New Braunfels, Texas
German language, German-Texan heritage, and a living community in Central Texas
New Braunfels is one of the best-known German-Texan communities in the United States.
Its German heritage can still be seen in historic buildings, schools, cultural organizations, music, food, festivals, family histories, local businesses, and the German words that remain visible throughout the city.
But New Braunfels is not a museum.
It is a rapidly changing Texas community with its own history, its own identity, and its own continuing relationship with German language and culture.
On this page, you can explore that history, discover where German is still learned and used today, learn about local organizations and traditions, explore New Braunfels through photographs and an original LGA dialogue story, and connect with Learn German America locally.
Why New Braunfels?
New Braunfels brings together several things that are central to Learn German America: language, history, family, community, cultural change, and the question of how traditions remain meaningful over time.
The city is strongly associated with its German settlement history, but its cultural identity is broader and more layered. New Braunfels itself now describes its cultural fabric as including Indigenous roots, German settlement, Hispanic and Tejano traditions, Black history, historic districts, festivals, arts organizations, and generations of families who have shaped the community.
At the same time, New Braunfels has experienced extraordinary growth.
That makes an important question especially visible here:
How can a community continue to value its history and traditions while remaining open to change and to the people who are becoming part of it today?
For Learn German America, preserving German language and culture does not mean recreating Germany in Texas.
It means creating opportunities for people to understand the history, participate in the culture, learn the language, recognize how traditions have changed, and decide what they want to carry forward.
A short history of New Braunfels
The history of New Braunfels did not begin with German settlement.
The region has Indigenous roots and later formed part of Spanish and Mexican Texas. The city today explicitly recognizes German heritage alongside Indigenous, Hispanic, Tejano, Black, and other histories that contributed to the community.
In 1845, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels helped establish a settlement for German immigrants near the Comal River. New Braunfels was founded that year, and the original town plan remains visible in the modern downtown area.
German-speaking settlers established homes, businesses, schools, churches, newspapers, musical societies, civic organizations, and other institutions.
Over generations, those traditions became part of Texas life.
Some remained closely connected with their origins in German-speaking Europe. Others changed as families adapted to life in Texas and the United States.
That process created something with its own history:
German-Texan culture.
German-Texan culture is not simply Germany transplanted to Texas.
It developed here.
New Braunfels and Braunfels, Germany
The connection between New Braunfels and Braunfels, Germany did not end with nineteenth-century immigration.
The two communities trace their official cultural-exchange relationship to July 12, 1925. In 2010, New Braunfels and Braunfels formally declared themselves Sister Cities and committed to continued cooperation and exchange in areas including culture, education, and economic life.
That relationship creates an opportunity to look in both directions.
People in New Braunfels can explore Germany not only as the historical place from which settlers came, but as a modern country that continues to change.
People in Germany can also learn how German traditions developed differently in Texas and how German-American culture became part of American life.
A shared history can become a starting point for a continuing relations
German in New Braunfels today
German in New Braunfels is not only a language of the past.
It is still taught in schools, learned by adults, sung in community groups, used in festivals, and visible in cultural organizations, businesses, family histories, and local traditions.
At the same time, German has developed differently in Texas.
Historical Texas German emerged in German-speaking communities across Central Texas and changed over generations in contact with English and local life.
The Texas German Dialect Project continues to document and preserve this linguistic history and makes research on Texas German available to the public.
That creates an important distinction:
Texas German, German-American heritage language, and contemporary standard German are connected, but they are not identical.
Understanding those differences gives the history more context.
Where can you learn German in New Braunfels?
German is still part of the educational landscape in the New Braunfels area.
New Braunfels Independent School District
NBISD’s current high-school course catalog includes German I, German I Honors, German II, German II Honors, German III Honors, German IV, and German IV AP Language. New Braunfels High School also currently lists a German Club among its extracurricular activities.
Long Creek High School likewise lists a German Club among its current extracurricular organizations.
Because individual course sections can depend on enrollment, staffing, and scheduling, families should confirm current campus availability directly with NBISD.
Comal Independent School District
Comal ISD’s current 2026–27 World Languages curriculum includes German I and German II.
Explore Comal Independent School District
At Canyon High School, the current staff directory identifies a dedicated German teacher. chs.comalisd.org
Current course availability should still be confirmed with the district or campus.
German-Texan Heritage Society
The German-Texan Heritage Society currently lists adult German classes in New Braunfels as part of its language program. Its broader work also includes German-language education, cultural programming, festivals, and activities in several Texas communities.
