German Music in Boerne

The band has stayed in a few families' hands. Ottmar von Behr of Sisterdale was a strong early influence; his children Jennie and Ottmar played in it, and his descendants have given the band five generations of musicians and three of directors, including Dr. Kenneth C. Herbst Sr., director from 1972. The band practiced in barns through the Civil War. In 1988 West Germany gave it German music and a tenor horn, and in 1996 Germany awarded it the Pro-Musica Plakette, given only to German bands more than 100 years old.

What the plaque says

German Music in Boerne German music professor Karl Dienger, who immigrated to Boerne in 1855, organized a singing club (gesang verein) and band in Boerne in 1860. Dienger's music group consisted of musicians from throughout the area and was commonly known as the Boerne Village Band. The band reflected traditional German music, heritage, and culture and performed at various area festivals, functions, and events. Since the 1860s a number of musical groups similar to the village band have flourished in Boerne and other area communities. Boerne's German-style bands have gained statewide recognition. (1995)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Treue der Union Monument — 16 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.
• Frontier Times Museum — 21 mi
  A museum built of fossils, petrified wood and cave formations in Bandera, holding a printer-historian's collection of frontier relics and oddities.
• Old Tunnel State Park — 22 mi
  A railroad tunnel abandoned in 1942 that now shelters up to three million Mexican free-tailed bats, who fly out each evening from May through October.
• Natural Bridge Caverns — 24 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.

More markers nearby

• Kendall County — steps away
• Early Kendall County Jails — steps away
• Early Boerne Schoolhouses — 0.2 mi
• Saint Helena's Episcopal Church — 0.2 mi