14 carts provided by Spiess. They walked, singing German fraternity songs along the way. Some with money bought horses. It was noted that none of them knew any English except von Herff.

When they arrived in New Braunfels they camped outside the Sophienburg (headquarters of the Adelsverein). Not to waste time before leaving for the Llano, they bought 500 acres of land two and a half miles away from NB (location later became Danville). Here they planted vegetables and grapes, built log cabins and called the area the Darmstadt Farm.

Bettina

On Sept 1, one month later, the group left for Fredericksburg. Gustav Schleicher stayed behind to run the farm in Comal County. Reaching the north bank of the Llano, they named the place Bettina after the liberal writer Bettina von Arnim, the woman who inspired the movement. There they built a large log building where all slept on camp beds and began their utopian experiment. There was no Indian problem because John Meusebach had already made a treaty with the Indians and the Comanches received medical help from von Herff. He had actually removed cataracts from the eyes of one of the Comanche chiefs. For that, the chief presented the doctor with a 14 year old captured girl from Mexico who would later become the wife of Hermann Spiess.

Failure

After less than a year, the utopian experiment was doomed to failure because it was humanly impossible to live up to its own ideals. The professionals in the group wanted to direct and order and not work. The laborers and mechanics could not see the justice in what was happening and so they did nothing. The educated men didn’t know farming, and just wanted to hunt and read classical literature. Most did not want to take orders from Herff and Spiess. Within the organization, discord arose over ownership of property.

As other utopian experiments had done, Bettina failed. By 1848, only eight people were left. In the U.S. between 1663 and 1860, one source claimed that there were 130 idealistic utopian communities attempted. Bettina was the first in Texas. And so, the Darmstadt utopia rose and fell.

What happened to the forty 40s? Some went back to Germany, some to other communities in the hill country and some came back to the Darmstadt Farm in Comal County. Many joined together with another freethinker group called the “48ers” who arrived after the 1848 Revolution in Germany. Being strongly against slavery, the Texas freethinkers joined together during the Civil War against the Confederacy. Individuals from these freethinker groups did much to further education in Texas, to further freedom for all and to advance scientific advancements for all.

The post The rise an fall of the Darmstadt appeared first on Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

The year was 1846, a year after Hermann Seele arrived in Texas. It was the time of year that we, in Texas, understand – July and August. The heat continued to increase and thunder storms made the Guadalupe River rise. A ferry boat at the confluence of the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers had washed away. It was again repaired.

Horrifying scene

Seele crossed the river to the place where the immigrants had been held up from crossing over the flooding Guadalupe. A most horrible scene was observed. Some chests and boxes of the immigrants had been brought over with great effort. Baggage and household goods were laying everywhere waiting with the immigrants to cross the swollen water. Wash was laid out on bushes to dry.

An old farmer lying on a feather bed had a raging fever. Not far away the corpse of a woman was wrapped in a bedspread. Small children were sitting around weeping for their dear, dead mother. The father in vain, tried to understand a discussion with the American wagon owner. What was he telling him to do? He couldn’t understand English.

Walking by the gruesome area, Seele noticed a man leaning against a tree with his hat fallen over off of his head. He wanted to warn him about the danger of sun. Seele went up to the man, shook him, and raised his head “which had sunk to his chest when his wide-opened eyes became fixed on me, motionless and unseeing. The man was dead.” He was buried there on the banks of the Guadalupe.

He passed a tent with nine people lying begging for water. No one would bring them any. Seele brought them water from the river in pails. A long-ago song sung by his mother passed through his mind:

Beyond the island and rocks
We have vanished for eternity.
I feel as though I must weep
Must weep like a child.

From The Cypress by Hermann Seele

Many immigrants camped across the Guadalupe River from Seele’s farm. Many were buried there and years later when the railroad came to New Braunfels, workers discovered the bones of the 29 humans recorded by Ervendberg. The workers scraped them up and reburied them. Today trains roll over the site.

Immigrants planned to settle the San Saba

The real original destination of the Adelsverein German immigrants was the land around the San Saba and Llano Rivers. The Adelsverein had a contract with the Republic of Texas to settle up to 6,000 families and single men in this area. They should have known better, but they didn’t. They knew nothing about Texas.

When Prince Carl arrived in the summer of 1844 to make arrangements for the immigrants to travel from the coast to the land grant, this inland trek from the coast was the biggest challenge he had. He made a trip by horseback to the San Saba and decided that the settlers had to have a half-way destination to stop for supplies.

Unplanned destination became New Braunfels

And so, on March 15, 1845 in San Antonio, Prince Carl purchased the land situated on the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers. This land became the inadvertent final destination of the Adelsverein immigrants. Immediately Prince Carl had Lt. Nicholas Zink plot out a town-site. At the west end of this plotted land was a four-acre cemetery named the New Braunfels Cemetery.

Ervendberg records

When the first immigrants arrived, Rev. Louis Ervendberg recorded some 400 deaths, most of which were buried in the New Braunfels Cemetery in 1845 and 1846. An unnumbered amount of burials took place at the coast and on the side of the road of the trek up from the coast. There are no records to show the exact number or who died at the coast and on the way to New Braunfels. Rev. Ervendberg began his recordings by word of mouth from arriving settlers and it is estimated that 300 or so died at the coast and along the way. He recorded 21 deaths in 1845 and 373 in 1846.

