The next time you drive downtown, take a look at the old IGN train depot at the intersection of San Antonio Street and Hill Avenue. Although it’s now a museum, with just a little knowledge and imagination, you can transport yourself back to the olden times known as the Railroad Era.

Back when Texas was the Republic of Texas, in 1836, the first congress chartered the first railroad company, the Texas Rail Road, Navigation, and Banking Co. to construct railroads where needed. This was ten years after the first US railroad was chartered. The company lasted two years but the railroad was never built. Other companies were chartered, but still no railroads.

In 1847, Gen.Sidney Sherman acquired lots in Harrisburg, acquired northern capital and established the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado as the first railroad in Texas. By the end of 1861, there were nine operating railroads in Texas, mostly in East Texas. One was the International & Great Northern (IGN). Jay Gould was the controlling stockholder. This name would come up later in New Braunfels history. Politics played a big part as far as where railroads would locate.

After the Civil War and Reconstruction, new lines formed and some merged. In 1875, New Braunfels, as well as other small towns, saw the advantage of a railroad going through their town. Brian Weidner, who has done extensive research on railroads in NB, states that in the New Braunfelser Zeitung, editor Anselm Eiband, began writing about attempts to offer the railroads cash and property to build in NB.

In the meantime the International & Great Northern Railroad in 1879, requested right-of-way land to build a depot in NB. The railroad was able to acquire town lots 10 & 17 from Ferdinand and Anna Nolte. Lot 10 faced San Antonio Street and Hill Street and Lot 17 faced Mill Street. The railroad was in business! The first freight passenger trains entered NB in the fall of 1880.

The first ticket office was a store front owned by Mr. Nolte’s business on San Antonio Street. IGN constructed a small depot and the old store front was removed.

The era of the railroad brought tremendous changes to the economy of Texas and to New Braunfels as well. Many small towns that were overlooked by the railroad completely disappeared. A big advantage of the presence of a railroad was that goods could be brought in and local goods could be sent out. Tourism flourished in towns, like New Braunfels, that had natural beauty.

Remember Jay Gould? The story goes that his daughter, Helen Gould, visited the Harry Landa estate in 1898. According to Landa, Miss Gould liked the beauty of Landa Park so much that she proposed to him that the IGN build a spur track into Landa Park, which they did.

The second railroad line into NB, the Missouri, Kansas, Texas Railroad, while extending their tracks from NB to San Antonio, also built a station plus spur track into Landa Park. The railroads were helping New Braunfels become a tourist destination. In his book, “As I Remember”, Harry Landa made this comment:

“Beer, bathing, boat riding, bands, and dancing, and other recreations were enjoyed by picnickers and Landa Park became one of the most popular resorts of the Southwest.”

The president, Theodore Roosevelt, made a political speech from the rear of a Pullman car passing through NB, and the whole city turned out to see this spectacle complete with a children’s choir, a decorated station and an assembly of young women dressed as Roughriders.

Pressure was on by the public for the railroad to build a larger, better depot to accommodate all the visitors who were arriving. In 1907 the firm of Moeller, Mordhurst & Blumberg were contracted to manufacture cement blocks to build a new depot. Adolph Moeller was responsible for building many public buildings and Victorian homes in NB, and Mordhurst was the one who produced the cement blocks and also decorated the graves with concrete-filled shells. There are at least five homes still standing that were built of Mordhurst’s cement blocks in New Braunfels and also many graves in Comal Cemetery.

Brian Weidner’s research reveals that the new station was made of concrete-colored tiles with red grout between the tiles. There were ornamental wrought iron details supporting the roof. The large entrances were surrounded by diamond latticed glass transoms and side panels. Look for these features. You may have to get out of the car to see all the details.

The construction of the interstate highway system had a big effect on the railroad and its station. Eventually by the 1960s, passenger service was discontinued and then replaced by Amtrak.

The city was given the IGN station by the railroad in 1986 with a yearly lease on the land. The same year, the city leased the station and property to the New Braunfels Historic Railroad & Modelers Society who run it as a free museum to the public.

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The year 1898 was the year of the Comal County Courthouse and the year of the Spanish-American War. In 1998 Dr. Robert Govier translated the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung” from German into English for the Sophienburg . The Govier and Adams families were old family friends. Before Bob died, he gave me a personal copy of many of his writings.

The war and the courthouse were the two most covered events of that year. Some of the trivia in the paper will give you an idea of how things stacked up here in 1898. The Zeitung was written in German, the editor was Eugene Kaiser and the once-a-week paper subscription was $2.50 a year and $3.00 if sent to Germany.

The original CC Courthouse was located on the corner of the plaza where the Chase Bank stands. Plans were presented by six architects from Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. The plans of architect J. Riely Gordon were chosen. Judge Ad. Giesecke voted against the plan, as did Commissioner Schulze, Jr. Commissioners Marbach, Startz, and Adams voted for Gordon’s plan. Contractors chosen were Fischer and Lambie. Fischer was a New Braunfels native.

In May, the cornerstone was laid. Bands played, and flag-waving school children marched from school to the plaza. City and County officials marched in step. The cornerstone was suspended over the southern corner of the completed ground floor. Historical items were placed in a metal box and with three ceremonial hammer strokes, the stone was consecrated by pouring corn, wine and oil on it from a silver chalice. (Incidentally, Schulze refused to have his name on the cornerstone)

After the ceremony the crowd made its way to Gottlieb Oberkampf’s garden where children were served lemonade and adults were served beer.

The other big headliner was the Spanish-American war between Spain and the United States. The US intervened in the Cuba Libra war against Spain for independence. Conflicts between Spain and its possession, Cuba, had been going on for years and American sentiment towards the Spanish atrocities had reached a high point by 1898.

Pres. McKinley sent the USS Maine to Havana to protect American citizens. The Maine suffered a massive explosion in Havana Harbor. The cause was unknown but with the death of 266 sailors, American opinion demanded retaliation against Spain. War was declared by the US on Spain in April of 1898.

After four months of conflict, the war was over. The US gained almost all of Spain’s colonies – Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. Cuba formed its own government and gained independence in 1902. During this war, Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders trained in San Antonio.

The paper was not without its trivia about this war. The Naval Dept. was acquiring 10,000 carrier pigeons. In Key West, a special building for three weeks of training was built. The birds would be trained until they were capable of covering points near Havana to Key West.

Local news reflects the social aspect of the town. In that year, all babies that were born were listed throughout the paper but in a different way than today. “The mayor Carl Jahn and his wife had a baby girl.” The father’s name was listed in that way, not giving any credit to the mother.

There was an abundance of entertainment, particularly in the form of masked balls-Thorn Hill, Orth’s Pasture, Vogel’s Valley, and Children’s Masked Ball. The shooting club was active and the Men’s Singing Clubs celebrated with the “clinking of glasses”. A famous diver named Felton, would perform at the garden by diving from the roof of the high building into a basin of water 3½ feet deep. For sports lovers, one can travel on the International train between NB and Austin for $1.25 round trip to attend the “Base Ball” game.

New downtown: Sylvester Simon built a two story handsome pub right next to the new courthouse. Hmm. Also downtown, a sidewalk was built in front of the Gruene building on San Antonio St. (Calahans) A night watchman was hired to ” get around by bicycle”. (Horses were the main means of transportation) The city purchased a water wagon to sprinkle the streets. I’m sure that was a big thing since the streets were not paved.

Here it is, 114 years later. We still have a lively downtown, war, pubs, entertainment but hallelujah we don’t have a water wagon!

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