Castroville Historic District

Castroville Historic District is a United States historic district in Castroville, Texas. It includes the oldest parts of the city of Castroville and contains twelve designated contributing properties, including a Texas State Historic Site and numerous Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Castroville Historic District
The original 1879 Medina County Courthouse (now Castroville City Hall), a historic structure within the district
Map of the Castroville Historic District
LocationRoughly bounded by the Medina River, SR 471, and Gime, Constantinople and Naples Streets in Castroville, Texas
Coordinates29°21′18″N 98°52′48″W
Area420.6 acres (170.2 ha)
Architectural styleColonial Alsatian, Victorian
NRHP reference No.70000758[1]
Added to NRHPApril 3, 1970

History and significance

Castroville was established in 1844 by Henri Castro, an empresario of the Republic of Texas, who brought several dozen European families from the Upper Rhine valley regions of Alsace and Baden to populate his land grant along the Medina River, some 25 miles (40 km) west of San Antonio. Long after its foundation the city retained a strongly Alsatian character, both in the continued common use of the Alsatian language into the mid-twentieth century, and in the Alsatian architecture that characterizes the community to the present day.[2]

The oldest portion of the city, surrounded on three sides by a bend in the Medina River, was designated a United States historic district on the National Register of Historic Places on April 3, 1970,[3] in recognition of the old town's well-preserved colonial Alsatian architecture and unusual cultural heritage, for which it is known as the "little Alsace" of Texas.[4] Castroville's was one of the first three United States historic districts to be designated in Texas.[5]

The NRHP nomination specified twelve contributing properties within the district, including the Landmark Inn State Historic Site (an NRHP-listed site in its own right), St. Louis Catholic Church, and a number of private residences exemplifying the prevailing architectural style. Including some of these twelve properties, the district contains numerous Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks, many of them especially well-preserved residences of early colonists.[2]

Architectural character

The structures surveyed during the designation of the historic district, constructed between 1844 and the 1880s, share common architectural elements that mark the old town's Alsatian character. The oldest houses typically contain two rooms and a loft, with thick, stuccoed limestone walls, beams of cypress or cedar wood, and sloping, gabled roofs of tin or cypress wood shingles. A kitchen is typically either attached as a rear shed or built into a nearby free-standing structure. The houses are generally set close to the fronts of their lots, and many have full-width front porches.[2]

Historic properties
Historic properties within Castroville Historic District
  • Landmark Inn State Historic Site (about 1844); National Register of Historic Places #72001368, 1972; Recorded Texas Historic Landmark #3031, 1965[6]
  • Old St. Louis Church (1846); Recorded Texas Historic Landmark #5053, 1966[7]
  • Claude M. Dubuis House (1847); Recorded Texas Historic Landmark #1291, 1966[8]
  • St. Louis Catholic Church (1868–1870); Recorded Texas Historic Landmark #5051, 1970[9]
  • F. Xavier Schmidt House (about 1870); Recorded Texas Historic Landmark #1523, 1966[10]
  • Louis Haller House (about 1877); Recorded Texas Historic Landmark #3135, 1978[11]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System – Castroville Historic District (#70000758)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form (70000758)" (PDF). National Park Service. April 3, 1970. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  3. "Details for Castroville Historic District (Atlas Number 2070000758)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  4. Ochoa, Ruben E. "Castroville, TX". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  5. "Castroville Historic Preservation Action Plan" (PDF). City of Castroville. Texas Historical Commission. October 2002. pp. 28–29. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  6. "Details for Landmark Inn (Atlas Number 5325003031)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  7. "Details for St. Louis Church (Atlas Number 5325005053)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  8. "Details for Dubuis House (Atlas Number 5325001291)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  9. "Details for St. Louis Catholic Church (Atlas Number 5325005051)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  10. "Details for F. Xavier Schmidt House (Atlas Number 5325001523)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  11. "Details for Louis Haller House (Atlas Number 5325003135)". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
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