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“You have to look outside the city to see Not far from Boerne is Kendalia Halle, a Traces of German culture can be found
any traces of the Germans,” says Monika. tin-roofed dance hall. Built with red pine throughout Central Texas, including on
Fortunately for the club, many of these set- lumber, the halle looks similar to what the backs of food trucks.
tlements are within an hour of Sun City. settlers in this area would have seen over
100 years ago. Of the over 1,000 German same. There were many different ways of
Pflugerville, located approximately dance halls which once served as com- living and you can see that in the towns
twenty minutes south of Georgetown, munity hubs, Kendalia Halle is one of they settled and how they lived.”
was founded in 1853 by Henry Pfluger, just 400 which remain. Of these, only two The legacy of Texas’ German settlers may
a German farmer who’d lost everything are in regular operation: Gruene Hall in have become more subtle, but by no means
in the Prussian War. Many of the town’s New Braunfels and Luckenbach Hall in has it disappeared. In many ways, their
German-built structures have been well- Fredericksburg. culture will live on as a part of a heritage
maintained over the years, such as the shared by Texans, one and all.
Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church “If you know where Walburg is,” says For more information about the German
and the Pfluger cotton gin, where the com- Yvonne Buerfeind, “that’s a true German Club, contact Jerry Faulkner at 512-868-
munity’s weekly farmers market takes town. It’s small but most of the people who 1847.
place today. still live there are German.”
Named in honor of the Jewish-German Both Yvonne and her husband John are
author Karl Ludwig Börne, Boerne was American-born and of German descent.
founded by a German Free Thinker groups At the age of 8, John was sent overseas
who aspired to establish a utopia of equal- to live with his grandparents and attend
ity and humanity. Their limestone court- school in Germany – however, the out-
house, constructed by Philip Zoeller and J. break of WWII changed his experience
F. Stendebach, is the second oldest in the significantly. The Sun City couple have
state, while the Boerne Village Band, orga- long attended one of Walburg’s two Lu-
nized in 1860 by Karl Degener, is the oldest theran churches, both of which were built
continuously organized German band in the by German settlers over 100 years ago.
world outside Germany. The group has been
recognized by Germany for its contribution “One church is more liberal,” says Yvonne,
to the German heritage in Texas. “and the other is more conservative. Ger-
many is like America – not everyone is the
The German Club of Sun City Texas at one of their monthly luncheons. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 SUNRAYS | 101
ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
