Sophienburg Museum and Archives in New Braunfels, Texas, preserves the city’s origins and German-Texan heritage on the site of the former Adelsverein headquarters, where Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels ordered the original Sophienburg in 1845 and named it for his wife, Princess Sophie. The Sophienburg served as the colonization effort’s headquarters until its bankruptcy in 1853, and the original structures were destroyed in 1886. Local residents bought the property in 1926 and opened a museum and the city’s first library there in 1933. Today it houses extensive collections of artifacts, photographs, documents, and maps and remains a leading cultural institution in New Braunfels.