New Braunfels is located in the south-central part of the state of Texas and a city and seat of Comal County. It sits along the Balcones Escarpment at a point where the Comal River that streams along the Guadalupe River that is in the northeastern part of San Antonio. The area was established by a group of German immigrants in 1845 that was led by Prince Carl of Saul-Braunfels, and the expedition was sponsored by the Society for the Protection of the German Immigrants in Texas. The site was then named after Braunfels, Prussia, and was incorporated after in 1846. The German influence in the place lessened after the 1940s, however, it retained much of the culture. The city’s economy was primarily based on tourism on the nearby Landa Park, Natural Bridge Caverns, and the Canyon Lakes, which paved the way for the economy to be augmented.