New Braunfels Cemetery

This city cemetery was the first provided for immigrants and dedicated June 25, 1845. The first person buried there was Elise Catherine Reh Peter. Her husband, Gerlach Peter, died a month later. It is presumed that they were victims of a cholera epidemic that was just beginning at this time. Records show that many were buried in nameless graves on the southwest section of the cemetery. Over two hundred deaths recorded by Ervendberg were buried in the New Braunfels Cemetery.

The First Protestant Church is the custodian of those death records. The church has allowed the Sophienburg Archives to copy the records. The records show the name, date of death, age, birthplace, place of burial and cause of death of each of the 348 recorded deaths in 1845 and ’46. The causes of death are so varied that it is impossible to draw any conclusions. So many died of convulsions and something called mucus fever, bilious fever, dysentery, blood poisoning and yellow fever. Most of these sound like symptoms rather than the disease itself. Only two concrete diseases have been identified, cholera and spinal meningitis. Towards the heights of the epidemic with several deaths a day, there were no longer coffins available and many were just buried in a mass grave. The area is marked on the grounds of the cemetery.

Whole families of parents and children sometimes died all at once. All age brackets were victims from the very young to the very old. Several women died of childbirth.

By 1847, the numbers of recorded deaths dropped to 71. One may conclude that this particular epidemic was over.

The rest of the story

When John O. Meusebach accepted the responsibility of taking the place of Prince Carl as Executive Director of the Adelsverein, he was full of optimism. After all, the newspapers in Germany had painted a beautiful picture of Texas. But when Meusebach arrived in Texas, he quickly assessed the misery of the immigrants on the coast. He realized the financial disaster and there was no money to help the immigrants survive on the coast or even to help them get to New Braunfels. He was informed that 5,000 more people were on the way.

What was he to do? He appealed to the Adelsverein who sent a meager amount of money. He then explored the land promised the immigrants around the San Saba and Llano Rivers, the original destination.

In April 25, 1846, Meusebach guided 16 wagons and 180 settlers to colonize Fredericksburg. He then made a peace treaty with the Comanche Indians. This opened up the Texas frontier for settlement.

Meusebach remained a popular personality with the immigrants and in 1851 he was elected State Senator. Two years later, he was appointed commissioner for the German Emigration Co. to issue land certificates to the immigrants brought to Texas by the Adelsverein.

The rest of the story is good, thanks to John O. Meusebach.

The post The year 1846 was a dark year for the German immigrants appeared first on Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

The Comal Springs Conservation Center will begin its five phase project this summer. The 16-acre site was once Klingemann Springs and was the first water work property owned by the City of New Braunfels.

One of the necessities of human survival is availability of water and this need played an essential part in the choosing of the site of New Braunfels for a settlement. Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, commissioner general for the Adelsverein project, became aware that Las Fontanas or The Fountains (Comal Springs) were the biggest of the principal springs along the Balcones Escarpment. These springs had a daily flow of 196 million gallons.

Early settlers carried buckets of water from the springs of Comal Creek and the Comal River for their use. Hermann Seele tells of drawing water out of the river at the foot of San Antonio St. Another source of fresh water from a large spring was at the end of a path leading from Seguin Ave. to the Comal River. The path called “water alley” was located next to the Lindheimer home. The alley was included in the original plans set out for the city. This was one of the springs used primarily until the settlers dug their own wells for water.

With Julius Rennert as mayor of New Braunfels in 1857, the city council first began to investigate the possibility of acquiring a city-owned water works. Aldermen at the time were Julius Eggeling, Jacob Rose, Andreas Eikel, Dr. Wm. Remer, Ferdinand Dietz, Wm. Ludwig, Jacob Langkopf, and Christian Krause. By the way, Jacob Rose was my great-grandfather. A committee was appointed including six citizens to begin the investigation.

When the city council convened on Oct. 18, 1857, a preliminary report was given, but action was tabled. Oscar Haas speculated that this tabling was possibly due to a severe drought which had occurred in 1856 causing crop failures and high prices for food supplies.

Nothing was done about the water issue and in 1861 the Civil War began. Everything came to a standstill during the war, as the emphasis was on war issues. After the war more time could be spent on other problems. In 1880 with the advent of the railroad, people began moving back into town. Some who had moved away during the war, returned. An enterprising spirit entered the picture.

In 1885, the San Marcos Water Works Company made a proposition to the city council to construct a water works and this proposal spurred a renewed interest in looking into a city-owned water works. With Hermann Seele as chairman, the water works committee recommended that a pump be placed on the bank of the Comal River at the site of the New Braunfels Woolen Manufacturing Co. “This pump would be set going by the steam engine of the factory.” The water would be pumped out of the Comal River into a reservoir with a capacity of 700,000 gallons of water. The Woolen Manuf. Co. requested that for every 20,000 of water, the price paid be $1.50. Seven councilmen accepted this proposition and two voted against it. This vote was not acted on and eventually repealed.

