Comal Community

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Comal Community — and friend, this one's worth slowing down for. Somewhere in the mid-19th century, several German families looked at the town of New Braunfels, decided they needed a little more elbow room, and pushed out into the surrounding land to build something of their own. What they built would become the village of Comal, Texas.

Now, before it settled on that name, this little place went by a few others. Some called it Wenzel, after one of the founding families. Others called it Eight-Mile, or Seven-Mile, depending on how they reckoned the distance back to New Braunfels.

A community that couldn't even agree on how far it was from town — and yet somehow it endured. The families who put down roots here were among some of the very first Germans to emigrate to Texas, back in the 1840s. Say those names out loud and you can almost hear the whole story: Schwab, Friesenhahn, Wenzel, Fey, Schaefer, Syring, and Sahm.

They established farms — and here's the part that'll stop you — some of those farms are still productive today, still run by descendants of those same pioneering families. The land didn't leave the family. The family didn't leave the land.

Now, a farming community lives and dies by what it can grow and what it can do with what it grows. Comal leaned hard on cotton as a cash crop, and by 1900, the Friesenhahn brothers had looked around at their neighbors' needs and done something about it. They organized a community cooperative gin that year, and on top of that, they established a corn shelling plant to serve the area farmers.

That's the kind of practical, roll-up-your-sleeves ingenuity that keeps a small village breathing. And then there was Kneupper's Grocery. Open from 1906 all the way to 1973 — sixty-seven years of flour sacks and conversation.

It wasn't just a place to buy goods; on Friday and Saturday evenings it became the heart of the community's social life. You want to know what held a small town together through the 20th century? Sometimes it's a grocery store that knows when to keep the lights on.

A blacksmith shop, owned by the Wenzel and Schwab families, still stands near the center of town. Still standing. Most of the infrastructure, in fact, remains as a reminder of what this community was and what it built.

Education and religious faith were first priorities for these settlers — both Catholic and Protestant alike. Many of the Comal family patriarchs were instrumental not just in forming the first schools and churches in Comal, but in New Braunfels as well. These families weren't just building a village; they were shaping a region.

Comal remained small and close-knit through the whole of the 20th century — and maybe that was the point. Maybe surviving against difficult odds, staying tight, staying rooted, was itself the achievement. A community that started with a handful of German families and a few hundred acres, that couldn't even agree on what to call itself, built something storied enough that it demanded to be remembered.

And now you know why.

What the marker says

In the mid-19th century, several German families left nearby New Braunfels and established farms in what would become the village of Comal, Texas. At varying times, Comal has been known as “Wenzel” for one of these founding families, and “Eight-Mile” or “Seven-Mile” for its location in relation to New Braunfels. Comal settlers were among some of the first Germans to emigrate to Texas in the 1840s. The Schwab, Friesenhahn, Wenzel, Fey, Schaefer, Syring and Sahm families established farms, some of which remain productive and run by descendants of these pioneering families. Throughout the 20th century, Comal remained a small and close-knit agricultural village. The Friesenhahn brothers, influenced by the community’s reliance on cotton as a cash crop, organized a community cooperative gin in 1900 and established a corn shelling plant that served area farmers. Kneupper’s Grocery, in business from 1906 to 1973, provided the community with goods and was a center for social gatherings on Friday and Saturday evenings. A blacksmith shop, owned by the Wenzel and Schwab families, remains standing near the center of town. Most of the infrastructure is present as a reminder of the community. Education and religious commitment among the first settlers (both Catholic and Protestant) was a first priority and many of the Comal family patriarchs were instrumental leaders in forming the first school and church institutions in Comal as well as in New Braunfels. These families and several others built Comal into a thriving and prosperous farming community that survived against difficult odds and helped make Comal, Texas such a storied and historic place. (2012)