What to See in New Braunfels - Top Sights and Attractions

Music hall in New Braunfels, Texas. Gruene Hall, built in 1878 by Henry D. Gruene and located in the historical town of Gruene, Texas, bills itself as "the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas". By design, not much has physically changed since the hall was first built. The 6,000-square foot dance hall with a high-pitched tin roof still has the original layout with side flaps for open-air dancing, a bar in the front, a small lighted stage in the back and a huge outdoor garden. Advertisement signs from the 1930s and 1940s still hang in the old hall and around the stage.

Under the current ownership, Gruene Hall has become internationally recognized as a destination tourist attraction and major music venue for up-and-coming as well as established artists. Gruene Hall has hosted such acts as Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard,LeAnn Rimes, George Strait, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Lyle Lovett, Hal Ketchum, and Gregg Allman. It was also used as a set for Michael, starring John Travolta. Tracie Ferguson, the booking agent of 30 years, is credited with starting the original music approach that has made Gruene Hall an iconic music venue, helping to jump-start the careers of Lovett, Townes Van Zandt, Ketchum, Bruce Robison, Nanci Griffith, Ryan Bingham, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams and many others.

The hall has been featured in several books including Pat Green's Dancehalls & Dreamers, Gail Folkins' Texas Dance Halls: A Two Step Circuit, Vokac's The Great Towns of America and Schultz's 1000 Places to See Before You Die.

In 2019, ZZ Top did interviews, and played live music for many parts of the Documentary That Little ol' Band from Texas, at the famous dance hall. At the end of the documentary, they walk out to the front of the dancehall in Gruene, with clear view of some of the town, and drove off together into the horizon.^[2]

Courthouse in New Braunfels, Texas. The Comal County Courthouse is located in New Braunfels in the U.S. state of Texas. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in Comal County, Texas in 1976 and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1993.

Comal County has had two courthouses. The first was designed by Wilhelm Thielepape and completed circa 1860, but had deteriorated in condition by the late 1890s. The current Romanesque Revival style courthouse was designed by James Riely Gordon and completed in 1898 by contractors Fischer and Lamie. Gordon, along with another San Antonio architect Albert Felix Beckmann, submitted bids to replace the courthouse designed by Thielepape. In addition to reviewing the bids, the county commissioners traveled to Gonzales to assess the architectural quality of the Gonzales County Courthouse, a work designed by Gordon and completed in 1896.

The courthouse was restored to its original appearance in 2013 after a three-year, $8.7 million undertaking that included removing two additions, and restoring or replicating paint, tile, doors and furniture. Atop the three-story building is a corniced stone tower.^[7]

The Faust Hotel, once known as the Travelers Hotel, was completed in 1929 and is located in New Braunfels, Texas. The hotel planning was started by a group of citizens desiring to attract tourist and convention traffic to counter a downturn in agricultural business caused by a mid-1920s drought in the area. Built on donated land from Senator Joseph Faust's estate, the hotel was renamed in 1936 in honor that family. The building is a four-story masonry design of no particular architectural style, though with some Spanish Renaissance Revival detailing.

It has been renovated several times through the years, but is one of the few known Texas mid-rise hotels of its era still serving as a hotel. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Not to be confused with Hotel Faust in Comfort, Texas. (Now Hotel Giles)^[8]

The Henry Gruene Family Home is a Victorian-style house that was constructed in 1878. The Gruene Family Home, though not listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places, is a contributing property to Gruene Historic District, which was listed in 1974. Presently, the home operates as the Gruene Mansion Inn in the Gruene Community of New Braunfels, Texas. Deep in tradition, the mansion was one of the first buildings in Gruene, in 1872. The Gruene Mansion Inn began as H.D. Gruene's historic Eastlake Victorian home and cotton plantation. All current accommodations are century-old barns and homes restored to our own Victorian Rustic Elegance - A combination of antiques, fine fabrics, and handmade furniture. Every room has a unique character and offers details such as clawfoot tubs and deep pedestal sinks. Gruene Mansion Inn is listed as one of the top inns in the state of Texas.^[9]