DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker at Landa Park tells it, and I'm just the man passin' it along. Now, if you're standing in Landa Park right now, take a slow look around. What you're seein' is land that a man named Joseph Landa purchased back in 1859.
One hundred and sixty-some-odd acres of possibility, anchored by something remarkable sitting right at its heart — the Comal Springs. Not just any springs, mind you. The largest group of springs in the American Southwest.
Think about that for a second. The largest. In the whole Southwest.
Joseph Landa looked at that water bubbling up from the earth and saw something beyond beautiful scenery. He saw power. And he put it to work.
The Comal River, fed by those very springs, drove gristmills. Cotton factories. Woolen factories.
An ice plant. A brewery. The man was runnin' a full industrial operation off water that just decided one day to come pourin' out of the Texas limestone.
And then the Civil War arrived, and the site added a saltpeter processing plant to that list. The land kept hummin', for better or worse, through the hardest years the country had seen. Now, time moves, and so do families.
Joseph's son Harry Landa looked at all that his father had built and saw something a little different. He saw a place people would want to come to — not just to grind grain or brew beer, but to breathe. To enjoy themselves.
In 1898, Harry opened Landa's Park as a tourist destination. And here's where it gets interesting: that same year, the International and Great Northern Railroad built a spur right to the site. You bring the trains, you bring the people, and that's exactly what happened.
By 1900, two railroads were runnin' weekend excursion trains out to the park. The I&GN and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas — the old Katy line. Families poured in.
There were picnics on the grounds, dancing, and steamboat excursions out on Landa Lake. Steamboats. On a lake fed by springs in the Texas Hill Country.
I'm not embellishin' a thing — that's just what was happenin' out there. But prosperity has a way of not stayin' in one place forever. Landa eventually sold the park to a San Antonio investment group, and they kept things runnin' for a stretch.
Then 1933 rolled around, and financial problems forced the park to close. And just like that, the gates went quiet. Here's the part of the story I want you to hold onto.
Three years later, in 1936, a group of concerned citizens — led by a man named Erhard P. Nowotny — petitioned the City of New Braunfels to step in and purchase the park. They took it to the voters.
And the people of New Braunfels answered three to one in favor. Three to one. That's not a close call.
That's a community saying with one voice: this place matters and it belongs to all of us. The city took it over, and the park has been open to the public ever since that day. In the 1930s, Works Progress Administration employees got to work building concession stands, restrooms, parking areas, and retaining walls.
The bones of the park started taking shape. Years later came a miniature golf course, playgrounds, nature trails. The acreage kept growin'.
And every November, since the early 1960s, Landa Park has hosted Wurstfest — an annual celebration of food and music that keeps drawing people back the way the springs have always drawn people back. From Joseph Landa's purchase in 1859, through the mills and the war and the steamboats and the dark years of 1933, all the way to a three-to-one vote that saved it — Landa Park is still right here, still fed by the largest springs in the American Southwest, still open, still servin' New Braunfels and every traveler who finds their way to it. Some places just refuse to stop mattering.
This is one of 'em.
What the marker says
Joseph Landa purchased the land that now encompasses this park in 1859. The Comal Springs, the largest group of springs in the American Southwest, are the focus of the park. Landa used the Comal River to power gristmills, cotton and woolen factories, an ice plant and a brewery. During the Civil War, a saltpeter processing plant was also located on the site. Joseph's son Harry Landa opened Landa's Park as a tourist site in 1898, when the International and Great Northern Railroad built a spur to the site. By 1900, both the I&GN and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) railroads ran weekend excursion trains to the park, where visitors enjoyed picnics, dancing and steamboat excursions on Landa Lake. Landa later sold the park to a San Antonio investment group, who operated it until financial problems caused the park's closure in 1933. In 1936, concerned citizens led by Erhard P. Nowotny petitioned the City of New Braunfels to purchase the park, and city residents voted three to one in favor of the move. The park has remained open to the public since that time. Throughout the years the park has grown in acreage, and many improvements have been made. In the 1930s, Works Progress Adminstration (WPA) employees built concession stands, restrooms, parking areas, and retaining walls. Later improvements have included a miniature golf course, playgrounds and nature trails. Wurstfest, an annual celebration of food and music, has been held in the park each November since the early 1960s. Today, Landa Park continues to serve the public as a leisure destination both for the citizens of New Braunfels and for area travelers. (2009)