FIRST Church Bells in New Braunfels, TX USA
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member WayBetterFinder
N 29° 42.067 W 098° 07.339
14R E 584904 N 3285989
The history of the First Protestant Church and the history of the City of New Braunfels, TX show that the church bells installed in 1846 in the first church in New Braunfels were the first church bells to ring in that city.
Waymark Code: WM13NBE
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/14/2021
Published By:Groundspeak Regular Member Mark1962
Views: 3

Most cities have churches but not all churches have bell towers with working bells in them. However, in the history of the German-heritage city of New Braunfels, TX, there is still an active church whose history traces its church bells back to being the first to ring for the call to worship in the first church built in New Braunfels, TX in 1846. From the National Register of Historic Places application concerning the second church building that still stands on this property we learn the following:

"On October 15, 1845, the Republic of Texas issued a charter to the Solms German Protestant Congregation and in the spring of the following year the settlers of New Braunfel built a log church. They laid a cornerstone March 8, 1846, and held their first services March 22, Palm Sunday, April 5, the church was consecrated." It is within this log church building's steeple that the bells given to the church by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels were hung and rung as the first church bells in the first church of New Braunfels.

Today, these same church bells are mounted in a metal framed bell tower in the front yard on this same property. These are the first church bells to ring within New Braunfels, TX. The plaque mounted on this bell tower reads, in part: "They were placed in the steeple of the first church in New Braunfels in 1846 on this site."

Link to National Register of Historic Places for this church history:
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Link to original bells used by the First Protestant Church of New Braunfels:
(visit link)

Newspaper article from the Herald-Zeitung testify to the first bells in the first church in New Braunfels, TX:
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Website of First Protestant Church of New Braunfels:
(visit link)
FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event

Date of FIRST: 03/08/1846

More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]

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