This program is supported by the Elizabeth HUF Koch Charitable Foundation.

Hi folks.

We're out here in the middle of the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

Now, with all the development happening out here, you might not believe that this was once a very remote area.

Hard to get to.

Back in 1879, there were no roads, no highways, no buc-ees by the Interstate.

But the German settler families out here, they met after.

We're right here at the Twin Sisters Dance Hall outside Blanco, Texas.

Can you imagine what a Saturday night was like back in the 1800s?

The German families all getting together, dancing, chatting, helping each other, probably drinking a little of the two.

Let's go in the dance hall.

Howdy, ma'am.

Hi.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Ma'am.

Now, this is my friend Jo Nell H and she is a board member.

But she's also kind of the lady in charge.

You need something to talk to?

Jonell.

Well, while you're here, let's go see this historic dance hall.

Yes, ma'am.

Let me show you some of the history.

We have a twin sisters that we've collected.

This is our Blanco County history book.

This.

We call it our Bible.

It's got, a lot of a twin sisters history.

This is the book that Max Kruger wrote himself about his coming to Texas and about his childhood stuff.

Here he was 16 when he came over.

UTSA did a timeline for us.

This is one of our bands we had at the hall.

This is our bowling club.

We had a bowling alley here and it burned down.

This is the deed from 1918 for the hall for $5.

We have a story that was provided for us, and I'll read you this one evening.

All the guests walls and two stepped with a full expectations of an evening, complete with levity.

Back then, we had the lights on the poles and they were the oil field lanterns.

My great uncle Henry rode his horse into the dance hall and shut out all the lights.

Mutters and grumbling, erupted.

This is a special wall.

This is our memory wall.

These are the people who helped put this hall together and keep it going as volunteers all these years.

This is Max Kruger.

He's quite a handsome young man.

This is the Brimmer family, who took it over from Mr.

Kruger after he went bankrupt from the drought in Texas.

But the Brimmer family, who still owns part of the land all the way around.

I'll show you some more really cool things.

This is like the museum.

This is a museum here.

So here is one of the cool things.

This is one of our shingles.

It was on the middle part of the roof when we had our roof redone.

It was underneath the hall.

And this is an IOU.

Mr.

Kruger, please let P Rambler have $1.85 and change on my account.

Mr.

arm gave.

Cool.

What a way to do an IOU, right?

The twin sisters used to be a community with a post office and everything they did voting in this was their voting box.

It was done in the hall.

There's another shingle, and that's pretty cool.

That's, Wilbert and Sons at a plaque in Louisiana.

How does a German Texan here get shingles?

Cyber shingles from, Plaquemine, Louisiana.

Right.

Well, when he came over from Germany, he went to New Orleans and from New Orleans.

Plaquemine.

Louisiana's about an hour away.

And it turns out, when I did, the history of that is they he knew the German family, the Wilbert family.

They were from Germany.

So therefore he was able to get the shingles to build this hall from Plaquemine, Louisiana.

We have accordion and old accordion there.

John Party did a music video here of Hitler boots on our beautiful dance floor.

We just have a lot of really cool things that people have given us, and we've collected over the years.

Well, I have to congratulate.

This is a beautiful dance hall, but it hasn't changed since 1879.

Yeah, there's not many changes.

There's a lot of the same in here, and we've tried to keep it that way.

The history there.

Max Kruger.

Yes.

There's a real big character in the whole history of this.

Of this entity.

It is.

I hear he was a bit of a card, though.

He was.

He was an instrument guy, and we don't know everything about him.

He came over here from Germany when he was 16.

In 1868, he came to Louisiana, and from there he migrated to Texas on a boat.

And then you got into Texas and came up this way.

Being cattle drives.

And he did whatever he needed to do.

And Texas was a wild place.

We still had all the Native Americans we had, we had Germans.

We had people coming over from all cultures of live trying to escape their country and come to this new world of Texas.

And then we had your Texans or Texans, and it was a rough country.

So you do what you did to survive.

These Germans came over and it was hard country from snakes to to weather to to not knowing people and just surviving.

So you did what you have to do.

