Julius Bremer Family and Rebecca Creek School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Julius Bremer family and Rebecca Creek School, out in Comal County. Now, some families just pass through a place. And some families become the place.

The Bremers were the second kind. Let's go back to 1845, when a wave of German immigrants arrived in Texas under the banner of a colonization society called the Adelsverein. Among those very first founders of New Braunfels were the parents of a boy not yet born, a boy who would one day put his own stamp on this corner of Comal County.

That boy was Julius August Hermann Bremer, born in 1848, right here in the county his parents helped build. By 1867, Julius was nineteen years old and ready to make his claim. He took 160 acres near Cranes Mill on a land grant, and he got to work.

The following year, he married Emma Amalie Foerster, a German immigrant herself, born in 1850. Between 1869 and 1892, they had nine children together. Eight of them survived.

On that land, the Bremers did not do things halfway. They raised livestock. They farmed.

They ran butcher and dairy services. They built a two-story stone house right at this site. And they kept growing, expanding their holdings until they commanded 1,069 acres.

Five members of the family were eventually laid to rest in a family cemetery near this very spot. But here is where the story gets bigger than one family. In 1882, Julius Bremer deeded 5.4 acres of land west of his home for a school.

He served as a school trustee himself. And that same year, a one-room wooden schoolhouse opened its doors. They called it Rebecca Creek School.

Now, children came from both sides of the Guadalupe River to sit in that room, walkin' or riding horses or mules, learning their first through eighth grades under one roof. The first teacher was a man named Albert Wunderlich, born in 1853, and he taught there from 1882 to 1888, living in the log teacherage on the grounds. There's a fine detail about Albert worth knowing: his maternal grandfather, Joachim Pantermuehl, had founded the Rebecca Creek settlement back in 1854.

The teacher's own family roots ran deep into the soil of the very community he was teaching. Julius Bremer died in 1894. Emma lived on until 1923.

Albert Wunderlich did not see old age, passing in 1889. But the school they helped bring to life kept going. It kept going through dry years and wet ones, through one century edging into the next, until finally, after nearly sixty years in operation, Rebecca Creek School closed in 1941.

You might think that's the end of the story. It isn't. In 2002, the Comal Independent School District named a new Rebecca Creek Elementary School nearby, honoring the contributions and heritage of that original 1882 schoolhouse.

A German immigrant's son deeded a patch of land, children rode mules across a river to learn their lessons, and more than a hundred and twenty years later, the name still stands. Some things, it turns out, don't close at all.

What the marker says

Julius August Hermann Bremer (1848-1894) was an early settler on land that is now part of the Mystic Shores neighborhood. He was born in Comal County to German immigrants who, in 1845, were among the Adelsverein's first founders of New Braunfels. In 1867, at age 19, Julius claimed his land grant of 160 acres near Cranes Mill. The following year, he married German immigrant Emma Amalie Foerster (1850-1923). Between 1869 and 1892, they had nine children; eight survived. The family built a two-story stone house, located at this site. They raised livestock, farmed and provided butcher and dairy services. The Bremers expanded their land holdings to 1,069 acres. Five family members were buried in a family cemetery near this site. In 1882, Julius deeded 5.4 acres of land west of his home for a school and served as a school trustee. The one-room Rebecca Creek School, built of wood, opened that same year. Students walked or rode horses or mules from both sides of the Guadalupe River to attend first through eighth grades. Albert Wunderlich (1853-1889) served as the first teacher from 1882 to 1888, living in the log teacherage. His maternal grandfather, Joachim Pantermuehl, founded the Rebecca Creek settlement in 1854. After nearly 60 years in operation, the school closed in 1941. In 2002, the Comal Independent School District honored the 1882 school's contributions and heritage by naming a new Rebecca Creek Elementary School nearby. (2020)