Name: Boerne, Texas
Address: Boerne, TX

The Oldest German Town Band Outside Germany RoadyGoat

In 1860, a Boerne music teacher named Karl Dienger organized both a singing club, the Boerne Gesang Verein, and a brass band to play alongside it at the town's German song festivals. That band never stopped. Today the Boerne Village Band is billed as the oldest continuously organized German band in the world outside of Germany itself, more than 165 years of unbroken oompah and waltzes. The honor isn't just local bragging: in 1996 the band received the Pro Musica Plakette, Germany's highest award for amateur folk music, presented on behalf of the German president Roman Herzog, and the Federal Republic of Germany formally recognized the group again in 1998. The musicians still play the summer Abendkonzerte, the Berges Fest, and the Kendall County Fair, and every few years they travel back to Germany to reconnect with the tradition their founders carried across an ocean. When you hear brass drifting across the town square on a warm evening, you're hearing a sound that has rolled through Boerne since before the Civil War. (Source: Handbook of Texas.)

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The Town Named for a Satirist Who Never Saw It RoadyGoat

This Hill Country town began as a refuge for German idealists. After the failed revolutions of 1848, a wave of educated liberals called Forty-Eighters fled the German states, and a handful of them tried to build a utopian colony called Bettina up near Fredericksburg. It collapsed within a year because brilliant men who could argue philosophy in Latin couldn't farm a frontier. Some of the survivors regrouped here and, around 1849, founded a settlement they called Tusculum, after the ancient Roman retreat of the orator Cicero. In 1852, surveyor John James and Gustav Theissen platted the formal townsite and renamed it Boerne, honoring the German-Jewish writer and political satirist Karl Ludwig Börne, whose sharp essays against censorship and privilege had inspired their kind. Börne had died in 1837 and never crossed the Atlantic, yet a town in the Texas hills carries his name to this day. These freethinkers gave Boerne a streak of independence you can still feel walking its German-named Main Street. (Source: Handbook of Texas.)

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The Pilot Who Brought Flight 1380 Home RoadyGoat

When residents of Boerne heard that one of the most famous emergency landings in modern aviation had been flown by a local woman, plenty of them weren't surprised. Tammie Jo Shults, who lives in Boerne with her husband, was one of the first women to fly the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy before joining Southwest Airlines. On April 17, 2018, she was captain of Southwest Flight 1380 when an engine on the Boeing 737 suffered an uncontained failure at altitude, flinging debris that shattered a window and caused an explosive decompression. With one engine gone and a hull breach, Shults calmly nursed the wounded jet into Philadelphia, and air-traffic recordings of her steady voice became a national symbol of grace under pressure. She later told the story in her book Nerves of Steel and retired from Southwest in 2020. Her neighbors here in the Hill Country had long known the quiet former fighter pilot down the road was made of exactly that. Boerne tends to grow people who stay calm when the world goes loud. (Source: Wikipedia; Texas Highways.)

