New Braunfels Academy

The first German settlers here in the 1840s were assured by their sponsor--The Society for the Protection of German Immigrants to Texas--that schools would be provided in their colony. The society hired its first teacher in 1845, and classes began that August. State legislation in 1845 authorized the creation of county school districts, and the city of New Braunfels became Comal County School District One.

But in 1856 the legislature retracted school laws supporting local districts and special school taxes. In response, the city persuaded the legislature to create the New Braunfels Academy in 1858 and to grant authority for a city property tax and tuition to fund the school, thus making the academy one of the first tax-funded schools in Texas.

Public school property and equipment were transferred to the academy, including the 1856 schoolhouse on this site and textbooks in German and English. The academy provided education and examined students and teachers alike through 1871. That year the state finally established an education system, and a public school occupied the building here.

The academy trustees fulfilled their debts by renting the school building to the state before their charter expired in 1879.