First County Courthouse

Castroville lost its courthouse to the railroad. In 1880 the Southern Pacific line building west passed south of town because Castroville refused to grant it a bonus, and the new railroad towns, Hondo above all, became the county's market centers. After several failed attempts in the 1880s, voters moved the county seat to Hondo in 1892 by 767 to 687. That year Castroville voted to disincorporate, and it stayed unincorporated until 1948. The town started its own paper, the Anvil, in 1886 while fearing Hondo's bid. In 1915 the old courthouse became a school with three large classrooms.

What the plaque says

First County Courthouse Erected 1854; first permanent courthouse in Castroville, the first seat (1848-1892) of Medina County. When built, structure was on old road to San Antonio. This building took place of temporary office space which County Court had used 6 years. It was built by Joseph Burger and has 18-inch-thick walls of native limestone. Additions to original building include one-story wings on both sides and outside staircase to the second floor. After Hondo became County Seat this building was used as a school; now houses City Hall. 1968

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Landmark Inn State Historic Site — steps away
  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

• Site of the Homestead of Henri Castro — steps away
• Henri Castro — steps away
• General Wool and the Chihuahua Road — steps away
• Alsatians of Texas — steps away