"Just a Thought" Column in La Prensa Texas on "Castroville" 6-30

History of Castroville

By Steve Walker

As always I write "Just a Thought."

Castroville was established in 1844 by Henri Castro, an Empresario of the Republic of Texas, who brought several dozen European families to the area from Alsace. Alsace is a cultural and historical region in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. When I backpacked Europe in 1972 after being discharged in Augsburg, Germany, I did some traveling in that area. It was beautiful.

The Medina River is located in south central Texas in the Medina Valley. It was also known as the Rio Mariano, Rio San Jose, or Rio de Bagres. Its source is in springs in the Edwards Plateau in northwest Bandera County, Texas and merges with the San Antonio River in Southern Bexar County, for a course of 120 miles. Castroville is a city in Medina County.

The population was 2,680 at the 2010 census. Prior to 1893, Castroville was the first county seat of Medina County. Castroville is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Over 30 years ago I taught Special Education in the elementary school in Castroville for a year. What a blessing that turned to be. It was a long drive to get there from home, but the kids were great and the faculty very supportive.

The first post office in Medina County opened in Castroville in 1847. In 1848 the Texas legislature established Medina County and designated Castroville its county seat. In 1853 Castro donated two lots for the site of the new courthouse, which when completed in 1855 served as a school. A rock dam, still intact in 1945 (a year before I was born!) was built in 1854 to furnish power for a gristmill.

It should be noted that at the time of the Civil War, wagon trains loaded with freight stopped overnight at Castroville on their way to Mexico, and the town thrived. By the mid-1860s Castroville was the twelfth largest city in Texas. In 1884 the town had a population of 1,000, a weekly newspaper called the “Brackett Weekly News,” a steam gristmill and cotton gin, a brewery, Catholic and Lutheran churches, a convent, and a public school.

In 1880 the Southern Pacific Railroad, extending its line to the west, passed south of Castroville because the town refused to grant the railroad a bonus. Hondo became the county seat in 1892. Castroville citizens voted that year to dis-incorporate their town, and it remained unincorporated until 1948. In 1908 the school in Castroville hosted 172 white students, twelve black students, and four teachers. In 915 the old courthouse was converted into a school with three large classrooms.

In 1880 the Southern Pacific Railroad, extending its line to the west, passed south of Castroville because the town refused to grant the railroad a bonus. Hondo became the county seat in 1892. Castroville citizens voted that year to dis-incorporate their town, and it remained unincorporated until 1948. 

In the Civil War, wagon trains loaded with freight stopped overnight at Castroville on their way to Mexico, and the town thrived. By the mid-1860s Castroville was the twelfth largest city in Texas. In 1884 the town had a population of 1,000, a weekly newspaper called the Brackett Weekly News, a steam gristmill and cotton gin, a brewery, Catholic and Lutheran churches, a convent, and a public school.

1908 the school in Castroville had 172 white students, twelve black students, and four teachers. In 1915 the old courthouse was converted into a school with three large classrooms. You could call that early de-segregation.

In 1936 the population was 787 which was 65 percent German, 15 percent were Mexican American, and 20 percent were French or American. Most farmers in the community lived in town and farmed their small tracts in the surrounding territory.

In 1962 it had 1,508 residents and forty businesses. The following year the Castroville Public Library, the first public library in Medina County, opened. In 1979 Castroville had a population estimated at 2,146 and thirty-five businesses.

Castroville has been recognized as a national and a Texas historic district. Many of the ninety-seven Historical American buildings in Castroville can be seen on a walking tour; they include the Landmark Inn State Historic Site, the St. Louis Catholic and the Zion Lutheran churches, the Moye Formation Center, the Tarde Hotel, and Henri Castro's original homestead. Castroville celebrates St. Louis Day on August 22 each year. Oh by the way, quite a history for a little town not far from the city limits of San Antonio.