Twenty-five miles west of San Antonio is Castroville, a city with a fascinating history tied to the Alsatians who came from France to settle there in the 1840s. Tucked in a bend of the Medina River, the charming city of a little over 4,000 retains an incredible amount of historic architecture from its early settlement.
Henri Castro was born in 1786 in France to a prominent Jewish family and arrived in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1827 to serve as the French consul. He developed an interest in Texas when he met Gen. James Hamilton in 1841 in Paris. Hamilton was there to negotiate a loan for the Republic of Texas.
Castro traveled to the Republic of Texas in January 1842 and was successful in obtaining a land grant of more than a million acres with the condition that he would settle at least 600 families, and or single men, in the area in three years. The settlers would receive 640 acres of land, 320 if a single man, if they lived on the land for three years, built a house, and cultivated at least 15 acres.
Castro recruited colonists from the Alsace-Lorianne area of France in the northeastern part of the country bordering Luxembourg, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1843, 114 colonists departed France for Texas and by the summer of 1844, six more ships had carried an additional 700 colonists to Texas. In July 1844, Castro arrived in San Antonio and departed in September with a small group of colonists across the Medina River to form a new town named after him called Castroville.
To entice colonists to locate in Castroville, a town lot and 40 acres outside of town were offered, in addition to the benefits in the original contracts. The pioneers faced many struggles during the early years, such as droughts, cholera, and encounters with the indigenous population in the area. Eventually, the colonists established homes and farms that led to a prosperous life.
With the large influx of settlers, Castro set up additional colonies in Medina County including Quihi in 1845, Vandenburg in 1846, and D’Hanis in 1847. As Castro approached 78, he decided to return to France. His journey took him through Mexico and while in Monterrey he became ill and died in 1865. During his lifetime, Castro brought 2,100 people to settle in Texas.
Left Castroville City Hall Right Members of the Castroville Colonies Heritage Association accepted a THF grant supporting the preservation of pioneer-era structures in the region.
Historic Architecture of Castroville
The architecture of Castroville is unique in Texas and the United States. The Alsatian settlers brought with them the “old country” style of building and constructed small homes in the mid to late 1840s. The form and shape resembled those found in France and used local limestone and timber with plaster coatings. The houses typically featured a broad front with two rooms and shallow sides of one room deep. The roofs were gable in form with the slope facing the front and loft spaces underneath. There were a series of door and window openings on the front, often with two doors. Over time, rear shed additions provided extra living space, and added porches helped deal with the harsh Texas climate by providing outdoor shaded areas. Houses were built close to the street to leave the rear yards for growing food and for livestock.
Frederick Law Olmstead, the father of landscape architecture and designer of Central Park in New York, traveled through Texas in 1853 making a stop in Castroville. In his journal he wrote “Upon its banks stands Castroville – a village containing a colony of Alsatians, who are proud to call themselves Germans, but who speak French, or a mixture of French and German. The cottages are scattered prettily, and there are two churches – the whole aspect being as far from Texan as possible. It might sit for a portrait of one of the poorer villages of the upper Rhone Valley.” Incredibly, a great number of houses from the 1840s that Olmsted saw in 1853 survive in Castroville. Supplementing those are additional historic houses and commercial buildings from the 1850s to the early 1900s. The early commercial buildings once served as stores, banks, butcher shops, saloons, inns, and even a dance hall and opera house.
St. Louis Catholic Church, completed in 1870, is the dominant structure in the historic district and was built of local limestone and hand-hewn cypress beams. In 1908, a new taller spire structure replaced the original, and stained glass windows were installed. The 1878 Castroville City Hall was originally the county courthouse and served in that capacity until 1892 when Hondo became the county seat. The building became a public school in 1915 and received wing additions in 1939. The City of Castroville acquired the building in 1961 for its offices.
There are excellent walking tour maps that provide the history and details of 100 historic buildings in the historic district. Many of the buildings also have historic plaques which denote their significance and age.
Left The 1943 Rainbow Theater which now presents first-run and classic movies plus live performances. Right The Elsass
Preservation Groups Help Preserve Historic Castroville
Created by local volunteers in 1975, the Castro Colonies Heritage Association (CCHA) has worked to promote the history, architecture, and culture of Medina County. They helped place numerous historic markers in Medina County, supported the Alsatian Dancers of Texas, engaged in an archaeological dig, and created an archaeological mapping project.
