First Protestant Church
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
State Historical Survey Committee Official Historical Medallion. (not a state marker) (Site of "The German Protestant Church" charterd by the Republic of Texas in 1845 and organized in that year. Erected by DeZavala Chapter, Texas Historical and Landmark Association, and Daughters and Sons of the Heroes of Texas 1948 )
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When German immigrants founded New Braunfels in the 1840s, they quickly organized a congregation, and the Republic of Texas chartered the German Protestant Church here in 1845. Commemorated by a mid-twentieth-century historical medallion placed by heritage societies, the site marks one of the earliest Protestant fellowships among Texas's German settlers.
Why it matters
The church's 1845 charter under the Republic of Texas reflects how faith and community traveled together with the German immigrants who reshaped the Texas Hill Country.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Heinrich Hinmann bought this New Braunfels property in 1855 and, with his wife Therese, raised ten children in the limestone house built around 1868. Its load-bearing masonry, hand-tooled stone courses, heavy lintels, and gallery porch reflect the German building traditions that shaped so many of the town's early structures. The home stayed in the family for more than a century, even serving as Dr. A.J. Hinmann's medical office in the 1920s.
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German immigrants August Tolle and Dr. Theodor Koester built a large two-story cedar-timber building in 1864, and in 1868 it became the New Braunfels Woolen Mill, drawing on Comal River water for steam power. The successful mill eventually closed for lack of a protected trademark, and in 1901 the Popp family converted it into the town's first steam laundry, which ran until a 1934 fire. Only the old bell, rock foundation, and part of the chimney remain.
Mill Street Telegraph Station
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