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Boerne Village Band

1860

The Boerne Village Band was organized in 1860 by Karl Dienger in Boerne, the county seat of Kendall County. Having previously organized the Boerne Gesang Verein (singing club), Dienger organized the band to complement the singing festivals in Boerne with band music. He coordinated both musical groups from 1860 to 1885. Ottmar von Behr, who moved with his family to Sisterdale in the 1840s, was a strong influence in the band. Two of his children, Jennie and Ottmar, played with the group, and Jennie's husband, Fritz Fisher, taught his nephews, Ottmar Jr, Arthur, and Oscar to play musical instruments. In time, both Oscar and Ottmar Behr became directors of the band. Later, Oscar's daughter Roma married Alvin Herbst, and their son, Kenneth, a veterinarian, became the band director. In turn, Dr. Herbst's sons, Kenneth Jr. and Clint, also became members. In all, the descendants of the Behr family have included five generations of musicians and three generations of directors of the Boerne Village Band. The band managed to stay organized and practiced in barns during the difficult Civil War period. After the war it continued to practice and play at various events in and around Boerne. During the world wars the group was less active but remained organized. After World War II Ottmar Behr, despite losing his son Calvin who was killed in action near Oeting in France, reassembled the group with Erhard Ebner, Henry Schrader, Eugene Ebell, Alvin Grosser, Fritz Grosser, Harry Grosser, and others participating. In 1988 the Federal Republic of Germany recognized the Boerne Village Band for its contribution to the German heritage in Texas and America by donating to it much traditional German music and a magnificent tenor horn. For the band's 130th anniversary in 1990, Peter Fihn, a noted German composer, dedicated and presented his march "Grüsse an Texas" ("Greetings to Texas") to the band. In 1991 the Texas legislature adopted a resolution to recognize the Boerne Village Band for "keeping alive German music as a part of our heritage." The city of Boerne and the Boerne Area Historical Preservation Society have also recognized the band for its contribution to the German heritage of Boerne. Additionally, in 1988 the Federal Republic of Germany presented Dr. Kenneth C. Herbst Sr., director of the band since 1972, with its Friendship Award. Otto Schicht, a special friend in Bavaria, helped obtain authentic uniforms for the band, which were first worn during its 1986 Texas Sesquicentennial performances. On May 2, 1992, Dr. and Mrs. Herbst and other invited guests attended a luncheon given by the president of Germany, Richard von Weizsäcker, during his state visit to Houston, where he commended the German musical tradition in Boerne. In 1996 Germany's most distinguished award for folk music , the Pro-Musica Plakette, given only to German Bands with more than 100 years of continuous existence, was presented to the Boerne Village Band by German president Roman Herzog. Over the years, the German government has graciously donated several hundred pieces of sheet music to the band. German composers Hans Freivogel, Peter Fihn, and Alfred Fischer have dedicated march and waltz music to the band. For fifteen years, 1985-2000, band members Rudolf and Lia Scheffrahn maintained the musicians' folders, which in the year 2001 held more than 300 selections of authentic German music. Beginning in 1995 the Boerne Village Band has taken an annual trip to Monterrey, Mexico, to perform for the Deutscher Club and the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery. In 1999 and 2000 the band played for the Germanfest at Robert's Cove, Louisiana. In 1994, 1997, and 2000, the Boerne Village Band toured Germany and Austria, where it presented a series of concerts. A highlight of the year 2000 tour was performing a concert in honor of the 1000th anniversary of Bad Camberg, a small town near Runkel, Germany, where the band performed another concert at the Runkel Castle. Acclaimed as the "Oldest Co

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Toepperwein, Elizabeth Servaty [Plinky]

1903

Elizabeth “Plinky” Servaty Toepperwein, sharpshooter, was born at New Haven, Connecticut, on January 23, 1882. She was the daughter of German immigrants Jacob and Catherine Servaty. In 1902 she was an employee at the Winchester factory in New Haven, and during this time she met Adolph (Ad) Toepperwein , a sales representative and exhibition shooter for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Toepperwein, a native of Boerne, Texas, made his home in San Antonio. They married in 1903, and their only child Lawrence Clark was born in 1904. Soon after the couple married, Ad gave Elizabeth her first shooting lessons and discovered that she was a "natural." Within a short time, as part of his act, she was shooting one-inch pieces of chalk from between his fingers and empty shells off his fingertips. The Toepperweins (with their name Americanized as the “Topperweins”) began working as a team professionally; their first appearance as a famous husband and wife team was at the St. Louis World's Fair. Elizabeth acquired the nickname "Plinky" during her early shooting lessons. After several tries, she shot a tin can, which made a "plinking" sound. Elizabeth exclaimed, "I plinked it"—perhaps the first use of this echoic verb now common in shooting publications. Ad and Plinky Toepperwein performed in a career that spanned forty years. Their displays of expertise included shooting while standing on their heads and while lying on their backs. They could also break two targets simultaneously, one in front and one behind, with the aid of a mirror. Some of Plinky's aerial targets included marbles, metal discs, apples, oranges, and eggs. Not only did she perform spectacular, crowd-pleasing stunts, she also captured some shooting records in the process. She was the first woman in the United States to qualify as a national marksman with the military rifle and the first woman to break 100 straight targets at trapshooting, a feat she repeated more than 200 times, often with a twelve-gauge Winchester model 97 pump-action shotgun. She also held the world endurance trapshooting record of 1,952 of 2,000 targets in five hours and twenty minutes. Although trapshooting was her main interest, she was equally proficient with a pistol. The celebrated shooter Annie Oakley once said to Plinky, "Mrs. Top . . . you're the greatest shot I've ever seen." Plinky was also well-known in San Antonio and Texas bowling circles. The Toepperweins’ son Lawrence, newspaperman and artist, died at the age of thirty-six in 1940. During World War II the couple toured military installations; their last tour together occurred in 1943. Elizabeth “Plinky” Toepperwein died in her home in San Antonio, with her husband at her bedside, on January 27, 1945. She was buried in Mission Burial Park, San Antonio. She was inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame in Vandalia, Ohio, in 1969.

