Comal County
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed from Travis and Bexar land districts. Created - March 24,1846; Organized - July-13, 1846; Named for the river, so called from the pancake shape of the islands formed by its springs. New Braunfels, county seat establshed March 21,1845. Named in honor of the founder Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Comal County was created and organized in 1846, carved from the Travis and Bexar land districts, and named for the river whose spring-fed islands suggested pancakes to early settlers. Its seat, New Braunfels, had been established a year earlier and honors Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, the German nobleman who led colonists here. The county's very names carry the imprint of its German founding.
Why it matters
It commemorates the German immigration that reshaped the Texas Hill Country, planting European settlers and their culture at the edge of the young republic.
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Related people
- · Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
New Braunfels
New Braunfels, TX
Founded in 1845 during the days of the Republic of Texas by Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels, New Braunfels became the focal point of German immigration into central and western Texas. During the Civil War the town sent men and supplies to the Confederacy. Today it is a historic and recreational hub, home to Landa Park, the Sophienburg Museum, and the Comal, billed as the shortest large-volume river in the country.
Church Hill School Building
New Braunfels, TX
Built in 1870, this schoolhouse grew out of day classes once held inside St. Martin's Evangelical Lutheran Church, serving the farm families of the Hortontown and Neighborsville communities. For years lessons were taught in both German and English, a reflection of the region's strong German immigrant roots. After serving the public school system, the building was preserved in 1975 as a school museum.
Breustedt Kitchen
New Braunfels, TX
This hand-hewn limestone building was raised in the 1860s as a detached kitchen for the New Braunfels home of German immigrant Johann Andreas Breustedt, his wife Caroline, and their nine children. Its craftsmanship reflects the meticulous building traditions the town's German colonists brought to the Texas Hill Country, from ceilings of adobe-and-grass plaster on split cedar lath to hand-wrought hinges on unique casement windows and a stone-lined well. After the main house was removed, the kitchen was carefully restored in 1968.
Breustedt House
New Braunfels, TX
New Braunfels was founded in 1845 as a colony of German immigrants, who brought Old World building traditions to the Texas Hill Country. This 1858 home is a fine example of "fachwerk" construction, its walls framed in cedar timbers and packed solid with sun-baked adobe brick. Several generations of the Breustedt family were raised within its walls before it was moved and restored in the 20th century to preserve its craftsmanship.