HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Plumeyer Bakery Building

New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas

Marker Inscription

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this site was home to two drugstores and a bakery. In 1913, Kathinka Clemens constructed this building to serve as a bakery for A.C. and Helen Plumeyer, who used the second floor as a residence. Known also as City Bakery, the business operated until 1926. Various businesses later occupied the building, including the B&B Poll Parrot Bootery and Mode-O-Day. From 1928 to 1959, the second floor housed offices of physicians A.J. Hinman and H.E. Karbach. The brick commercial structure exhibits influences of Craftsman design. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2005

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

On a New Braunfels corner that had already hosted two drugstores and a bakery, Kathinka Clemens built this brick commercial building in 1913 for A.C. and Helen Plumeyer, who ran their bakery — also called City Bakery — downstairs and lived above it until 1926. Later tenants ranged from a shoe store to physicians' offices, and the structure's Craftsman-influenced design earned it a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark designation in 2005.

Why it matters

Buildings like the Plumeyer Bakery preserve the fabric of Main Street commerce in a German-Texan town, where a single storefront could serve generations of shopkeepers, doctors, and neighbors.

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Related people

  • · Kathinka Clemens
  • · A.C. Plumeyer
  • · Helen Plumeyer

Themes & tags

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