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This historic site has been preserved due to the efforts of local residents who learned of its historic significance and purchased the site in the 1920s. Within a decade, a small museum dedicated to the founding of New Braunfels opened in its own building. This museum has grown since it first opened in 1938, with new exhibits and programs that reflect the pririties of including diverse perspectives about the history of the city and its place in the world.&nbsp;"In 1845 Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels and a group of emigrants set out from Germany to start a colony in the Republic of Texas. The Prince chose a site on the Comal River because of its abundant water, lush vegetation, and "a good omen." He and his band of pioneers founded New Braunfels, named for his hometown in Germany.Prince Carl chose a hill overlooking the beginnings of the town and began his plan to build a castle on the site. His home was to be called Sophienburg — Sophie's Castle — for his fiancée, Lady Sophia, Princess of Salm-Salm. He returned to Germany to bring Sophia to Texas, but she refused to leave.Prince Carl chose his fiancée over Texas and stayed in Germany to marry Sophia. He never returned to Texas. Today the Sophienburg Museum and Archives stands on the hill chosen long ago by Prince Carl."1

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Information about the museum from the Texas State Historical Association

More information about Prince Carl from the Texas State Historical Association 

This local history museum offers an international perspective, preserving and interpreting the early history of New Braunfels and its German founders. The museum is located on the site where Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels arrived in 1845 and retells the story of these first European immigrants to the area. The museum also includes exhibits that tell the history of the Native inhabitants in the area, Hispanic settles, the early years of the settlement and the area during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the transition from a frontier outpost to a growing city. The museum also includes one of the largest archives related to German immigration to Texas. 

Sophienburg Museum and Archives

The New Braunfels Conservation Society (NBCS) has several properties and historic structures that it cares for throughout New Braunfels. While the main location is the Old Town at Conservation Plaza, located at 1300 Church Hill Drive, NBCS also has several historic structures downtown. This short tour is of those properties located on San Antonio Street.

Fred Wagenfuehr owned and operated the Buckhorn Barbershop
for over fifty years and made the building a showplace of his collections. He
made many of the hand-carved miniature circus figures currently on display in
the Barbershop. Fred started his circus figures project in 1920 and completed
it in 1970.

In addition
to the circus figurines is a collection of antique tin toys, hand-carved comic
book characters, and lapidary stone creations. You can also find many antique
barber tools on display.

Tours of the Barbershop are
available upon request. Please phone the office at 830-629-2943 to make
arrangements.

The Buckhorn Barbershop is a collectors paradise, with 1920s era hand-made circus figures, along with many other collections, including antique barber equipment.
The historic barbershop is operated by the New Braunfels Conservation Society and can be toured by appointment. 

Buckhorn Barbershop

The Gerlich-Wagenfuehr Bed and
Breakfast is owned and cared for by the New Braunfels Conservation Society. The
1858 home obtained its dual name after the first and last owners of the home
before it came to the NBCS. The Wagenfuehrs owned and operated the Buckhorn
Barbershop next door.

NBCS has fully restored the home to
give modern comfort, while retaining its historic character. The layout offers
a large living room, dining room, sitting room, bedroom, and bath. Appliances
include a microwave, small refrigerator, coffee pot, and a TV/VCR. Guests enjoy
a continental breakfast or vouchers for local restaurants. Accommodates up to 4
guests!

The Gerlich-Wagenfuehr Bed and Breakfast is a historic home, built in 1858, that has been restored and is operated by the New Braunfels Conservation Society. While the home has modern conveniences, it has not lost any of its historic character.
This historic B-and-B is perfect for a staycation or for Winter Texans!

Gerlich-Wagenfuehr Bed and Breakfast

Dating back to its organization in 1984, this local history organization museum preserves and shares the history of the railroad in New Braunfels with static displays of historic locomotives and rolling stock, exhibits about the International & Great Northern, MOPAC, and MKT railroads, and programs dedicated to railroad history. The museum is open to all without cost and offer a variety of special events throughout the year. The museum also offers a library of over 600 books and other items related to local history and railroad history. 

New Braunfels Railroad Museum

The Lindheimer Mural, is cared for by the Historic Outdoor
Art Museum (HOAM) of New Braunfels. HOAM commissioned Alex Brochon, a San
Antonio mural artist, to paint this piece. The mural was dedicated on May 21,
2001 in celebration of Lindheimer’s 200th birthday.

A dozen or
so plants that have been named in Lindheimer’s honor are portrayed in the
mural, as well as the Texas Rat Snake, or Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri.

The
two-story portion of the mural, on the southwest side of the building, is an
amazing rendering of a page from the Zeitung newspaper.

The Ferdinand Lindheimer Mural is one of many murals created and cared for by the Historic Outdoor Art Museum in New Braunfels.
This mural celebrates the many achievements of one of the most notable citizens of New Braunfels, Ferdinand Lindheimer.