Shortly thereafter the owners of the Torrey Manufacturing and Power Co. owned by William Clemens, Julius Runge and Leon Blum offered a new proposal to build the city water works. This proposal was accepted and a contract signed for 25 years. Mayor Giesecke accepted the proposal in the name of the city of New Braunfels.

The city then entered into contract with Gustav Gerlich to supervise the pumping of water and to lay pipes onto private properties. His contract was for six months and he was to be responsible for any faulty work after the construction was finished. A report of the council meeting states that the water works had been in operation with 51 consumer connections since August of 1888.

I asked Roger Biggers with NBU what the pipes were made out of at the very beginning. He said they were most likely made from cypress wood and he had seen one of the old wooden pipes while excavating downtown.

Volunteer fire-fighting companies began organizing due to the availability of water. They practiced regularly and insurance rates were reduced.

At a meeting of the city council on Nov. 5, 1906, based on an inspection of the Comal Head Springs on the Klingemann property, mayor C. A. Jahn told the council that filth had washed into the springs from nearby cattle feed pens and clogged up the springs. However, upon cleaning the area, the springs on the Klingemann place would furnish more water and be the best drinking water. He recommended that the city buy the springs and adjacent property. A committee was appointed to study the feasibility and reported that they did not recommend purchasing it.

Thus, the council decided to bring the issue to a city vote. On Dec. 18,1906, 116 voted to purchase the property and 112 against.

On Feb. 1^st, 1907, Fritz Klingemann for $2,500 conveyed to the city of NB, a portion of the Klingemann homestead at the headwaters of the Comal River in Comaltown at the corner of what is now Klingemann and Lakeview.

By 1912 the springs were in full operation and two years later the Herald reported that the new water works system provided the purest water right from the springs and brought it into everybody’s kitchen. The spring water does much to eliminate disease.

In the early 1930s at the onset of the Great Depression, the textile industry was in decline. To provide employment, the city sought to clear out the underbrush and place a wall around the springs to control flow and prevent groundwater contamination. The city obtained assistance through to the Texas Rehabilitation and Relief Commission established under the Federal Emergency Relief Act.

In 1934 two concrete pools were also constructed on the property as part of a fish rearing pond lease. The ponds are gone but some of the 1930s structures are still present on the property as well as rock walls lining the original spring flow area.

By the end of 1936, the spring had also been capped and two drilled wells were in operation on the property. A third well was drilled in December, 1944.

The New Braunfels Utilities began in 1942 as an electric company. In 1959, the company took over the sewer and water systems and in 1960s NBU moved their operations to the water works site.

Although our water supply is no longer taken directly from the headwater springs, some of our water is still taken from the wells on the property. The New Braunfels Utilities still maintains the property and they have a great project to preserve the property and springs.

The Comal Springs Conservation Center project is being sponsored by the NBU aided by the New Braunfels Area Community Foundation. The five-phase project will take approximately five years to complete. From the project brochure: “In keeping with a longstanding commitment to the environment and to the community NBU plans to restore and develop this site into a multi-use facility which enhances the community’s relationship with nature. The development will be a teaching tool which honors the cultural and environmental history of the site and area while encouraging future stewardship of the environment, water and community.” This will include the restoration of the Comal Springs headwaters and transform the 16+ acres of asphalt into native landscape. There will be public facilities and use of historic structures to reconnect the community to its natural water and ecology.

New Braunfels and Comal County are very conservation conscious and this is another example of conservation and restoration.

The post City-owned water works to provide affordable, clean water appeared first on Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

The Comal Springs Conservation Center will begin its five phase project this summer. The 16-acre site was once Klingemann Springs and was the first water work property owned by the City of New Braunfels.

One of the necessities of human survival is availability of water and this need played an essential part in the choosing of the site of New Braunfels for a settlement. Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, commissioner general for the Adelsverein project, became aware that Las Fontanas or The Fountains (Comal Springs) were the biggest of the principal springs along the Balcones Escarpment. These springs had a daily flow of 196 million gallons.

Early settlers carried buckets of water from the springs of Comal Creek and the Comal River for their use. Hermann Seele tells of drawing water out of the river at the foot of San Antonio St. Another source of fresh water from a large spring was at the end of a path leading from Seguin Ave. to the Comal River. The path called “water alley” was located next to the Lindheimer home. The alley was included in the original plans set out for the city. This was one of the springs used primarily until the settlers dug their own wells for water.

With Julius Rennert as mayor of New Braunfels in 1857, the city council first began to investigate the possibility of acquiring a city-owned water works. Aldermen at the time were Julius Eggeling, Jacob Rose, Andreas Eikel, Dr. Wm. Remer, Ferdinand Dietz, Wm. Ludwig, Jacob Langkopf, and Christian Krause. By the way, Jacob Rose was my great-grandfather. A committee was appointed including six citizens to begin the investigation.

When the city council convened on Oct. 18, 1857, a preliminary report was given, but action was tabled. Oscar Haas speculated that this tabling was possibly due to a severe drought which had occurred in 1856 causing crop failures and high prices for food supplies.