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Adolph (Ad) Toepperwein

1889

ADOLPH TOEPPERWEIN IN THE 1880s, ELEMENTS OF THE OLD WEST WERE FADING AND BECAME ROMANTICIZED THROUGH WILD WEST SHOWS. THESE PROMOTIONS CREATED OPPORTUNITIES FOR THOSE WITH SKILLS, INCLUDING SHARP-SHOOTERS. ADOLPH (AD) TOEPPERWEIN WAS BORN IN BOERNE ON OCTOBER 16, 1869 TO JOHANNA (BERGMANN) AND EMIL ALBRECHT FERDINAND TOEPPERWEIN, WHO IMMIGRATED TO TEXAS FROM PRUSSIA IN 1850. AD’S FATHER WAS A GUNSMITH WHO BUILT AND DESIGNED GUNS AND, BECAUSE OF THIS, AD BECAME PROFICIENT WITH FIREARMS AT A YOUNG AGE. BY THE AGE OF TEN, HE COULD OUTSHOOT MANY VETERAN MARKSMEN. AFTER HIS FATHER’S DEATH, AD MOVED TO SAN ANTONIO TO PERFECT HIS SHOOTING SKILLS. IN 1889, HE QUIT HIS CARTOONIST JOB AT THE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS AND WENT TO NEW YORK SEEKING A VAUDEVILLE JOB. FOR TWO YEARS, HE SHARED THE STAGE WITH MANY VAUDEVILLE ACTS. HE THEN JOINED THE ORIN BROTHERS CIRCUS, WITH WHICH HE TOURED FOR EIGHT YEARS. IN 1901, THE WINCHESTER REPEATING FIREARMS COMPANY SIGNED HIM TO A LONG-TERM CONTRACT AS AN EXHIBITION SHOOTER. ON A VISIT TO THE WINCHESTER PLANT IN CONNECTICUT IN 1902, AD MET A CARTRIDGE ASSEMBLER NAMED ELIZABETH SERVATY. AFTER A SHORT COURTSHIP, THEY WERE MARRIED. AD TAUGHT HER HOW TO SHOOT AND THEY BEGAN TOURING AS A HUSBAND AND WIFE SHOOTING TEAM KNOWN AS THE WONDERFUL TOEPPERWEINS. THEY TRAVELED FOR OVER FORTY YEARS UNTIL ELIZABETH DIED IN 1945. AD RETIRED IN 1951 AND DIED ON MARCH 4, 1962. AD WAS A LONG-TIME MEMBER OF THE BOERNE SCHUETZEN VEREIN, WAS INDUCTED INTO THE TEXAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME IN 1966, MADE RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT AND THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS. ONE OF BOERNE’S MOST FAMOUS SONS IS REMEMBERED AND RESPECTED FOR HIS MANY SHOOTING RECORDS OVER THE YEARS.

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Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff

