The Little Alsace of Texas — a preserved Alsatian settlement on the Medina River, twenty-five miles west of San Antonio.
Castroville sits on the Medina River in eastern Medina County, twenty-five miles west of downtown San Antonio on U.S. Highway 90. Population is approximately 3,100. Elevation is 758 feet. The town was founded in 1844 by Henri Castro's colonists from the Alsace region of France and retains a concentration of original European-style stone and stucco architecture unmatched in Texas. Locals and the state tourism apparatus call it "The Little Alsace of Texas," a phrase that dates to at least the early twentieth century.
Castroville is known for three things: the architecture, the bakery, and the proximity to San Antonio. The National Register Historic District contains roughly one hundred documented historic structures — steep-roofed stone cottages, lime-plastered walls, narrow lanes, and churches that look more like the Rhine Valley than the Texas Hill Country. Haby's Alsatian Bakery has been the food landmark for decades, drawing weekend traffic from San Antonio for strudel, fruit kolaches, and Alsatian bread. And the twenty-five-minute drive from Loop 1604 makes Castroville the closest Hill Country town to the state's second-largest metro, which is both its advantage and its pressure.
Henri Castro was a Portuguese-born French citizen who secured an empresario contract with the Republic of Texas on January 15, 1842. His grant began four miles west of the Medina River; he purchased sixteen leagues between the grant and the river from John McMullen to give his colonists river access. On September 2, 1844, Castro set out from San Antonio with his first group of colonists, accompanied by Texas Ranger John C. Hays and five rangers as escort. He chose a level, park-like area near a sharp bend of the Medina River, covered with pecan trees.
The town was surveyed by John James. Streets were named for Castro's relatives, friends, and European capitals — Paris, London, Florence, Madrid. St. Louis Catholic Church was built in 1844, the first church in Medina County. Zion Lutheran Church followed in 1853, and the first public school classes in the county were held there in 1854. By 1856 the settlement had three large stores, a brewery, and a water-powered gristmill on the river.
The architecture was distinctly European from the start. The colonists built with rough-cut limestone, lime plaster, and cypress shingles split from Medina River timber. Rooflines were steep — a direct transplant of Alsatian building tradition into the Texas brush country. The narrow lanes and dense lot pattern reflected village planning from the Vosges, not the open grid of Anglo-Texan towns.
By the mid-1860s Castroville was the twelfth-largest city in Texas. The Texas legislature established Medina County in 1848 and designated Castroville as county seat. A post office opened in 1847 with M. Laroch as postmaster — the first in the county. The town held the county seat for forty-four years until Hondo took it in an 1892 election, after Castroville refused to pay a bonus to the Southern Pacific Railroad, which had bypassed the town to the south in 1880.
The Steinbach Haus, at 100 Karm Street, is a genuine Alsatian half-timber house originally built between 1618 and 1648 in Wahlbach, Alsace. It was dismantled timber by timber, shipped across the Atlantic, and rebuilt in Castroville in 1998 as a museum and visitor center with free admission. The building is the only authenticated pre-Thirty Years' War Alsatian structure in the Americas.
The Landmark Inn, at 402 Florence Street, is a Texas Historical Commission historic site on five acres along the Medina River. The complex dates to 1849 and expanded throughout the nineteenth century as a store, gristmill, and eventually a hotel. It was acquired by the state in 1974 and opened to the public as a museum and interpretive site. The grounds include the original dam and millrace, a bathhouse, and the main inn building with period furnishings. The site tells the story of Alsatian migration, frontier commerce, and the transition from Republic to statehood.
The Medina River crosses through Castroville at the sharp bend that attracted Castro's colonists. The river rises in the limestone hills of northwest Bandera County, flows southeast through Medina Lake (a 5,575-acre reservoir impounded by Medina Dam in 1913), and continues through the flat agricultural country east of Castroville before joining the San Antonio River south of town. At Castroville the river is typically shallow and slow, shaded by large pecan trees and bald cypress. The water is clear when flows are normal, turning turbid after heavy rains in the Bandera County headwaters.
Castroville Regional Park, a 126-acre wooded tract on the Medina's banks at 816 Alsace Avenue, provides river access, hiking trails, picnic areas, and a public swimming pool. The park occupies bottomland in the southwest part of town and is the primary public access point for the river within city limits. Fishing for largemouth bass, channel catfish, and sunfish is common from the banks. The river corridor through town also supports birding — the pecan and cypress canopy draws migrating warblers in spring and fall.
| Name | Address | Known For |
|---|---|---|
| Haby's Alsatian Bakery | 207 US Hwy 90 E | Alsatian bread, strudel, fruit kolaches, doughnuts. Regional landmark since the 1970s. |
| Castroville Cafe | Downtown (historic 1800s building) | Homemade entrees and desserts in a restored 1800s building. |
| The Yard | 1829 US 90 W | Burgers, flatbread pizzas, craft beer, full bar, indoor/outdoor patio. Sunday brunch. |
| Dan's Bar | 1303 Lorenzo St | Established 1937 as a bar and meat market. Live music Friday and Saturday. |
| Castroville BBQ Company | 1303 Lorenzo St | BBQ, sides, sandwiches, live music. Adjacent to Dan's Bar. |
| LaColline | 1651 US 90 W | European-influenced fine dining with French and Texas wines. |
| Sammy's Restaurant | US 90 | Steaks, seafood, Mexican food, burgers. Operating since 1948. |
| The Dough Station | 409 US 90 W | Pizza, salads, sandwiches. Indoor and veranda seating. |
| Magnolia Filling Station | Downtown | 1930s gas station converted to a coffee house. Gourmet coffees, muffins, pastries. |
| Baked | 409 Paris St | Pastries and treats by Chef Grecia Ramos. Downtown. |
| Bean & Boba | 609 US Hwy 90 | Coffees, frappes, milk teas, lattes. Open seven days. |
| LT Mesquite Brew Co. | 3096 Hwy 90 W | Craft brewery with ten house-brewed beers. Three miles west of downtown. |
| Schattenbol at DeCock Farm | 2374 Hwy 90 E | Belgian cuisine, imported Belgian beer, biergarten. Live music. |
| Event | Timing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Day | August 22–23 (annually) | The marquee Alsatian heritage festival. Biergarten, entertainment, arts, heritage celebration at Koenig Park. The 144th celebration is scheduled for 2026. |
Castroville's lodging character runs from the historic to the practical. The Landmark Inn, a Texas Historical Commission site at 402 Florence Street, offers overnight rooms in a complex that dates to 1849 — it is primarily a historic site and museum, with lodging as a secondary function. Beyond that, the town has a handful of small properties and vacation rentals. The proximity to San Antonio means many visitors treat Castroville as a day trip rather than an overnight destination.
Castroville's antique district runs along Houston Street and the blocks surrounding the historic core. At least half a dozen antique and vintage shops operate in restored stone and stucco buildings, selling furniture, glassware, textiles, and architectural salvage. The concentration of shops in a walkable area makes Castroville a regional destination for antique buyers, particularly on weekends. Beyond antiques, a handful of specialty shops sell Alsatian-themed gifts, local honey, and handmade goods.
Castroville is the tourism anchor of the US-90 corridor and the closest Hill Country heritage town to San Antonio. Its significance is architectural and cultural: a concentration of pre-Civil War European vernacular buildings, still occupied and maintained, in a state where most settlements of that era have been demolished or rebuilt beyond recognition. The Alsatian identity — the church, the bakery, the stone houses, the family names — is not a theme; it is the continuous thread of a community that has been here since 1844.
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