Nothing was done about the water issue and in 1861 the Civil War began. Everything came to a standstill during the war, as the emphasis was on war issues. After the war more time could be spent on other problems. In 1880 with the advent of the railroad, people began moving back into town. Some who had moved away during the war, returned. An enterprising spirit entered the picture.

In 1885, the San Marcos Water Works Company made a proposition to the city council to construct a water works and this proposal spurred a renewed interest in looking into a city-owned water works. With Hermann Seele as chairman, the water works committee recommended that a pump be placed on the bank of the Comal River at the site of the New Braunfels Woolen Manufacturing Co. “This pump would be set going by the steam engine of the factory.” The water would be pumped out of the Comal River into a reservoir with a capacity of 700,000 gallons of water. The Woolen Manuf. Co. requested that for every 20,000 of water, the price paid be $1.50. Seven councilmen accepted this proposition and two voted against it. This vote was not acted on and eventually repealed.

Shortly thereafter the owners of the Torrey Manufacturing and Power Co. owned by William Clemens, Julius Runge and Leon Blum offered a new proposal to build the city water works. This proposal was accepted and a contract signed for 25 years. Mayor Giesecke accepted the proposal in the name of the city of New Braunfels.

The city then entered into contract with Gustav Gerlich to supervise the pumping of water and to lay pipes onto private properties. His contract was for six months and he was to be responsible for any faulty work after the construction was finished. A report of the council meeting states that the water works had been in operation with 51 consumer connections since August of 1888.

I asked Roger Biggers with NBU what the pipes were made out of at the very beginning. He said they were most likely made from cypress wood and he had seen one of the old wooden pipes while excavating downtown.

Volunteer fire-fighting companies began organizing due to the availability of water. They practiced regularly and insurance rates were reduced.

At a meeting of the city council on Nov. 5, 1906, based on an inspection of the Comal Head Springs on the Klingemann property, mayor C. A. Jahn told the council that filth had washed into the springs from nearby cattle feed pens and clogged up the springs. However, upon cleaning the area, the springs on the Klingemann place would furnish more water and be the best drinking water. He recommended that the city buy the springs and adjacent property. A committee was appointed to study the feasibility and reported that they did not recommend purchasing it.

Thus, the council decided to bring the issue to a city vote. On Dec. 18,1906, 116 voted to purchase the property and 112 against.

On Feb. 1^st, 1907, Fritz Klingemann for $2,500 conveyed to the city of NB, a portion of the Klingemann homestead at the headwaters of the Comal River in Comaltown at the corner of what is now Klingemann and Lakeview.

By 1912 the springs were in full operation and two years later the Herald reported that the new water works system provided the purest water right from the springs and brought it into everybody’s kitchen. The spring water does much to eliminate disease.

In the early 1930s at the onset of the Great Depression, the textile industry was in decline. To provide employment, the city sought to clear out the underbrush and place a wall around the springs to control flow and prevent groundwater contamination. The city obtained assistance through to the Texas Rehabilitation and Relief Commission established under the Federal Emergency Relief Act.

In 1934 two concrete pools were also constructed on the property as part of a fish rearing pond lease. The ponds are gone but some of the 1930s structures are still present on the property as well as rock walls lining the original spring flow area.

By the end of 1936, the spring had also been capped and two drilled wells were in operation on the property. A third well was drilled in December, 1944.

The New Braunfels Utilities began in 1942 as an electric company. In 1959, the company took over the sewer and water systems and in 1960s NBU moved their operations to the water works site.

Although our water supply is no longer taken directly from the headwater springs, some of our water is still taken from the wells on the property. The New Braunfels Utilities still maintains the property and they have a great project to preserve the property and springs.

The Comal Springs Conservation Center project is being sponsored by the NBU aided by the New Braunfels Area Community Foundation. The five-phase project will take approximately five years to complete. From the project brochure: “In keeping with a longstanding commitment to the environment and to the community NBU plans to restore and develop this site into a multi-use facility which enhances the community’s relationship with nature. The development will be a teaching tool which honors the cultural and environmental history of the site and area while encouraging future stewardship of the environment, water and community.” This will include the restoration of the Comal Springs headwaters and transform the 16+ acres of asphalt into native landscape. There will be public facilities and use of historic structures to reconnect the community to its natural water and ecology.

New Braunfels and Comal County are very conservation conscious and this is another example of conservation and restoration.

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Our Lady of Perpetual Help congregation is celebrating its 90^th year of existence. It is a good example of a group of people who held on to their beliefs and held on to their culture and traditions. Sts. Peter and Paul Church, the oldest Catholic Church in New Braunfels, sent a request to the Motherhouse of the Holy Family in Holland asking for priests to work among the Spanish-speaking people in New Braunfels. In 1926, the church became a reality and still serves the community at 138 W. Austin Street

The idea of serving the needs of the Spanish-speaking people in the area began much earlier at Las Calera or The Lime at Dittlinger, four miles west of New Braunfels. In 1907, Hippolyt Dittlinger founded the Dittlinger Lime Company four miles west of New Braunfels. It is said that Mr. Dittlinger recruited workers from Mexico. Immigrant workers brought their families and immediately a settlement began close to The Lime.