You know, Max, I mean, he he ended up buying not just the dancehall building, but he bought 10,000 acres, 10,000 acres from the Blanco River to the Guadalupe River.

As a as a German settler, how did he find all that money to buy all that land?

It's not really in the books anywhere on how that's done.

I know he worked many places.

He, like I said, did cattle drives.

He was a freighter.

He did whatever he needed to do to get there.

But it doesn't tell you anything.

We found exactly where he got that money.

He built a store here at Twin Sisters, a gin, a mill, all this other stuff.

He had a whole community going here.

And so I did read that he, did some trading because not everybody had money.

So they did some trading, and he might even gotten some land that way if he didn't pay you bill, I'll take your land.

I don't know, I mean, it's not really in the books, but again, Texas was a rough country and they built a post office.

He was first.

He was a postmaster, early postmaster here.

He brewed his own beer here at this hall.

And that didn't work out so well.

He said, because first of all, it was probably illegal during some of that time and a lot of moonshine, a lot of things going on like that.

But there was a lot more drunken brawls and a lot more things that went on here.

So he said he had a heck with that.

So he just kept going as a community center.

Then I heard that, he had a way of dealing with people causing trouble during and during the evening.

Yeah.

When when you misbehaved here at this hall.

And I think it carried on to the later years.

There's a beautiful old oak tree out there, but the men's restroom, they just tied him up to that tree, and after the dancing, untied them, let them go home.

It's like no number problems.

This is a great place.

It's beautiful.

Everybody's happy.

Everybody's having a great time.

A real community, kind of a thing.

And.

And, I guess that's how it started.

Absolutely.

This was a place where they met.

They these ranchers, these farmers met on a Saturday night, had a good time.

They had the German music going on.

Sometimes it was just singers.

They had their brass instruments, accordion.

Simple, simple.

But they had that here.

Mind you, this was German men run.

This hall was run only by men.

And until the 1990s.

That's a whole other story.

You played a big role with preserving history here, but also in Blanco.

And, they want to build a highway through the middle of twin sisters dancehall.

And you fought them.

So to anyone in Tex Dot, their plans are from the border all the way to Canada to make it a super highway instead of a rural highway.

It's a goal was to widen it way wide here.

And because there's a cemetery across the road from us, the obvious place was to be to come closer and move the hall and that's what they presented to me as they could move the hall and I said, no where my dead body.

And so we started working with Texas Historical Commission, Texas dancehall preservation, some people at being and lots of people, lots of people.

Not just me, many people who love this hall, wrote in the legislation.

And so we met with Texas again, and they sent a person designated by the state of Texas to look at all the properties around here.

And there's so much rich German history here, still buildings, homes, just so much heritage here, still school cemeteries, all of that.

It's now considered a rural historic landscape down in this area.

Which means.

Is Texas still good the way the road some it's the imprint will not be as big.

And they don't know what they're going to do down here yet.

Well, thank you for putting in all that up for all that.

There we go.

Now.

Right this way.

Twin sisters dancehall.

It's a great example of community and its beginnings.

And even today.

Stay right there.

We're heading to the Devil's Backbone right near Canyon Lake.

If I can get out of here.

Max.

Max!

I'm sorry.

Max.

Mr.

Kruger, I won't do it again.

I have to go.

Oh, we're here with Bill Arnold.

He is a board member of the Texas Dancehall Preservation.

Preservation is a key word.

We try to preserve the dance halls.

I mean, there's a lot of dance halls all over the state of Texas.

A lot of them are, over 100 years old or historic places.

And we try to, help preserve these dance halls for future generations.

So you get into history as well?

Yes, sir.

We get, you know, the history of the dance hall.

German immigrants came, to Texas, in the 1800s.

They built these dance halls.

Some of them were education centers.

Some of them were, actually done clubs.

And they doubled as dance halls and community center.

A lot of them didn't know how to hunt, so they built the buildings, as a gun club.

And the German settlers, they would teach them how to hunt on Friday or whatever.

And then on Saturdays, they would, you know, open up the hall for, to have a community center or a dance so he could go learn to hunt.

And you can come out here and hunt for a dancer.

Yes.

Me and my wife started coming out here to the hill country to visit these old dance halls.

