The Eggeling Hotel

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the voice passing it along. Now, New Braunfels has had its share of fine establishments over the years, but let me tell you about one that a family poured more than half a century of their lives into. We're talking about the Eggeling Hotel.

Emilie Kuse Eggeling, born in 1854, and her husband Theodor Eggeling, born in 1851, were already running the nearby Plaza Hotel when they decided one successful hotel just wasn't enough. So between 1898 and 1900, they built a second establishment right here. Now, they didn't leave something like that to chance.

They brought in a New Braunfels contractor by the name of Christian Herry to supervise the construction, and what Herry put up was a galleried building. You know the kind. A proper gallery running along the face of it, the sort of place that invites you to slow down just by looking at it.

Theodor passed in 1916, and Emilie in 1930, but the hotel kept right on going. It was later renamed the Comal Hotel, and members of the Eggeling family operated it for over fifty years. That dining room, though, that's the detail that sticks with me.

It wasn't just overnight guests filling those seats. Townspeople came too, which tells you something. When the locals choose to eat at the hotel instead of going home for supper, the kitchen is doing something right.

Fifty years of family, fifty years of meals served, fifty years of a galleried building standing watch over New Braunfels. The Eggelings built more than a hotel. They built a fixture.

What the marker says

Emilie (Kuse) (1854-1930) and Theodor Eggeling (1851-1916), who owned the nearby Plaza Hotel, built this second establishment in 1898-1900. New Braunfels contractor Christian Herry supervised the construction of the galleried building. Later renamed the Comal Hotel, the business was operated by members of the Eggeling family for over 50 years. The hotel dining room was popular with townspeople as well as with overnight guests. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979