SOLMS, TEXAS. Solms, four miles southwest of New Braunfels in southern Comal County, was originally known as Four Mile Creek for its location on that stream. The community was established in the late 1840s as settlers spread westward along Comal Creek. Sometime after 1880 the name of the town was changed to Solms, in honor of Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, a leader of German immigrants to the county. Heinrich Krause operated an early store in the settlement, and in 1857 Four Mile Creek had one of the first cotton gins in the county. A post office located in the Solms store served the community from 1894 until its closing in 1903. The Four Mile Creek School joined with the Three Mile Creek and Comal Creek schools in 1902 to form the Solms School. From 1940 to 1960 the population was estimated at eighty but by the 1980s had declined to forty. New Braunfels had grown so large in 1988 that Solms practically bordered the southern edge. Through 2000 the population was still reported as forty.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 575 square miles (1,488 km²), of which, 561 square miles (1,454 km²) of it is land and 13 square miles (34 km²) of it (2.29%) is water.  The Balcones Escarpment runs northeastward through the county, generally just west of Interstate 35. West of the escarpment are the rocky hills and canyons of the Texas Hill Country; to the east are the rolling grasslands of the coastal plains.  The Guadalupe River flows generally southeastward through the county, and is impounded by Canyon Lake. The Comal River rises from the Comal Springs in New Braunfels, and quickly joins the Guadalupe River.