Alsatians of Texas

The colonists chose their ground with an escort. On September 2, 1844, Castro set out from San Antonio with the settlers, Texas Ranger John C. Hays and five of his rangers, and they picked a level, park-like bend of the Medina covered with pecan trees; after crossing the river, Castro recalled, the party killed two deer, three bears and an alligator. John James surveyed the town, naming its streets for Castro's relatives and friends and for the capitals of Europe. A visitor in the 1850s found Castroville quite "un-Texan," with steep thatched roofs and narrow lanes.

What the plaque says

Alsatians of Texas In 1842, Empresario Henry Castro brought his first colonists to Texas to settle land west of the Medina River. Most of the immigrants were from the Rhine River area of Europe. Many claimed the province of Alsace, on the border of France and Germany, as their homeland. The Alsatian colonists brought with them their combined French and German heritage, which has left a distinctive mark on this area of the state. In 1844, Castro laid out a townsite, which the settlers chose to name Castroville. It became the center of Alsatian culture in Texas. The houses, European in style, are primarily single-story dwellings of cut limestone, mortared with adobe, and white-washed. Over the years, farming has been the major occupation of people in the area, as it was in Alsace. The Alsatian immigrants and their descendants have made a distinct impression on area politics, holiday customs, cusine, and religion. Winemaking, using grapes grown along the Medina River, is another early tradition that has continued over the years. The history of Alsatians in Texas is a reflection of ethnic and cultural diversity in the state's rich heritage. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Landmark Inn State Historic Site — 0.3 mi
  A store and stage stop at the Medina River ford in Henri Castro's Alsatian town, with a mill race under the ground and rooms you can still rent for the night.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 23 mi
  The adobe and caliche-block home of José Antonio Navarro, a native-born signer of the 1836 declaration, and the last remnant of the Tejano neighborhood called Laredito.
• Mission Concepción — 23 mi
  A stone church dedicated in 1755 that has never fallen into ruin, its convento ceilings still painted, and the ground where the Texas Revolution's fight for San Antonio began.
• King William Historic District — 23 mi
  Mission farmland turned German merchants' quarter on the San Antonio River, renamed in World War I, then saved by a neighbor who restored fourteen houses, starting with his own.

More markers nearby

• General Wool and the Chihuahua Road — steps away
• St. Louis Day — steps away
• Moye — steps away
• First County Courthouse — steps away