Near River Crossing Used by New Braunfels' First Settlers. At the crossing of the San Antonio-Nacogdches Road on the Guadalupe River (used earlier by some of Texas' most famous trail-blazers) about 200 German colonists ended a journey that had begun six months before, in Europe. Here, on Good Firday,1845, they founded the town of New Braunfels. Named for the estate of Prince Solms-Braunfels, the commissioner-general of the German Emigration Society. Part of a wave of German colonists,1844-1847, this small group and others like it have left a distinctive mark on the heritage and culture of Texas. (1968) #3561