Mr. Dittlinger provided housing and a school for the children in the vicinity. He also built a house for the Sisters of Divine Providence who had come to teach the children in that school. In 1926 space was provided in the school for a chapel. Worship services were held in a room partitioned off in the building, the same year that the Sister’s House was built. The Lime was sold in 1934 to the United States Gypsum Company, but the school continued until 1936 when it became a public school of the New Braunfels Independent School District.

The year 1926 was a very important year for the congregation of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and that is the reason for the celebration. It was this same year that the late Henry Moeller bequeathed a house on Austin St. in Comaltown to Archbishop J.J. Droassarts for the purpose of establishing a church for Spanish-speaking people. Emily Moeller also gave property on Austin St. adjoining the house.

The Archbishop appealed to the Holy Family Fathers in the Netherlands for missionaries to help organize a church. Four missionaries accepted the call in March of 1926.

Reverend Anthony Elsing, M.S.F. headed the group. Since there was no church building, the house given by Henry Moeller at 158 W. Austin St. was used as a temporary chapel and a rectory. A small church was built and Our Lady of Perpetual Help became the official name on December 5, 1926 with 40 families in the parish. Two years later a fire partially destroyed the interior of the chapel. The church was rebuilt and enlarged to accommodate a larger congregation, which had grown to 509 parishioners, plus living quarters for the sisters. A home next to the one given by Mr. Moeller was purchased and used as a new rectory with the old house being remodeled into a school. In 1931 a parish hall was built on the back of the property. Also in that year the parish purchased land for its own cemetery on Peace Avenue, taking the place of the Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery and the Hidalgo Cemetery for its parishioners.

In 1948, it became necessary to enlarge the school so a larger more modern structure was built. In the 1960s the parochial school was closed and most children entered the public schools. Nuns from Indiana took over the Catholic religious instruction of the children going to public school. This lead to a strong program for youth that is still active as the Catholic Youth Organization.

A beautiful structure was built in 1969 on the corner of Austin and Union Sts. In the 1980s a new Parish Hall, CCD Center and bazaar booths were constructed on the premises.

Many Spanish-speaking people lived on the western edge of New Braunfels due to the influx of industry in that area. Growth was inevitable and so became the necessity for a church in the area. Out at Dittlinger, the Sister’s House that had remained on the property of Servtex Material, was purchased by Mrs. Amalie Dittlinger Mengden of Houston in 1944. She was the daughter of Hippolyt Dittlinger and she donated the building to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in New Braunfels. The building was dismantled and the materials from this house became the beginning of the Holy Family Church which is now at 245 S. Hidalgo Ave. This church, as well as another church in Hunter, St. Johns Church, were both mission churches of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The church is very active socially, bringing people together. Some of the original organizations live on and some were abandoned. These activities exemplify the strong love of family and friends that the Mexican culture is known for.

The love of music has always been important in the Catholic Church. Going back to early Europe, all denominations honored the great classics like Hendel’s Messiah or the Vivalde Requiem. Different denominations adopt their church music to their beliefs and culture. An example of that took place in 1978 when the Lady of Perpetual Help formed the Mariache Choir and then later the First Conjunto Choir when the Latin Mass was eliminated.

The Bazaars or Jamaicas is a time for fellowship when parishioners pool their talents for the betterment of church funds. A dance with a D.J. raises a large part of funds for improvements on the campus. The dance takes place inside the hall and the Bazaar is not outside as it used to be.

Another important occasion is Las Mananitas which is a tribute to Our Lady of Guadalupe and her apparition to Juan Diego on the morning December 12^th. The grotto called El Cerrito (the mountain) which was constructed on the grounds in 1940 is the site for the celebration of Las Mananitas. After singing Las Mananitas, the celebration is concluded with Mass. This practice has been conducted in many, many Catholic churches. Although this ceremony is no longer at church, many parishioners carry it out as a tradition in their family.

Las Posadas is the reenactment of Joseph’s and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem for the birth of Christ. This is concluded at midnight on December 24^th. It is a tradition of “blessing of the home.”

In the early years, going back to Father Elsing’s time in New Braunfels, a tradition carried on for many years was Las Tamaladas. This tradition was made famous by the Guadalupanas preparing tamales from hand ground corn meal. Father Elsing would collect the corn from the farmers and the Guadalupanas would grind the corn into cornmeal and make tamales. From their sale of tamales, funds would be used to benefit children.

On the anniversary of its 90^th year, Our Lady of Perpetual Help finds itself a congregation of diverse backgrounds. An early 7:30am Mass is still conducted for the Spanish-speaking parishioner but the two other morning services are in English. Winter Texans from all over have found the church to be a welcome home.

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Come celebrate our Declaration of Independence once again with the Sophienburg’s July 4^th celebration and parade. The parade will begin at 9:15 so be at the Plaza early. I have invited a ghost from the past to be there. John Torrey will surely be at his old stomping grounds in spirit.