The CCHA took on a major project in 2006 with the saving of the 1847 Jean Jacques Biry House in Castroville which had been vacant and deteriorating since 1970. It was in such bad shape that it was condemned for demolition and made Preservation Texas’ Most Endangered Places list in 2005. The house is an excellent example of the local Alsatian architecture and even has an original dog-trot log barn adjoining the house. Only a few changes to the house over the years made it a perfect candidate for interpretation as a house museum focusing on the pioneer settlers of Castroville. The house, owned by the City of Castroville, won an award from Preservation Texas in 2023 for its recent restoration. The CCHA now operates it as a living history center.
Documentation of the pioneer homes and buildings of Castroville took place in the late 1960s as part of a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1970, the Castroville Historic District received National Register status (making it the second oldest in the state after San Antonio’s King William Historic District). That has been a tremendous benefit in promoting the historic city and has helped develop a preservation ethic among its citizens.
Outside of Castroville, there were nearly 150 pioneer-era structures in Medina County relating to the Castro Colonies that had not been surveyed, and CCHA embarked on a plan in 2023 to document them. They collaborated with the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art, the Conservation Society of San Antonio, the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, Medina County Historic Commission, and the Castroville Conservation Society to document all the remaining homes constructed before 1890 to get them listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Besides time, the effort to document this rare collection of intact settlement structures required funding. CCHA applied for a grant from the Texas Historical Foundation and in January 2024 received $5,000 to help with the project, the highest grant amount available at the time. To survey the buildings, four students from the University of Notre Dame and one from Canada spent eight weeks in the summer of 2024 documenting the buildings. An online survey form helped collect data about the buildings and the students met with the owners to collect additional information and photograph the buildings. The building locations were geo-located on maps for future reference. All the architectural and historical information was collected and compiled and will be published online in the coming months at castrocoloniesarchitecture.com.
The Castroville Conservation Society was formed in 2000 with a mission to preserve historic buildings, archeological sites, and places related to the architecture and history of Castroville, Texas. The group has sponsored elementary school programs, awarded scholarships to high school students, held preservation workshops, recognized citizens for historic preservation efforts, and held the Christmas Candlelight Open House of Historic Homes. They have also donated to the preservation and restoration of historic buildings and sites.
Interior and exterior of the Blu Lacy Smokehouse.
A unique effort began in June 2021 by residents of Castroville to foster the redevelopment of historic buildings, many of them abandoned, located in the historic commercial area of Castroville. Four local families, two who are descendants of the first settlers, came together with the idea of starting a community investment group to revitalize historic buildings and create a shopping and entertainment district. They held a meeting for potential investors where they laid out their vision. They emphasized focusing on maintaining the city’s charm and connection to its Alsatian past, preserving the unique architectural heritage, promoting local arts and culture, creating a community gathering space, and above all preserving the local identity that is Castroville. Within 36 hours, 30 local families committed to creating a community investment fund, helping to achieve the seven-figure equity goal to start the work.
The group named themselves The Elsass, which is Alsace as spelled in the Alsatian Dialect, and, with capital in hand, purchased four buildings. That included the former Dan’s Meat Market located in a 1925 building built for that purpose and which remained in business until 1995. Reimagined as the Blu Lacy Smokehouse with a James Beard nominated BBQ chef at the helm, the building still includes the tracks in the ceiling used to move the animal carcasses for butchering as a nod to its past.
There are now 50 local families who have invested in the fund which has allowed 10 buildings to be acquired, revitalized, or built. One of those is the 1943 Rainbow Theatre which was the main entertainment venue for the city until it closed in 1974. The Elsass entered a thirty-year lease of the building in 2022 with plans to restore it to a first-run movie house and entrainment venue. In 2023, the theatre reopened, bringing movies back to Castroville. Besides the Rainbow and Blu Lacy, businesses in their buildings include Blu’s Bar, the Baked by Grecia Ramos bakery, Overholt Supply Co. leather shop, and Elsass Hall, the former 1907 dance hall and opera house now used for offices and the Elevate fine dining restaurant.
Many of the projects took advantage of the state and federal tax credits for the rehabilitation of historic structures to make them financially viable. There was also great care taken with the projects because of the local investors and their desire to see high-quality projects that would enhance Castroville for the future, rather than being a quick investment return flip.
The downtown area is now known as The Elsass District and is home to a lively mix of locally owned businesses, community events, and a Second Saturday Market for local vendors to showcase their crafts, produce, and culinary creations. The Elsass group wants locals and visitors to feel at home and get a true taste of the hospitality found in Castroville.
Castroville is one of the most unique cities in Texas, with its distinctive architecture dating from the 1840s and its connection to the Alsace region of France. It remains such an important historic community because of the concerted efforts of many citizens over the years to preserve the character that is uniquely theirs. They have given their time and resources to protect and revitalize the important historic culture and fabric of the city, which makes Castroville such a special place.