Ferdinand Lindheimer Mural

During the middle years of the 1920s, central Texas experienced a debilitating drought which adversely affected New Braunfels’ largely agricultural economy. A group of citizens working through the relatively new Chamber of Commerce suggested that a modern hotel could attract tourist and convention traffic, and thereby lessen the impact of unpredictable weathers patterns on the local economy. It was argued that such a hotel could also provide lodging and display space to drummers from midwestern to northeastern states, who for years made New Braunfels a regular stop on their sales travels through the state. The idea looked promising and a committee composed of nine members of the Chamber of Commerce was formed to study the proposal. From that committee, the New Braunfels Hotel Company was formed. The Company’s task was to fund and build a new modern hotel for New Braunfels.  Other factors, contemporary in impact, influenced the committee’s desire to build a fancy, prestigious hotel. Tourist, convention, and railroad traffic in Central Texas had long been recognized as economically viable. In response, several communities, mostly large but some small, had built hotels. The Park/Plaza and Aumont in Seguin, the only hotels in the state known to be comparable to the Faust in architectural presence, era, service, and location, had been constructed in 1917. In 1927, the Von Minden of nearby Schulenburg was built, and was considerably more modest than the Faust. Added to these contemporary precedents was the incentive that a modern, medium-rise hotel in a town the size of New Braunfels would be a forceful statement in Central Texas of civic pride, prestige, and progress. Thus, although a variety of economic arguments proved the compelling reasons to build a hotel, factors such as social tradition, precedent, and civic pride played their part too.  The Hotel Company’s task of securing funds for the $150,000 project was significantly facilitated by the actions of a prominent New Braunfels’ family. The Jospeh Faust estate, whose executor was Walter Faust, the late Senator’s son, donated the large Joseph Faust house and land as the future hotel site. Through that pledge, appraised at $36,000, and Faust’s individual subscription for $5,000, the Faust family held $41,000 in hotel stock.   With these individual subscriptions pledged and a desirable site secured on a major artery of New Braunfels, the Hotel Company elected its Board of Directors and officers. All prominent citizens of New Braunfels, the Board consisted of Emil Fischer, Walter Faust, B. W. Nuhn, H. R. Fuchs, Adolph Henne, U. S. Pfeuffer, R. J. Gode, Emil Heinen, and I. A. Ogden. Faust, Pfeuffer, and Ogden were subsequently elected chairs of the Executive, Finance, and Building Committees, respectively.  A secret ballot among the Directors resulted in Harvey Partridge Smith as the choice for project architect. Smith was a young promising San Antonio architect who was becoming widely known in Central and South Texas. Born in Minneapolis (1889) and educated at the Chicago Institute of Art, Northwestern University and the University of Arizona, Smith arrived in San Antonio in 1907. In approximately 1918, he and R. B. Kelly formed a partnership that lasted until about 1925. Smith then established his own firm which he headed until his death in 1964.  The opening celebration on October 12, 1929 of the new $162,000 hotel was a gala event. Approximately two thousand persons from the New Braunfels’ area were reported to have attended. New Braunfels’ mayor, H. A. Triesch presided at the formal opening banquet where three hundred guests were served an eight-course meal. Speeches were given by luminaries from New Braunfels and San Antonio. Although Governor Dan Moody did not arrive as anticipated, festivities nonetheless continued through the night, with many guests staying until morning. Observers’ of the Faust’s first three decades say that although it never fulfilled its founders’ high aspirations for profitability, the Faust did well particularly during the 1930s. During the decades that earned it a reputation, serving New Braunfels’ service organizations, social circles, business functions, convention, and tourist traffic. In 1936, the hotel was renamed the Hotel Faust to commemorate the Faust family and Walter Faust who had died three years earlier.

The Hotel Faust, originally the Travelers Hotel, was built in New Braunfels, Texas in 1929 according to the design of Harvey Partridge Smith from San Antonio. Smith was a prominent, early twentieth century Texas architect known throughout the southern and central parts of the state. The hotel is astylistic in design and exhibits rich use of stone detailing recalling the Spanish Renaissance Revival Style. A fine example of 1920s medium-rise hotel architecture in Texas, the Faust was the major Depression-era construction project in New Braunfels. The hotel Faust derives its historic significance from a variety of sociological, cultural, and economic reasons - prominent among these is the influence of the economic environment of the period.  

Faust Hotel and Brewpub

<div>Built in 1845 by one of New Braunfels’ most notable citizens, Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer, this distinct structure was the first restoration project taken on by the New Braunfels Conservation Society. It was built in the “saltbox” style, a design favored by German immigrants. The roof in the back slopes lower than the roof in the front. Rather than a full second story, the house features a loft, and a central chimney provided heat.&nbsp;</div><div>Lindheimer was recognized as the Father of Texas Botany for discovering several hundred plant species. He also served as guide for German settlers, and was the first editor of the Neu Branfels Zeitung (newspaper) in 1852.</div><div>Lindheimer House Tours are available upon request. Please phone the office at 830-629-2943 to make arrangements.</div>

The Ferdinand Lindheimer House, built in 1845, is cared for by the New Braunfels Conservation Society. This historic home is a Registered Texas Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The home not only has a distinct building style, unique to German immigrants, but was also the home to one of the most notable citizens of New Braunfels.
Tours of the home are available upon request.

Ferdinand Lindheimer House

The City Park, Lindheimer Plaza,
was built in 1928 by the order of the Women’s Civic Improvement Club (WCIC).
The Plaza is sparsely planted with several trees and a flowerbed, which was
created in 1962 by the Garden Club Council of New Braunfels. The centerpiece of
the flowerbed is a monument dedicated to Lindheimer.

In 1964, a marker honoring “Texas
Germans in the Civil War” was placed in Lindheimer Plaza by the Texas State
Historical Survey Committee.

2013 saw a partnership between New Braunfels
Parks and Recreation and the New Braunfels Garden Club to revitalize the Plaza.
Today, the Park sees an estimated 350-500 visitors each year.

Lindheimer Plaza has been a City Park since it was built in 1928. Several community groups have put their love and labor into the Plaza, which today stands as a wonderful representation of New Braunfels history.
The Plaza holds the distinction of a Lone Star Legacy Park, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a park.

New Braunfels Conservation Society on San Antonio Street

Sophienburg Museum and Archives

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information