Who was John Torrey? I wrote an article about John Torrey Feb. 23, 2010. A little more detail of the John Torrey story takes us back to why and how he became such a prominent person in the settlement of New Braunfels.

There were seven Torrey brothers from Connecticut. Two stayed in Connecticut, two were killed in Texas and three, John, David, and Thomas, formed the Torrey Brothers Trading House in Houston in 1836. This trading company became a very important strategy of Sam Houston’s peace policy with the Indians. With a significant fur trade, there were several branch stores in Texas that brought the Indians and the settlers together.

The Torrey brothers in 1844 furnished Prince Carl with ammunition, swords, and arms for the soldiers that Prince Carl had organized to protect the newly arrived emigrants. John Torrey was with Prince Carl as he inspected the New Braunfels property right before the settlers crossed the Guadalupe. Later when John Meusebach became the second commissioner-general after Prince Carl left, David Torrey drew up a contract to help transport those emigrants who needed transportation from Indianola.

This connection with the Adelsverein is what brought the Torreys to New Braunfels in 1846. Here John conducted a trading business on the corner of San Antonio and Hill Sts. where he ground corn into cornmeal for the settlers for 10 cents a bushel. Then Torrey moved closer to where we are celebrating July 4^th. While you’re standing around the Plaza, take a look over at the UPS building on the corner of San Antonio St. and Seguin Ave. This location is the first recorded deed of John Torrey in May 1847 when he built a store on that corner. He leased this property from Penelope Hunter of San Antonio for $30 a year. The property encompassed the corner lot all the way to the present Black Whale. This property had first been granted to Nicholas Reidel by the German Emigration Co. One of the lease agreements with Mrs. Hunter was that it was not to be used as a saloon or boarding house without her permission. That agreement didn’t last long because in a few years that very building became the saloon of Ferdinand Simon.

Now from the Plaza, you’re just a hop, skip and jump to the San Antonio St. Bridge. Before you go on to the bridge, look to the right where the Dittlinger office building is located (ADM). This was approximately where the John Torrey homestead was located.

A little bridge background: There had to be a bridge from the settlement of New Braunfels and Comaltown. The earliest bridge, known as the Pecan Bridge and described by Hermann Seele, pinpoints the location of a pecan foot bridge on an island at the juncture of the Comal River and Comal Creek. Two pecan trees, one on each bank of the Comal, had been felled onto the island. Pedestrians crossed back and forth between NB and Comaltown holding on to handrails. This bridge was at the foot of Bridge St.

The first wagon bridge built across the Comal by the city was in 1856. This bridge made of timber was located diagonally from the foot of Mill St. to the north edge of San Antonio St. After ten years another bridge was built there in 1866 only to be partially destroyed by a flood in 1869. This bridge was repaired and then completely torn away by another flood in 1870. The city built an iron wagon bridge in the same location as these two bridges, but once again a flood in 1872 washed it away.

Merchant C.C. Floege built a low water crossing in 1872 that lasted until 1894 when it was replaced by the high water structure built from scrap metal from the Chicago World’s Fair. Then in 1923 the concrete bridge now in use was built.

Now that you’re on the concrete bridge, you can look down to where the John Torrey mill used to be. In 1848 Torrey entered into a lease agreement with Hermann Speiss trustee of the German Emigration Co. to build a mill. The lease was for 1 4/5 acres for $75 a year for a parcel of land in New Braunfels at the juncture of Comal Creek (River) and the Comal Springs, the place being at the “falls”. Oscar Haas tells us that the falls was the only one on the Comal River and it is there that Torrey built a dam to use the water power for his mill. Torrey entered into an agreement with Willis E. Park to build a saw and grist mill. He later added facilities for the manufacture of wheat flour and a shop for making doors, sashes and blinds. It was destroyed by fire in 1861. Immediately Torrey put up a three story stone building. In 1863 he was joined by the Runge brothers of Indianola and they were granted a charter by the State of Texas to import cotton cloth weaving machinery, duty free. Six years later in 1869 a tornado destroyed the top floor and all the machinery. He had a roof placed over the second story and then in 1872 a cloudburst caused a flood tearing the foundation and destroying the recently rebuilt dam.

Today part of the foundation can still be seen at the Clemens Dam at the foot of Mill Street. It has been said that fire, wind, and water plotted against John Torrey’s efforts on the Comal River. Torrey, defeated, moved to land which he had bought in North Texas. After all of this explanation, I could have told you that it was where the Tube Chute is, right?

John Torrey, like William Meriwether and Harry Landa, were true industrialists. They knew what water power could do. Torrey bought a great deal of land in Comaltown. He hired J.J. Groos to plot out the Braunfels Subdivision. He gave the land on which the Comal Cemetery is located to the City of New Braunfels. Torrey Street is named after him because of the amount of land that he owned. Also Torrey Park is named after him. The mill site was honored by the State of Texas during the Centennial of Texas Independence in 1936 with an historical marker at the location of the mill.

To walk or ride in the parade, an application is required and a patriotic theme is essential. Whatever you do, come join us!