The first time I stepped into one.

You kind of get, you know, it hooks you and it gets in your soul.

And, you know, it's it's something that.

That really tugs at this dance floor right here.

This past spring, I taught my grandkids to dance here, you know, so this place is special to me.

Hi, all.

We're here at the Devil's Backbone area near Canyon Lake.

It was named after the jagged terrain that y'all here.

And some say it got its name.

If you follow the stagecoach from Blanco through here to Wimberley, it's a jagged curve like the Devil's Backbone.

Now, the history of the backbone goes back to 30 million years ago.

Because of the massive earthquakes that made this jagged terrain.

We're going to start a little further ahead.

The beginnings of the Devil's Backbone Tavern and Dance Hall.

Let's go.

Devil's Backbone Tower and dancehall is really a puzzle of different things.

The building itself is really a combination of different structures that were built over the generations.

The first piece being The Outpost in 1890.

It was built as a safety area against Indian attacks, then a stagecoach stop, then a jail.

The tavern was built in 1937, right after Texas prohibition ended.

And it is a real interesting tavern.

And the other puzzle is it's a park mystery.

Lots of ghost stories that peopl I'd like to introduce the owner.

This is Robin Ludwick.

She is the owner of the tavern.

Okay, I want to come over here and you tell me more about the building structure.

This is the first piece right here.

That's correct.

It was built as a general outpost, and it was a mail stop.

Mail wagon from New Braunfels.

Met the mail wagon from San Marcus here.

Each one went halfway, and the folks in the area could come and hitch a ride.

And they could go to New Braunfels or San Marcus.

And so it was a general meeting place.

That's kind of what an outpost was back in those days.

You can meet the doctor or the vet, which was probably the same person.

And of course, we found the jail door here.

It also had a blacksmith shop in it at that time.

So it was our first structure.

And after that we think in the early 30s was the tavern.

It was built during the Great Depression, which I felt was a very unique part of when it was constructed.

Nobody knew who built it.

We that's still a mystery.

We are in the Edwards recharge zone, and this is very classic Edwards limestone construction.

You can see all the different colors of the three buildings.

You know, the oldest building and the oldest limestone here, the second oldest over here of the tavern.

And then the newest kind of lighter, more, you know, brilliant colored limestone here in the middle.

This was the third structure built in 41.

After that, the dance hall was built.

So let's take a look inside.

I'd love to.

Let's go.

Wow.

What's the story of the dollar bills?

Well, I do love this story.

So what I planned is taverns.

Quite a bit older than even this one, if you can imagine that, started with gold rush miners that went west to seek their fortune, and they wrote their name on a dollar bill, stuck it to the ceiling.

And if they didn't find their fame or their their fortune, they would come back and they would have their money on the ceiling.

They could either take it with them or buy a drink, and that would be their little savings account on the ceiling.

I'm feeling a weird vibe right here.

That's very intuitive.

Because this is the locals table that has been around probably as long as this tavern and a local is not a regular.

A local is a patron that has come here every day of their life.

And if they're not here, we know something's wrong.

This is the locals wall.

If you're on the locals wall, you have passed away.

And that way you never have to leave your spot as the locals table.

This here plaque is very special.

Local.

That he did not come in one day.

And like I said, we knew something was wrong.

And his name is Charlie Beatty and he's right up there.

He told me some of the best stories about the backbone.

You see this photo up here in the corner?

The gentleman with the evil grin.

That's one of the infamous bartenders, Rotten Ron.

He was known for bartending naked.

He was known for shooting up the ceiling.

You know, on the New Year's Eve or two when there were decorations that he didn't like, he would take his gun out and shoot, shoot them off of the ceiling.

Tell me more about the bar.

The bar stools are original.

They were made from the axles of model teams.

You can spend them.

Hahaha.

May I ask you?

Yeah.

You're kind of a Renaissance person.

Why?

I understand that.

Why did you buy this place?

I came here when I was 16 years old and I'm from a musical family.

My big brother, Charlie Robinson, who passed away a couple of years ago, he's a, you know, Texas music legend.

He was playing, football at Southwest Texas.