Explore German Texan Heritage Society
Learn German America
Learn German America can provide another option for individuals, couples, families, groups, schools, organizations, German clubs, and community contacts.
During selected periods of local presence, some learning and consultation can take place in person.
Online learning can continue after a local stay ends.
German in community life
A place does not have to be a language school to help keep a language visible and meaningful.
German also remains present through music, cultural organizations, community events, family history, and public traditions.
The New Braunfels German-American Society is an active local organization dedicated to celebrating German-American heritage and community activities. Members meet for dinner and social activities at least once a month at Elke Lodge
Explore New Braunfels German American Society
The Gemischter Chor Harmonie continues a long New Braunfels tradition of German choral music. The organization traces the city’s German singing tradition back to the nineteenth century, while the current mixed choir dates to 1937.
The Sophienburg Museum & Archives preserves extensive collections documenting early settlement and the development of the community, including photographs, maps, records, oral histories, and other historical materials.
These institutions keep different parts of the city’s cultural memory visible.
Some teach directly.
Some preserve.
Some perform.
Some create places where people can participate.
Together, they show that language and culture can remain present in many different ways.
Wurstfest
German culture and Texas tradition have been meeting here for more than six decades.
Wurstfest began in 1961 as a one-day sausage festival in New Braunfels and developed into the large multi-day celebration known today.
The 2026 Wurstfest takes place November 6–15.
The festival describes itself as ten days of German culture and Texas fun, with food, live music, dancing, carnival attractions, and Alpine and Bavarian-style entertainment along the Comal River. Wurstfest is especially interesting because it shows how traditions can change when they become part of another place.
Its language, food, music, clothing, and imagery draw from German-speaking Europe, but the festival itself has developed for decades inside a Texas community.
Wurstfest is not simply Germany recreated in Texas. It is part of the German-Texan culture that New Braunfels has created for itself.
That does not weaken its connection with German culture.
It gives that connection a history.
Visitors can ask both questions:
Where did these traditions come from?
and
What have they become in New Braunfels?
German-Texan culture you can experience today
German heritage in New Braunfels is not limited to museums and festivals.
It also appears in everyday places where people eat, meet, shop, celebrate, and spend time together.
Krause’s Cafe describes its menu as combining German classics with Texas favorites and presents itself as a gathering place rooted in New Braunfels traditions. Its current menu includes dishes such as schnitzel, bratwurst, sauerkraut, pretzels, and potato soup alongside Texas influences.
Naegelin’s Bakery traces its New Braunfels history to 1868, and describes itself today as the oldest bakery in Texas.
Alpine Haus operates in downtown New Braunfels and specializes in Bavarian-style cuisine with influences from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Their food is known for being more authentic and upscale than food from other German restaurants in New Braunfels.
We recommend though to not treat these places as a test of what is or is not “authentically German.”
A more useful question is:
What history, adaptation, and cultural connection does each place represent?
That makes it possible to appreciate German-Texan culture while still understanding how it differs from life and culture in Germany today.
Explore New Braunfels through German
An original Learn German America dialogue story
What happens when a family from Dallas decides not to simply drive through New Braunfels this time?
In this original LGA dialogue story, Lucas Reed and his family spend time exploring New Braunfels during a family trip through Central Texas.
They encounter real places, ask questions about the city’s German history, experience German-Texan culture, and talk about what they see.
The dialogue is German-learning material, but the city itself becomes part of the learning environment.
The places are real. The conversations turn them into a German-language story.
Nicolas in New Braunfels
October 2 – November 10, 2026
I am spending several weeks in New Braunfels as part of Learn German America’s Across America work.
During this time, I am learning more about the city’s German and German-American history, documenting local places and organizations, developing New Braunfels-based German learning material, and connecting with people who are interested in German language and culture.
I am especially interested in hearing from individuals, couples, families, schools, organizations, German clubs, and community groups that would like to strengthen an existing connection with German or create a new one.
Some learning and conversations can take place in person during the New Braunfels period.
Online learning can continue beyond the stay.
Help us build this New Braunfels guide
This page is intended to grow.
New Braunfels has many layers of German and German-American history, language, organizations, businesses, traditions, schools, family stories, and community life.
If you know a German-language class, school program, organization, historic place, business, cultural tradition, event, archive, family story, or other local resource that should be included here, Learn German America would like to hear about it.