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The banner year in the history of Texas was 1836, the year that the Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico, drew up its first constitution and declared itself independent. This constitution with its generous land policy would be the driving force leading to the German immigration movement. What happened at that convention determined that estimated 7,000 Germans would emigrate to Texas. Many settled in Comal County.

Republic of Texas Declaration of Independence

The Texas Declaration of Independence stated that Mexico, under the presidency of Santa Anna, had violated the liberties that had been guaranteed Mexican citizens according to the Mexican Constitution of 1821. It stated that Texicans (Mexicans in the Texas part of Mexico) had been deprived of freedom of religion, right to trial by jury, the right to bear arms, and the provision of public education for its children.

Spanish explorers had made claim to most of the land called Texas since the 1500s. Texas was the northern area of Mexico called Coahuila that had been controlled by Spain until they were defeated by Mexico in 1821.

Texas was not the “pick of the crop” by either Mexicans or Americans. The Comanche of the plains and in the hill country were a big problem for the settlers. Few people ventured into the area, much less settled there. When the Texicans complained to Mexican authorities about their problems, they were met with force on the part of the Santa Anna, president of Mexico. With a large army, determined to drive the Texicans out, Santa Anna’s entry into Texas would lead to the Battle of the Alamo, of Goliad, and then eventually to the Battle of San Jacinto.

These battles resulted from the formation of the Declaration of Independence. The convention to make that decision took place at Washington-on the-Brazos. This small town had enough housing for the delegates and other towns did not.

Fifty-nine delegates met and adopted a constitution unanimously on March 2, 1836. Can you guess how many of these delegates were Texans? Now count: Twelve from Virginia, 10 from North Carolina, nine from Tennessee, six from Kentucky, four from Georgia, three from South Carolina, three from Pennsylvania, three from Mexico (two of which were native Texans, Jose Antonio Navarro and Jose Francisco Ruiz), two from New York, one from Massachusetts, one from Mississippi, one from New Jersey, one from England, one from Ireland, one from Scotland and one from Canada.

After the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, Texas was a free Republic and remained independent from 1836 to 1845.The constitution went into effect immediately and its generous land policy eventually became the reason for the German emigration.

Adelsverein

Now the Adelsverein in Germany enters the picture. A group of German counts and princes met at Biebrich on the Rhine to establish a colony in Texas. Wanting to relieve overpopulation and establish overseas markets to help Germany pay for the Napoleonic War was the main reason for this organization. Besides, the Texas Republic had awarded land to immigrant agents in the form of colonization contracts.

The “Society for the Protection of German Immigrants” was organized and Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels was sent to Texas to purchase land for the colonists.

New Braunfels was never intended to be the final destination of the colony. The original destination of the emigration project was the Bourgeois/Ducos grant on the Medina River. Bourgeois’ contract with the Republic of Texas was not renewed. Then Solms considered another tract of land. Two men, Fischer and Miller, acquired large plots of land on the San Saba and Llano Rivers. The Prince decided that because it was so far away from the coast, he would have to have a waystation. Just six days before the emigrants crossed the Guadalupe the Prince purchased the Comal Tract from the Veramendi heirs as a waystation.

The original immigrant contract with the Adelsverein stated that each head of family would receive 320 acres and single men would receive 160 acres. Only after they crossed the Guadalupe into New Braunfels were they told that they would receive one-half acre lot and one 10-acre plot. They were not happy campers. A few went on their own to claim land on the San Saba, but not many. New Braunfels became the home for most of them.

Veramendi’s Comal Tract

When Texas was still under Spanish control in 1807, a land speculator named Baron de Bastrop purchased four leagues of land on the Guadalupe which included the Comal Springs (later called the Comal Tract). When the Mexican flag flew over Texas, the vice-governor of Texas and Coahuila in 1825, Juan de Veramendi, petitioned the Mexican government for 11 leagues of land which also included the Comal Tract. When Veramendi died, his daughter Maria Veramendi and husband Rafael Garza, inherited the tract of land and sold it to Prince Carl for $1,111.

In Comal County there were three Mexican Land Grants from 1831 before the Republic, two for Veramendi and one for Antonio Maria Esnaurizer. There were eventually many different types of grants available in the Republic of Texas and State of Texas for citizenship, military service, colonization and public improvement, such as schools and railroads. Looking at the Land Grant Map of Comal County, one can find such grantees as Samuel Millett who fought at San Jacinto, Gordon Jennings (heirs), David Crockett (heirs) and Toribio Lasoya (heirs), who died at the Alamo.

Texas became a state of the United States in 1845 and between 1845 and 1898 Texans were issued preemption grants for 160 to 320 acres with the stipulation that the grantee must live on and improve the land for three years. This happened to hundreds of Comal County land owners. These grants were acquired by many German settlers in Comal County.

Without the formation of the Republic of Texas and the Declaration of Independence, the future of Comal County would have been quite different. On March 2^nd, drive around our Main Plaza and salute the many Texas flags put up by the Ferdinand Lindheimer Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

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Ranch Road 32 West is worth a drive into a scenic part of Comal County. From New Braunfels, drive out FM 306, right on Purgatory Road, then left at RR 32 over a section called Devil’s Backbone. Probably named for the spine of the devil, it winds and winds and you are sure to get car-sick if you are prone to such an affliction.

