By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

An English-language advertisement in the German-language Neu Braunfelser Zeitung caught my eye:

Mexican Restaurant Seguin Street — New Braunfels
Meals at all times during the day for 25¢
Chili con carne, frieholes, tomales,
fresh oysters, hot coffee and chocolate
Cruz Gonzales

That might sound pretty normal to you, but this ad ran in the November 19, 1880 issue. 1880 and NB has a Mexican restaurant! Mr. Gonzales continued to advertise his establishment weekly until September 1881 when the ad refers to him selling fresh oysters next to Hampe’s Store on Seguin Street. Then he disappears.

I have so many questions.

Who was Cruz Gonzales? Where was he from and where did he go? Where exactly was the café? Did he live above the place? Why did he close?

I put my coworker, Sylvia Segovia, on the hunt. Together we have begun compiling an index and chronology of Mexican food restaurants in NB — both Mexican and Anglo owned. By collecting newspaper advertisements, phone listings and personal family info we have a good start. But we found nothing on Mr. Gonzales.

While Sylvia continued on the index, I looked into the origins of chili — not as cut and dry as you would think. Some have proposed that San Antonio’s Canary Islanders first concocted the mixture of meat, onions, garlic, chili peppers and cumin. Others, including me, think indigenous peoples have been stewing venison, turkey, and “whatever” meat with native spices for centuries. BTW there is a story written down in 1568 by conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo that tells of the capture of some unfortunate Spaniards by the Aztec. It seems they were thrown into a stew pot full of tomatoes and chili peppers. Ok, not true chili but they were sort of on the right track?

Most believe that chili, as we know it, was introduced by the “chili queens” in San Antonio. By the late 1880s, Mexican women were setting up rows of stalls and tables on Military Plaza. From morning’s light to evening’s dark, they sold chili con carne, tamales, enchiladas and chili verde. But before that in the 1870s, visitors and locals could visit humble homes in Laredito, a neighborhood near the Plaza, and be served “savory compounds, swimming in fiery peppers which biteth like a serpent” according to Edward King in Scribner’s magazine 1874. Sounds like a great bowl of chili! Mr. King also wrote that all classes of society frequented these home restaurants. It was an addicting dish.

Going back further, food historians have found that in 1862, an unruly group from the Confederate garrison set off a riot in Military Plaza destroying food stands of stews (read here, chili) and tamales. However, it wasn’t until the 1870s that the words “chili” or “chili con carne” appeared in print. There are mentions of chili-like stews as far back as the 1820s, so maybe chili was known by other names in the tri-lingual state of Texas (Spanish, English, German).

I found two other stories, almost myths, that tell of the dawn of San Antonio’s chili queens. One is of a young Creole named Louis St. Clare, who was part of the Gutierrez-Magee expedition of 1812-1813. This group, comprised of Spanish-Texan revolutionaries, Louisiana Creoles, Anglo soldiers of fortune and Native Americans, wanted to free Texas from Spanish rule (this actually happens about 25 years later!).

Long story short. The expedition does pretty well capturing Nacogdoches, Goliad and San Antonio. And then it gets messy. The Spanish colonial governors of Texas and Nuevo Leon and a dozen or so other Spanish supporters in San Antonio are taken prisoner and marched out of the city and not shot — their throats were slit.

Naturally, the citizens of San Antonio turned against the revolutionaries, and while they couldn’t throw them out, they could decline giving them any food. Here is where young St. Clare comes into the story. He falls in love with a local girl, Jesusita de la Torre. Their romance turns the residents of San Antonio against the de la Torres. In order to fend for themselves, St. Clare sets up a table and benches on the Plaza and the de la Torre women serve spicy meals to the nearly starving soldiers. The first chili queens?

The second legend is of the lavenderas, or washerwomen. These women followed the numerous armies that marched over and through Texas during the 1800s. Not only did they wash and mend clothes, they also cooked meals of, you guessed it, stews made with venison or goat seasoned with chili peppers. They, too, could be considered chili queens.

The chili queens reigned over Military Plaza for several decades, serving up their amazing spicy dishes to locals as well as travelers and soldiers who frequented San Antonio.

So there you have it. Chili, in various recipes, has been a Texas dish for at least 200 years. But I’m of the opinion that something like it has been here for much longer. I’m thinking it might just be the right time to make your way to your favorite local Mexican restaurant in honor of those wonderful women who shared chili with all of us Texans.

