Site of New Braunfels Academy
Site of New Braunfels Academy, the first tax-supported Texas school still existent. By act of the State Legislature (where it was called "a great question of law and public policy") the academy was incorporated in 1858 -- 18 years before the 1876 Texas Constitution provided for local taxation for school purposes.
Erected 1900, this building of New Braunfels Academy now is tax office of the Independent School District.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.
The establishment of the New Braunfels Academy in 1858, in a way, was the fulfillment of one of the goals of the Gesellschaft zum Schutze Deutscher Auswanderer nach Texas. (The Society for the Protection of German Immigrants to Texas, hereinafter described as the Society) This Society organized and led more than 7,000 immigrants to Texas in 1844, 1845, and 1846, many of whom came to New Braunfels and Comal County, the primary settlement of the Society.