1850

In the 1850s, a few courageous and well-trained European doctors responded to the health needs of the citizens of San Antonio. For more than fifty years, Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig von Herff worked tirelessly to provide leadership and medical knowledge and to improve medical practices in Texas. He was born Ferdinand Charles von Herff in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany on November 29, 1820, but he never used the name Charles. When he later became a United States citizen, he dropped the von from his name and was called Dr. Herff. In 1847, with a group of idealistic young Germans, die vierziger (the forty), Dr. Herff failed in an attempt to establish the Bettina Socialistic Colony in Texas. He returned to Germany and married Mathilde Klingelhoffer (1823-1910) in 1849. The next year, they immigrated to New Braunfels and settled in San Antonio. Herffs second home here on a ranch in Boerne was a family retreat. Dr. Herff practiced medicine here and was instrumental in bringing to Boerne the railroad and Saint Marys Sanitarium. During the Civil War, he served briefly as a Brigade Surgeon for Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy. However, the Herff ranch was occupied by Confederate Rangers as Herff was known as a Union sympathizer. He treated all in need, including Native Americans. Dr. Herff achieved many medical breakthroughs in surgery, as well as introducing new procedures to the medical community. As one of the great pioneer doctors, he held many distinguished positions in local and state organizations, and received honors for his many contributions. His diligent efforts for the profession and patients whom he loved helped set standards for the medical profession, facilities and continuing advances. (2013)

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Boerne, TX

1849

Boerne, the county seat of Kendall County, is located on Cibolo Creek, Interstate Highway 10, and U.S. Highway 87 thirty miles northwest of San Antonio in the southern part of the county. In 1849 a group of German colonists from Bettina camped on the north side of Cibolo Creek, about a mile west of the site of present Boerne. They called their new community Tusculum, after Cicero's home in ancient Rome. In 1852 Gustav Theissen and John James laid out the townsite and changed the name to Boerne in honor of Ludwig Boerne, a German author and publicist. A post office was established in 1856 with August Staffell as postmaster. The community had only ten houses in 1859, but it was chosen as county seat by a margin of sixty-seven votes after the county was established in 1862. A courthouse was built in 1870 and was still in use in the 1990s; it was thus the second-oldest courthouse in the state. Boerne developed the reputation of having a very healthful environment and quickly became known as a health resort. By 1884 it had five hotels, assorted businesses, and 250 residents. Cotton, wool, and grain were the principal shipments, but timber, cedar posts, and building stone were also profitable commodities. The arrival of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway in 1887 brought increased economic opportunity, and by 1890 the population of Boerne had risen to 800. Boerne residents voted to incorporate in 1909 and established a mayor-alderman form of city government. Also in that year they established the Boerne Independent School District. The population was reported at 950 in 1914, and the community prospered through the 1920s. The Great Depression of the 1930s, however, all but put an end to the tourism and cotton farming that had been staples of the local economy. The population fell from an estimated 2,000 in 1928 to 1,117 in 1931; it had risen to only 1,271 by the 1940s. In the 1950s, however, many residents turned to nearby San Antonio for employment, and Boerne became a bedroom community. The population grew at a slow but steady rate, reaching 2,169 in 1960. In the 1960s construction in neighboring Bexar County of the San Antonio Medical Center and the University of Texas at San Antonio, as well as the completion of Interstate Highway 10, made Boerne even more attractive as a town from which to commute. Its population rose to 2,400 by 1970, 3,254 by 1980, 4,274 by 1990, and 6,178 by 2000. In spite of the influx of different ethnic groups, the German cultural tradition has dominated the community in many ways. The Boerne Gesangverein, or singing society, which was established in 1860, was an important social and recreational organization until it disbanded in 1977; German community organizations still active in 1990 included the Boerne Schuetzen Verein (shooting club), which was formed in 1864, and the Boerne Village Band, which was formed about the same time as the singing society. Boerne has also held an annual celebration, the Berges Fest, since 1967.

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James House

1880

This two-story limestone house is believed to have been built about 1880 by Ives Brown for Ichabod and Alice Kingsbury. In 1925 it was purchased by Maria (Williams) James (1859-1940), the pioneer surveyor and early community leader who platted the town of Boerne in 1852. Named "Puccoon" by Maria for her ancestral home in Hanover County, Virginia, the residence remained in her family following her death. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982

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Boerne, Texas

Music in Boerne

Songs About Boerne

Artists From Boerne

Rivers & Roads in Song near Boerne

History of Boerne

The Oldest German Town Band Outside Germany RoadyGoat

The Town Named for a Satirist Who Never Saw It RoadyGoat

The Pilot Who Brought Flight 1380 Home RoadyGoat

Boerne Village Band

Toepperwein, Elizabeth Servaty [Plinky]

Adolph (Ad) Toepperwein

Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Von Herff

Boerne, TX

James House

Things to Do in Boerne

Everything Near Boerne