Anhalt Halle and the Germania Farmer Verein

The hall grew in three stages: the first room in 1879, now the old office, a larger meeting hall completed in 1898 and a 6,000-square-foot oak dance floor added in 1908, with the bandstand after. Krause Settlement had prospered as a stopping place midway between New Braunfels and Boerne, with a freight station kept by Heinrich Wehe, who suggested the name Anhalt when the post office opened in 1879. The association received a state charter on February 7, 1876. The William Specht Spring Branch Band, the county's first six-piece brass band, played here from 1880.

What the plaque says

Anhalt Halle and the Germania Farmer Verein Anhalt began in the 1850s as a small, predominantly German, farming and ranching settlement. Originally known as Krause settlement, its name changed to Anhalt, meaning "stopping place," with the opening of the Anhalt Post Office in the Krause store. The Germania Farmer Verein (Club) was organized in 1875 in Anhalt in response to cattle rustling and to provide benefits for members' widows and children. The club brand, a "G" on an animal's left shoulder, was placed with a member's own brand to prevent rustling. The brand was registered in Comal, Kendall, Bexar, Blanco and Gillespie Counties. With the eventual elimination of the threat of rustling, the Verein could spend time on improving livestock and crops as well as planning social festivals. Anhalt Halle was built in 1879 as the Verein meeting place and a social gathering place. Annual festivals were held such as the Maifest (following spring planting) and Oktoberfest (following fall harvest). The dance hall, one of the oldest and largest in Texas, has increased in size with additions built in stages. Over the years, many notable local and national performers have played here. What began as a stopping place in the mid-1800s remains a popular attraction for many. Visitors to anhalt can experience the culture that was prevalent in the German Texas Hill Country. The Germania Farmer Verein has preserved many of the characteristics of the rich German heritage that has been passed from one generation to the next, from German language, music, and food to Gemütlichkeit (good times and good feelings). (2014)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Natural Bridge Caverns — 11 mi
  The largest known cavern in Texas, found in 1960 by four college cavers under a ranch family's land, entered beneath a 60-foot limestone bridge and still growing.
• Sophienburg Museum and Archives — 23 mi
  The hilltop where Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels raised the Adelsverein's headquarters in 1845, now the museum and archive of the German colony that became New Braunfels.
• Gruene Historic District — 23 mi
  A cotton town on the Guadalupe that the boll weevil emptied, rescued in the 1970s by a kayaking architecture student, with a dance hall that says it has never closed.
• Treue der Union Monument — 28 mi
  An 1866 German-language monument in Comfort over the graves of Hill Country Unionists killed at the Nueces in 1862, its flag of thirty-six stars kept at half-staff.

More markers nearby

• Specht's Crossing — 5.0 mi
• The Engel Store — 5.9 mi
• Esser's Crossing at Wesson — 6.6 mi
• Pinta Trail in Kendall County — 10 mi