With a starting capital of $40,000, the New Braunfels Woolen Manufacturing Company was established in the converted Koestch Distillery of New Braunfels, Texas, in 1868. At its peak, the factory could make forty pairs of blankets and two hundred yards of tweeds or yarns a day using local raw materials. The company was still in business in 1890, but closed around the turn of the century.
Source:
Benjamin, Gilbert G. “Germans In Texas.”
Comprised of a minute book, account books, and a certificate, the F. E. Giesecke Collection, 1867-1887, documents the business operations of the New Braunfels Woolen Manufacturing Company. The accounts include two ledgers of sales (1877-1880, 1883-1886) and the minute book (1867-1873) describes company stockholder meetings, including the establishment of their bylaws. The certificate (1870) from the Mechanics and Agricultural Fair Association of Louisiana declares that the company produced the best woolen cloth in the Southern states.
This collection is open for research use.
F. E. Giesecke Collection, 1867-1887, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s