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 Emmie Steele Faust Memorial Library
N 29° 41.852 W 098° 07.478
14R E 584683 N 3285590
The former public library building had roots back to the beginning of New Braunfels through Emmie Steele Faust, the daughter of New Braunfels first teacher, Hermann Steele.
Waymark Code: WMZFFX
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/03/2018
Views: 5
On the corner of same city block where Prince Carl Solms-Braunfels founded Sophienburg and where Hermann Steele began teaching school and preaching is the building that was the public library for New Braunfels for a generation, from 1938 to 1969. The efforts needed to organize, fund, and build a civic effort such as this was completed through the zeal of Emmie Steele Faust. She was the long-lived daughter of New Braunfels first teacher, Hermann Steele. Hermann Steele began teaching in the location next to where this library was built. He was 22 in 1845 when he began teaching under the same Oak trees that shade the grounds around the building his daughter championed the efforts to get built in 1938. For essentially a generation, this library served the public good before a newer, bigger library was built behind this historic one being commemorated. Both Hermann and Emmie served as educators for the previous two generations, but their legacy for promoting literacy and self-education will continue to serve New Braunfels for several more generations.
Marker Number: 18692
Marker Text:
Located on the corner of Coll Street and Magazine Avenue, the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library served as the New Braunfels public library from 1938 to 1969. The New Braunfels Library Association formed in 1928 to meet the need for better education in the growing community. For ten years, the Association operated a public library at various locations around the downtown area. In 1937, Emmie Seele Faust (1867-1957), daughter of first New Braunfels teacher, Hermann Steele, spearheaded a combined effort between the City of New Braunfels, the Sophienburg Museum and the New Braunfels Library Association to give the public Library a permanent home.
The native rock building was designed by architect Jeremiah (Jimmie) Schmidt and opened in 1938 with 250 visitors. Built by Edwin Hanz, the rectangular, 65x30-foot building sits on a bell-shaped foundation made of rock and concrete. The front door and wrought-iron window grates are original.
When the Dittlinger Memorial Library was built in 1967 on the back of the property, the Emmie Seele Faust Library building ceased to be the public library, taking on a new use as an archive and artifact collection storage space for the Sophienburg Museum and archives. The Dittlinger Memorial Library building became pat of the Dittlinger Memorial Library became part pf the Sophienburg in 1999. In 2010, the Emmie Seele Faust Library was restored and repurposed as a meeting hall and classroom, preserving the original intention of the Library Association and Emmie Seele Faust.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark -- 2017
Marker is property of the State of Texas
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