Old Krause Building
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built about 1860 by master carpenter Friedrich Krause of hand-cut native cedar, cypress, limestone, and adobe brick. Once Weber & Deutsch store, Hoffmann Opera House,and drill hall for Clement's Rifles of Texas Militia. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968 (Incise in base: Renovation in 1966 by Richard Dedeke Family.)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Master carpenter Friedrich Krause raised this building about 1860 in the German settlement of New Braunfels, using hand-cut native cedar, cypress, limestone, and adobe brick. Over the years it served as the Weber & Deutsch store, the Hoffmann Opera House, and a drill hall for the local Clement's Rifles militia. Renovated in 1966, it remains a landmark of the town's early commercial and civic life.
Why it matters
The building embodies the culture of the German immigrants who founded New Braunfels, blending Old World craftsmanship with the commerce, entertainment, and militia life of a frontier Texas town.
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Related people
- · Friedrich Krause
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Stephen Klein Home
New Braunfels, TX
Built in 1846 by Stephen Klein, one of Comal County's first commissioners, this house used the German fachwerk method of timber framing filled with masonry—a signature of the immigrants who settled New Braunfels. In 1868 it passed to Edward Naegelin, Sr. The state recognized it as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1967.
Old Carl W. Groos Home
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Built around 1870 of adobe brick with cypress floors and doors, this New Braunfels home still keeps its original rolled-glass windows and a pane of ruby glass in the front door. Over the years it sheltered a succession of German-Texan families, including merchant Fritz Scholl, Judge Adolf Giesecke, and flour miller H. Dittlinger. It was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1968.
Eiband and Fischer General Mercantile
New Braunfels, TX
A general store opened at the corner of Castell and San Antonio Streets in 1846, just a year after New Braunfels was founded, and passed through a succession of German-connected owners over the next century. Growing into one of the region's most successful mercantiles, Eiband & Fischer sold everything from groceries and china to farm machinery, and also served as cotton buyers and short-term bankers. A 1947 fire finally consumed the store, though its surviving annex still stands.
The New Braunfels Herald
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On this site in the heart of New Braunfels once stood the Zum Schwarzen Wallfisch — the Black Whale Saloon — before the block became home to the town's newspaper. Established in 1892 by S.R. Whitley and his sons, the New Braunfels Herald was the community's first English-language paper, published here on and off between 1896 and 1944. In a town founded by German immigrants, an English newspaper both chronicled local life and helped draw new businesses and residents to the growing Comal County seat.