Sources: Neu Braunfelser Zeitung Collection; “The Bloody San Antonio Origins of Chili con Carne”, John Lomax, www.texasmonthly.com; Oscar Haas Collection; http://firstwefeast.com.

The post Let’s talk chili! appeared first on Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

Have you ever thought about how photography has changed your life? Photographs are a wonderful boost to your memory. Maybe you can’t remember a birthday party or who was there or pictures of friends you had long ago or what your great-grandparents looked like. But times have changed now that everyone who has a phone also has a camera. Think about how easy it is to whip out your phone and be a “Johnny on the spot” photographing everything around you. Immediately you can become a detective, a photographer or an historian.

No one in New Braunfels has a collection of photographs like the Sophienburg Archives. Naturally there are fewer pictures from real long ago. There are events that took place in our town of which there are no photos and there are thousands of photographs that we do not yet have in the collection. So when an old lost photo that we have never seen before shows up, it’s time to celebrate. That happened about a month ago when the archives was given a copy of an old photo of the ferryboat that operated in the area near Guada-Coma (Guadalupe-Comal confluence). The ferry transported many immigrants over the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers in New Braunfels. Doug and Penny Cooper, owners of the property at the confluence of the two rivers, shared a copy of an old photograph of the ferry and she and others believe that this is the only actual photograph found. There have been several paintings. Incidentally there is an historical marker on the Cooper’s property dedicated to the ferry operation there.

Researching historical properties brings out some new facts about old places. Even looking at photos magnified on the computer reveals little details never seen before. The ferry was located up river from the Nacogdoches Street crossing that was originally shallow and had a limestone bottom. The remnants of that crossing can be seen while standing on the Faust Street Bridge. When the river was running high, the ferry up river was used.

Viewing the rivers from the confluence property, the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers each have different colors. One river is very blue and one is blue green. You can tell where they merge. Before Canyon Dam was built, I remember that the Guadalupe was warmer than the Comal and cloudy. Now they are both clear.

The property at the confluence of three acres was given to first New Braunfels settler Adolph von Wedemeyer by the German Immigration Company in 1845 to build and operate a ferryboat. The crossing of the Guadalupe River had been a busy spot for hundreds of years before the first settlers arrived in 1845. Caravans from Mexico hauled supplies to missionaries in the east crossing the river at the foot of Nacogdoches Street (or the Nacogdoches Road site of the Camino Real). When the river flooded, one had to wait a long time before crossing. When New Braunfels was founded, this old route was very important for supplies and settlers to be brought from the coast.

Wedemeyer sold the land in 1847 to Justus Kellner who died soon thereafter. His widow then married Carl Bardenwerper and they took over the ferry until 1866 when it was sold to Florenz Kreuz.

Historian Ferdinand Roemer describes arriving at the site of the ferry in 1846 in the evening. A horn hanging from a tree signaled the ferry operator on the other side of the river to come pick him up. After waiting for a quite a long time, someone finally called out that the river was too flooded to cross and to wait until the next morning. Roemer camped outside in a rainy norther and the next morning two young men arrived and guided the ferry across.

In June of 1872 the ferryboat washed away in a flood. The Kreuz family then built a larger ferryboat that they named “Flora.”

Back in the 1700s the Spaniards who owned Texas made treks through what became the state of Texas, using the El Camino Real (king’s highway) trail. Martin de Alarcon, governor of the province of Texas in 1718, crossed the Rio Grande and headed towards what became San Antonio. There he established the Villa de Bexar (San Antonio) and founded the Mission San Antonio de Valero (Alamo).

The diary of Martin de Alarcon was translated by Dr. Fritz Leo Hoffmann, who was in my mother’s graduating class of New Braunfels High School, 1924. In 1935, Hoffmann was Professor of Languages at the University of Colorado. He said that Alarcon fixed the Royal Standard (flag) of the King of Spain at the junction of the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers and took possession of them. He and his men camped in the area.

Oscar Haas discovered a story dating back to the early 1860s stating that a large elephantine beast was discovered in the area of the junction buried way beneath the surface. A well was being dug and a shoulder bone of the beast was discovered. He estimated it to be about 30-feet long and 20-feet high. Stories of remains of at least three mastodons were found on the banks of the Comal River.

In 1968, Mrs. James Haile, owner of the junction property at the time, received a Texas Historical Marker as a historical site, certainly an important designation.

The Cooper’s old photograph was enlarged on a computer and painted by watercolor artist, Patricia Arnold. It is unknown when the photo was taken but could be as old as 1860. It now becomes part of the Sophienburg’s vast collection.

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