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Spring Branch is a majestic wonderland, blessed with rolling ranges of countless peaks and valley's. Clusters of live oak trees laced with Spanish moss reminded the first German settlers of Kraut, gesturing "that it must be a good place to live, for here (later named Spring Branch) our sauerkraut grows on trees". The original German settlement of Spring Branch, Comal County was located about 23 miles Northwest of the city of New Braunfels, and was relocated several times over the course of 145 years. The Spring Branch settlement owes much of its history to its original families, who not only worked the land and raised their families but also were its first Postmasters. In the winter of 1852, Dietrich Knibbe and his family settled along the Guadalupe River. In good order the Porter. Elbel, Horne, Furhmann, Willke, Monken, and Imhof families by 1856. The first Spring Branch Post Office was established in 1858 with Louis Wilke as the first Postmaster. Then relocated to the Porter Store along the Spring Branch Creek. Dr. Charles Porter was the 2nd Postmaster and also the first mill and store owner. Unfortunately, Dr. Porter's untimely death in 1861 and the start of the Civil War closed all Government Post Offices. Besides the mills, the cotton gin, the general store and school, the settlement boasted a Blacksmith Shop owned by Valentin Fuhrmann. Gottlieb Elbel served as Postmaster from 1867-1872 and is best remembered for his Journals, crediting him for reporting when mail service was re-established after the Civil War Period. Bernard Monken a merchant served as Postmaster from 1872-1875, followed by Hans von Specht from 1875-1906. At that time the Post Office was located in a general store, which Charles Knibbe bought and served as Postmaster between 1907-1914, when his son. Hermann J. Knibbe took over for the next 35 years until 1949. With the prospect of a new highway coming the younger Knibbe sons moved the store and Post Office to a location on Hwy 281 and FM 311, where it remained for the next 14 years. The current modern day Post Office stands one-half mile North of Spring Branch Road on US Hwy 281. With the distances between farms and ranches, the Spring Branch Community established a Volunteer Fire Department in 1959. Subdivisions developed throughout the area. Rebecca Creek in 1959, Cypress Cove in 1961, Cypress Lake Gardens in the early 1970s along with Indian Hills and Lake of the Hills. In recent years in conjunction with the Fire Departments of' Spring Branch and Bulverde an Emergency Medical Service was added and eventually an EMS station. Spring Branch ancestry and heritage is land marked in small family cemeteries that dot along the hills and the valleys of this great territory known as Spring Branch.
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