By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Prince Carl, on behalf of the Adelsverein, was given the responsibility of establishing two churches in the new settlement of New Braunfels, one Protestant and one Catholic. They were to be established at the same time, but that didn’t happen. Prince Carl engaged Rev. Louis Ervendberg as the Protestant pastor on the coast even before the group moved inland, but could not find a Catholic priest. Meanwhile to satisfy the religious needs of the early settlers, the Protestants and Catholics met together under the leadership of Rev. Ervendberg.

Finding a Catholic priest was difficult. When the prince arrived in the United States in 1844, he visited the archdiocese of Boston and Baltimore, the only organization in America at that time, looking for a priest. When he arrived in Galveston he became acquainted with Catholic Bishop Odin, the Catholic Prelate of Texas, who told him that there were no priests available for the settlement .The two traveled extensively together and became good friends. According to Ferdinand Roemer, “Odin travels continually about the country, visiting the Catholics living scattered in the various parts of the country. Fearlessly and tirelessly he traverses the lonesome prairies on horseback”…

The eventual location of the Catholic Church on Castell and Bridge Sts. has deep historic roots in New Braunfels. From a translation of Prince Carl’s report to the Adelsverein on the 27th of March, 1845, he says this: “Thirty-one wagons have arrived, and I am expecting the last half of the immigrants within a few days. I had an encampment erected on a bluff overlooking Comal Creek. For its protection I think it urgent that three sides be enclosed by palisades, whereas the fourth side is amply protected against attack by the high steep bluff of Comal Creek.”

Nicholas Zink, an educated engineer and surveyor, was given the job of laying out the streets and lots of New Braunfels. He helped set up this first camp of the immigrants. It became known as the Zinkenburg. “Burg” in English means “castle, fortress, stronghold” just like in Sophienburg the “burg” means castle.

After the settlers moved out to their own lots, the Zinkenburg became the site of the first Catholic Church. In 1847, the congregation built a temporary hut of wood and it served for two years as the first church building. This little building was on the site of the present parking lot abutting Bridge Street. It became a Catholic school when a permanent church building was constructed.

After two years, in 1849, Bishop Odin arranged for the first permanent church building. He stated that it was his intention to build the church with his own funds and he asked the Adelsverein to give him the necessary ground for the erection of a building in the city. There were only two other Catholic churches in Texas at this time, Galveston and San Antonio.

This church known as the Walnut Church was closer to the back of the property above the Comal Creek. The building was built by Heinrich Meine and built of black walnut, a hard wood that was known to be prevalent on the Guadalupe River. The building was 35 feet by 25 feet. Newly arrived, Father Gottfried Wenzel, was assigned to New Braunfels. Church archivist Everett Fey states that the Walnut Church served the congregation from 1849 through the Civil War. At that time the church was called St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Now the congregation had outgrown the Walnut Church.

Once again, Bishop Odin, seeing a need for expansion, dedicated the cornerstone in 1871 for a new stone church. According to Fey, the stone used to build this church was purchased from the County from the newly torn down Jail.

Now here’s an interesting story. What happened to the Walnut Church? In order to allow services of Mass, Baptism, Confirmation, Weddings and Burials to continue uninterrupted, the stone church was built around and over the Walnut Church. There was room enough inside for the smaller church to be free standing.

When the stone church was complete in 1874, there was no longer need for the Walnut Church. A notice in the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung announced that wood from the Walnut Church would be auctioned off in the church parking lot. The church would literally be pulled out the front door one log at a time. At this point, the church changed its name to the present one, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.

The space left by the removal of the Walnut Church greatly increased the size of the church and over the next three decades new altars and stained glass windows, now numbering 22, were added. In 1963 the size of the church was doubled. The final addition took place in 2000.

Many long-time members of Sts. Peter and Paul can claim family relationships going back generations. Everett Fey, who has worked on the church’s extensive archives for years, can stand where the Walnut Church once stood and think back to his g-g grandparents, Stephan and Margarethe Klein who worshipped there. A few steps further into the church, his grandfather, Theodore Wenzel, was the Sacristan in the first stone church. He moves up closer to the altar where his brother, Fredric Fey, was ordained a Deacon, and then finally to the most recent altar where his daughter, Janice, recently married.

A church rededication took place five years ago in 2009 on the site of where the Walnut Church once stood.