And so I came to see him and he came here and brought me here, and I hit this wall of cigaret smoke right there at that door.

My big brother Charlie, I convinced him a couple of years ago to come and play shows for me.

And he had been in retirement.

He wasn't doing well.

His health was not.

Was not great.

But we schedule, for two nights, and he wasn't feeling well.

And he he said, I can't do those shows.

So we rescheduled him a couple weeks later around the 4th of July weekend of 2023.

And he I knew he didn't feel up to doing those shows either, but he did it.

He came.

He did both shows.

He he sat in a chair.

He put on two great shows, sold out, and I knew he didn't want to let me down.

And those were two of his last shows.

He canceled all the rest of his shows, and he passed away a few weeks later.

I grew up in Bandera, Texas, and I grew up going to dance halls with my grandparents.

My German grandmother, you know, music with Western swing and big band and, you know, polka.

My husband and I moved here, had some kids, raised them here, and Wimberley started coming here on date night, started putting dollar bills on the ceiling many years ago.

And, you know, it was it was looking pretty rough around here.

But I got to know, you know, the folks that were running this place.

And I said, I just want to tell you that if this was ever in danger of being torn down, here's my number.

Two months later, I get a call from him and here I am.

You know, people are always trying to preserve areas, and I think you've preserved it and improved it.

Yeah.

And you're probably going to hang on to it.

I am.

So here we are in the dance hall, a great place.

A woman named Evelyn Cabana actually, purchased the tavern, in 1947.

She and her husband, Louis Dreier, built the dance hall as a pavilion.

It was open air with columns and the classic dance hall architecture.

That you see, and lots of other dance halls, the trusses.

Very, very classic.

And a year later, in 1952, they closed in the walls.

And many cool bands, regional acts, local bands that, toured Texas came came to this dance hall.

And the heyday for dances being the 1950s and 60s.

Evelyn Cabana was a true visionary because she saw this being, you know, a community center more than just a tavern.

This is not just the dance hall.

You know, dance halls started as a center of community.

Most of the dance halls in Texas are built by European immigrants.

A lot of Czech, German families or architects that, you know there, some of them are very complex and some of them very basic.

This is pretty basic construction and architecture for for a dance hall.

But yes, they were the center of communities and they still are.

Now there's the haunted side of the tavern and the dance hall.

That's right.

I've been hearing a lot of stories.

What all is going on here?

Well, you know, it's not just the tavern because the history along this stretch of highway is so rich.

It starts, as far back as our Native Americans.

Right?

So, you know, the Apaches, the Comanche, the Tonka was this was their land.

And then, you know, between, like the 1830s, 1860s, you know, we had a lot of immigration, right?

So the same immigrants that came here and built this, even this dance hall, they wanted to come here and and share, like this great area.

Right.

Native Americans are like, what's going on?

We love this place.

This is our spot.

Right?

So there was a lot of there was a lot of conflict.

And there are a lot of visions that, folks in this area see a lot of horses they hear at night.

And, it's it's part of living in this area, and it's part of living, on this hill, and it's part of being in this tavern and in this tavern.

There's it's all friendly spirits.

Tell me one story about the dollar bills.

That was really eerie.

I never kind of fed in to a lot of the ghost stories, but when I took over here, it started happening to me.

And so that's when I was a believer.

About a year ago, this couple came in and they don't live around here.

They came in one time on their anniversary and, like a lot of couples do, they put a c a they put a dollar on the ceiling, they wrote their name, put their anniversary on there, stuck it on the ceiling.

A couple years later, they walked in the door.

That dollar bill fell right at their feet.

You tell me.

It gives me chills.

It does.

Right now.

I'm getting the chills right now.

Robin, this has been a wonderful tour of this place.

Thank you for coming.

It's so great that you're holding on to history, and you're expanding the place and making it better and better for folks.

And we've had a lot of fun.

So, too, I'm getting thirsty.

I'm going to go over there and grab me something to drink, and we can do something about that.

All right.

Can I get a beer here?

Whoa.

That's cool too.

Lloyd, I didn't bring my wallet.

Well, I'm going to take this to go.

This program is supported by the Elizabeth HUF Koch Charitable Foundation.