The Historic Phoenix Saloon!


This photo of New Braunfels Ghost Tours is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Nearly two years ago, Ross and Debbie Fortune, owners of the Phoenix Saloon, applied to the Texas Historical Commission. On Tuesday, March 22, a ceremony was held to dedicate the newly installed historical marker! Read this great story on the history of this cool building below as posted by Myra Lee Adams Goff of The Sophienburg back in 2014. Congrats Ross and Debbie, this is a great honor for a great music venue, restaurant and bar!

Another downtown building, the Phoenix Saloon owners Ross and Debbie Fortune, are applying for a Texas Historical Marker. The Phoenix Saloon history really does live up to the story of the Phoenix, a legendary bird that builds its own funeral pyre, throws itself into the fire, lays an egg in the ashes and hatches a new Phoenix bird. This legend has been used often as a metaphor for rebirth or resurrection. The metaphor fits the local Phoenix Saloon.

The property at the corner of east Castell and west San Antonio Sts., according to the late Roberta Mueller, was owned by Valentine Sippel, her great grandfather. Valentine married Anna Ossman and they had three children: Kaytrina, who was crippled, Henry, who was killed in the Civil War, and finally son John, who lived to be 50 years old by his own choice, when he committed suicide.

John Sippel married into the successful Gruene family by marrying Johanna Gruene. After six children, the marriage ended in a bitter divorce, according to family members. Sippel had built the Phoenix Saloon in 1871 and moved...

continue reading on sophienburg.com

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