At the intersection of RR32 and FM484 you come to a settlement called Fischer. Just to tell you how long this settlement has been there, the area (Hermann Fischer Ranch) received the Texas Department of Agriculture Family Land Heritage 150 year designation in 2004, which is given for continuous agricultural operation in the same family beginning at 100 years.

Hermann Fischer and his wife Anna were the first to settle in the valley on 160 acres where they built the first log cabin in the area. They came to Texas in 1846. Otto Fischer bought land next to Hermann’s, and both brothers were in the cattle business. Otto married Adolfina Schlameus. Other Germans that settled in the area were– Schlameus, Spangenberg, Linnartz, Luehlfing, Sachtleben, Pantermuehl, Kaderli, Haas, Schubert, Wersterfer, Krause and Wiechman. With this many families in the valley, Hermann decided to build a store in 1866 at one end of his log cabin. The store became the center of the community. With a large assortment of merchandise, Hermann soon expanded the store to three buildings selling groceries, farm machinery and household goods.

When the settlement received a post office named Fischer’s Store in 1876, it became well known over Texas. Then the name changed to Fischer Store and then in 1950 to Fischer.

A dance hall, bowling alley, school, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, gristmill, rodeo grounds, grist mill and last, but certainly not least, a cemetery was added.

Not far from the settlement on Ranch Road 32 is a large cemetery that has the earmarks of a caring group of people. This cemetery already is an HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY. Many Fischers are buried in that cemetery. Of the almost 500 graves there are other prominent family names.

In 1886 Otto Fischer gave 30 acres of his land to the Fischer’s Store Community for the purpose of building a school for their children. It was on the highest point of this land that the cemetery informally got started. It was appropriately called Fischer’s School Graveyard at Fischer’s Store. The Fischer Cemetery Association was later organized in 1976.

The first burial was the infant son of Monroe and Nettie Smith, nearby landowners and also the cemetery caretaker. Besides family members interred, there are also 21 graves of people whose remains were moved from the area that would become covered by Canyon Lake. Throughout the years, four graves were also moved from the Pantermuehl Ranch and single graves from Dripping Springs, Pleasant Valley, Schlameus Ranch and Suche Ranch.

So what happened to the rest of the 30 acres that was to be used for education? A school was built on this property and still stands. It is now the Fischer Community Center. All the one-room county school houses were consolidated under the Comal County Rural School which led to the current Comal Independent School District. Under this consolidation, the district claimed ownership of the land given by Otto Fischer. In 1976 the CISD transferred 3.851 acres of the original 30 acres to the Fischer Cemetery Association. The association divided the land into 1170 burial plots.

Leaving the cemetery, turn right on RR32 which leads you into the Fischer settlement. Located in the old Fischer Store is the Fischer Store Museum. There is so much history in that museum and so many genuine old things that tell the history of the Fischer community. One relict of interest to me was the old telephone booth that was located inside the store. It is beautifully constructed of wood. Inside the booth was a phone and at one time there were 16 parties on this one line. I even remember when there were two party lines in the city of New Braunfels. But 16?

The old cotton gin ledgers are there and their liquor license #84. The shelving and tables are all authentic to the store. Another interesting relic was a large cabbage slicer. Guess what that was used for. Right. It was used to make sauerkraut. Many people that live in the country still make sauerkraut.

Just down the road from the museum is the old dance hall. Private dances and receptions are still held and a public dance once a year. Next to the dance hall is the bowling alley where, to this day, nine pin bowling takes place.

Did you know that Fischer Store had a polo team? In the museum are homemade mallets made of a type of bamboo and wood. The open grass field measuring 300 feet long and 160 yards wide is still there across from the dance hall. The game was played with four players. One game lasted six chukkers or periods of 7 ½ minutes each. Cecil Smith who died in 1999 is given credit for starting the polo team at Fischer Store. Smith bought horses from the ranchers and trained them to be polo ponies. Polo ponies cannot be used as ranch horses once they are trained to be polo ponies. These trained ponies were temperamental and had a mind of their own. Part of the sport was the pony trying to throw off the rider.

The Comal County Fair will be this next week, Sept 24 to 28. There won’t be a polo game, but there once was. Back in 1932, the fair was reeling from the Depression, trying to stay afloat. They asked for local talent and the Fischer Store polo team challenged the New Braunfels team. The Fischer Store team was made up of Bill Fischer, Raymond Fischer, J.W. Bode, Bubie Vollmering, Reagan Calhoun and —Pape. The New Braunfels team was E.A. Maier, Hilmar Staats, Clifford Startz, Tommie Specht, Dickie Tausch, Roy Meredith, R.R. Coreth, Jackie Bergfeld, and Herbert Marion.

Between chukkers, a burlesque polo team from New Braunfels put on a comedy act. That team was made up of Ernst Stein, Charles Scruggs, Paul Jahn, Pete Nuhn, Coach Rode, “Red” Babel, Barney Koepp, Dr. Rennie Wright and Jack Eiband. What a sight that must have been!

Even without a polo game, see you at the Fair!

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