New Braunfels was established in 1845 by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, Commissioner General of the Mainzer Adelsverein, also known as the Noblemen's Society.

Most then traveled by ship to Indianola in December 1844, and began the overland journey to the Fisher-Miller land grant purchased by Prince Carl.

[11] The land was located northeast of San Antonio on El Camino Real de los Tejas and had the strong freshwater Comal Springs, known as Las Fontanas, when the Germans arrived.

The first settlers forded the Guadalupe River on Good Friday, March 21, 1845, near the present-day Faust Street bridge.

[15][16] As the spring of 1845 progressed, the settlers built the "Zinkenburg", a fort named for Adelsverein civil engineer Nicolaus Zink, divided the land, and began building homes and planting crops.

[18] In 1844, Prince Carl was so disillusioned with the logistics of the colonization that he asked the Verein to remove him as commissioner-general and appoint a successor.

[19] When John O. Meusebach arrived, the finances were in disarray, due in part to Prince Carl's lack of business experience and his refusal to keep financial records.

To a larger degree, the financial situation happened because the Adelsverein was an organization of noblemen with no practical backgrounds at running businesses.

Meusebach found Prince Carl in Galveston trying to return to Germany, detained by authorities for unpaid bills.

[20] Meusebach discovered that Prince Carl's choice of the inadequate Carlshafen (Indianola) as a port of entry, as well as the isolated route to New Braunfels, was deliberately chosen to keep the Germans from interacting with any Americans.

According to Nicolaus Zink,[21] Prince Carl had planned to establish a German feudal state by secretly bringing in immigrants and placing them in military fortresses.

[22] Prince Carl, being an officer of the Imperial Army of Austria, had kept a uniformed military unit at the ready in Indianola.

[29] The amount was not adequate for sustaining the total number of German emigrants in Texas, but Castell also sent Philip Cappes as special commissioner to observe the situation.

A group led by Rudolph Iwonski[32] pushed their way into Meusebach's home, and colonist C. Herber brandished a whip.

The same evening, a different group of individuals assembled and pledged to stand by Meusebach, the next day passing resolutions condemning the actions of the mob.

[35] Meusebach himself had considered leaving Texas as early as November 1845, when he wrote to Count Castell and announced his intention to resign and return to Germany.

New Braunfels thrived, and by 1850, it was the fourth-largest city in Texas,[16] with 1,723 people, following only Galveston, San Antonio, and Houston in population.

[39] The city is situated along the Balcones Fault, where the Texas Hill Country meets rolling prairie land.

Founded by the sons of settlers Ernst and Antoinette Gruene,[40] the community had a bank, post office, school, general store, lumberyard, gristmill, dance hall, and cotton gin.

This village is now a Nationally Registered Historic District where one can dine in the ruins of the original gristmill or enjoy live music at Gruene Hall.

[43] New Braunfels and San Antonio, 32 miles (51 km) to the southwest, are some of the most flood-prone regions in North America.

For the year 2015, New Braunfels was named the U.S.'s second-fastest growing city with a population of 50,000 or more, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The town holds "Wurstfest", a German-style sausage festival, every November, drawing on the city's strong German heritage.

New Braunfels draws a large number of tourists, particularly in the summer because of the cold-spring rivers that run through the city.

Many generations of families and college students return every summer to tube for miles down the Guadalupe and Comal rivers.