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Photos: July 4, 2013, Parade and Program

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

It is fitting that the Sophienburg Museum and Archives sponsor the Fourth of July parade and celebration here in downtown New Braunfels.

Prince Carl chose the little hill on which the Sophienburg Museum is located to build a fortress to oversee and defend New Braunfels. When he came to Texas in 1844, he brought two cannons made in Victoria. Those cannons and other guns would protect the immigrants, he said. The guns were kept in a warehouse on the grounds of the Sophienburg to be distributed when needed. The warehouse was called the magazine, hence Magazine Blvd.

The two cannons were to be set up at an appropriate point near the magazine. The Prince felt that in case of an attack the cannons could “sweep the streets with cannon shots and the enemy could be cleaned out.” Can you imagine it? These two cannons were originally set up at the east and west entrances to the Zinkenburg, the site above the Comal Creek where the Sts. Peter and Paul Church is now located.

In the New Braunfelser Jahrbuch, years later, the then mayor, C.A. Jahn, wrote that the two cannons rested for many years on the slope of the Sophienburg Hill. He says that before the Civil War, the cannons were used in Fourth of July celebrations as well as anniversaries. They would shoot one cannon, wait a few minutes, and then shoot the other cannon, giving the two to three-inch cast iron walls time to cool. He remembers seeing one cannon catapult down the hill as a result of firing it too early. Jahn also remembers hearing that one cannon blew to bits as a result of firing it in quick succession, scattering parts everywhere. This was in celebration of the end of the Civil War.

The other cannon was taken to Comaltown to be part of the 25^th anniversary in 1870 and was shot many times. It was placed on the banks of the Comal near Clemens Dam. It was shot once in 1876 at sunrise during the Centennial Fourth of July Celebration. That celebration is claimed to be the most elaborate of all Fourth celebrations.

There were many stories as to what happened to the remaining cannon. In a 1980 Reflections Program, Carlo Fischer claimed to have the real story of the missing cannon. He claims that in 1894 his father, Emil Fischer, Harry Galle, Adolph Henne, and Emil Gerlich decided to shoot the cannon to “put a little life in the town”. The cannon was located on the banks of the Comal. These three young men forced too heavy a charge of gun powder into the old cannon and inadvertently blew it up. For more on this story, see my column on Sophienburg.com, July 8, 2008.

In this year’s parade, the Sons of Confederate Veterans will enter a small float decorated with two flags – one, an 1862 Confederate flag, and the other, an 1862 United States flag. They are bringing a cannon, but don’t worry, it’s not a resurrected one, nor are they going to shoot it. This cannon is a replica that was used by NB Confederate leader, Gus Hoffmann. Hoffmann, by the way, was the first elected mayor of New Braunfels. (June, 1847 to March, 1848)

The Civil War’s 150^th Anniversary has been commemorated all year and the Sophienburg has just taken down its year-long Civil War exhibit.

The first year that the emigrants were here, only four months had passed before the Fourth of July rolled around and Texas was still a Republic. The first actual celebration was after Texas became a state of the United States in February, 1846.

Dr. Ferdinand Roemer in his book “Texas” says that the 1846 Fourth of July was celebrated in New Braunfels by hoisting a large American flag on the Verein building and a formal banquet was held to which officers of the Verein and a number of dignitaries of the city were invited. The year before, Prince Carl strung up an Austrian flag on the Verein building and downtown at the same time a group of men hoisted a flag of the Republic of Texas. Flags have always sent a very strong message and that was a strong one.

As always, the bigger an event gets, the more rules you have to have. There are some new rules: For this year, you must reserve a spot to enter the parade by submitting an entry at which time you will get a line-up number. Entries must be approved as to the type of vehicle. No trucks bigger than F350 pulling 16’ Trailer. No objects may be thrown by participants, no commercial entries or political entries. Find the application on the Sophienburg.com website or come by the Sophienburg. 830-629-1572.

For those watching the parade, the Community Band begins performing at the Main Plaza bandstand at 8:45. The parade begins at 9:15 from Sts. Peter and Paul Church parking lot, goes down Castell St., turns left on San Antonio St., continues around Main Plaza, turns onto Seguin St. after the Courthouse and disbands at Seguin & Mill Sts. At 10:00 o’clock, the patriotic program on Main Plaza begins and it traditionally lasts about half an hour. There will be special music and remarks by City and County officials. See you downtown!

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