Fredericksburg’s Historian
Treibs is Steeped in History of our Hill Country Destination Spot. By Samuel Sutton Standard-Radio Post reporter While Fredericksburg may be seen by most people as just a tourist destination now, fifth-generation native GLEN TREIBS can remember its small town history. “What was different was that basically we knew a lot of people,” Treibs said. “When you were standing at the post office in line, you knew most of the people in line.” He remembers a time when he and his wife would go to Andy’s Diner after church in the 1970s and would see people they knew at 10 tables. “Now, I could be at a local restaurant and see maybe two tables where I would know people,” he said. Treibs grew up in Fredericksburg and is the fifth generation on his land. He can recount how one of the main attractions in town at that time was the Palace Theatre on Main Street, which is now the Parts Unknown retail store. “At that time, I would get a quarter to go to the movie,” he said. “I paid nine cents to get into the movie, I’d put a penny for candy in the candy machine, then get a nickel drink, a nickel popcorn and a nickel candy bar. For 25 cents, I could have a big night out on the town.” He also recounted how anyone could just walk into one of the schools at any time.
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“Now you have to sign in, and you have to have a badge and you probably have to be accompanied because culture has changed,” he said.
Changes Treibs can remember specifically when he noticed the influx of people.
Gillespie County Historical Society when he was 15 years old. “It’s my town and it’s my people,” he said. “I was reared here and really knew a lot of people across the county.”
His love of history runs in his deep in his family. As an example, items such as kitchenware, “It was 1969 when I went into the printing blocks and a betty lamp military, and I noticed a change that his family took from their when I came back in 1972,” he said. home in Germany have been He believes the town’s popularity passed on to Treibs and kept in good shape to this day. started to increase with President Lyndon Johnson. Treibs got into the society “Tens of thousands of people came to see the White House in Texas,” he said. “They would come through and think, ‘Oh, what a lovely German town. We’ll come live here someday.’” He said what shocked him the most was when people would quit their jobs, leave their home and move here on a whim. “Germans would’ve never done that,” he said, laughing. But overall, he said he’s not against the change. “Change has been happening since May of 1846 (when the town was founded),” he said. “I’m so glad we’re preserving our buildings now. That’s what I fought for years, too.”
Local Historian Treibs has loved his town’s history since before he joined the
through the three ladies working there at the time: Esther Mueller, Emmie Detjen and Christine Brodie. “I started working with Esther Mueller. She was my English teacher in high school and she could see that I loved all that stuff,” he said.
Since then, he’s taught Texas history at Fredericksburg Middle School, worked for Der Stadt Friedhof for over 30 years and has been involved in many other things related to Fredericksburg’s history. “It’s been a lifetime of work preserving our history,” he said. Over the years, people have asked Treibs if he would consider writing a book detailing his knowledge of Fredericksburg. He said while he has some family commitments keeping him busy at
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