The city began when an adventurous German prince set sail for the United States under the authority of a group of fellow nobles with the intention of creating a German colony in Texas. After its founding in the 1830s, the Republic of Texas was quick to offer public land to both Americans and Europeans. As the spring of 1845 progressed, settlers built Zinkenburg, a fort, divided the land and began building houses and planting crops. Because the colonists were good stewards of the land and friendly to the local Indian tribe, the city soon became a center of business and growth, on track to become one of the largest cities in Texas.
The largest of these secondary settlements was Fredericksburg, 80 miles northwest of New Braunfels. When the first settlers and explorers found the rich confluence of the Comal and Guadalupe rivers, the Tonkawa tribe had become the dominant group in the area. The Esnaurizar grant began at the northwest end of Seguin, followed the San Marcos-Austin Highway almost to San Marcos, then followed the New Braunffels-Austin Highway to the Guadalupe River, where the former crossing of the Nacogdoches Highway was for New Braunfels settlers in 1845, and then continued down the River Guadalupe to below McQueeney. Until the formation of the Republic of Texas and then German colonization, the area was not stable enough for permanent settlement.
Veramendi and Bowie failed to induce settlers to come to Texas and it wasn't until Prince Carl's mass immigration project that the Esnaurizar area became safe for immigration. Thanks to the reliable hydraulic power of Comal Springs and the community's strategic position between Austin and San Antonio, settlers were able to quickly establish thriving businesses in many sectors, from retail to manufacturing and agriculture. The name Jacob de Cordova appears on the titles of many properties throughout the area, from Cordova Creek near Canyon Lake to the small settlement of Córdoba near Seguin.
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