Castroville, Texas

Castroville is a small town in Medina County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,680 at the 2010 census. Castroville was founded by Alsatians from the French and German border region who came to Texas in search of a better life. Most settlers tended to dislike French people, therefore most spoke mostly German or Alsatian( A Germanic dialect) and tended to be insular. Castroville and it’s culture only survived so long because residents did not want outsiders to change it, and it worked. Nowadays many descendants of the town’s founders still live in Castroville and keep its culture and traditions alive. Residents of Castroville tend to be Catholic.
History.
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 and adjoining Baden to populate his land grant along the Medina River west of San Antonio. The first colonists disembarked at Galveston on January 9, 1843. They were taken by ship to Lavaca Bay and traveled overland to San Antonio, where they took shelter in abandoned buildings until the Texas Rangers were prepared to escort them to their land and protect them from hostile Indians. On September 2, 1844, the first colonists arrived at Castro's land grant on the Medina River.
From 1849, Castroville, on the Medina River was a water stop on the San Antonio-El Paso Road and a stagecoach station on the San Antonio-El Paso Mail Line and San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line.
After a few hard years, the town and surrounding farms flourished; although for generations, the residents remained insular. In Castroville's first century, a visitor would be more likely to hear Alsatian—a dialect spoken in Europe before Standard German was prevalent—than English spoken in the town's homes, stores, and taverns. Modern Alsatian travelers noted that the dialect spoken in Castroville was more like that which was spoken in the 1840s. The descendants of the original settlers worked diligently to preserve their language, whose usage in Europe has been diminished by the political actions of France and Germany, especially since World War II.
The Steinbach Haus (originally built between 1618 and 1648 in Wahlbach, Alsace) was dismantled and reconstructed in Castroville in 1998. It was opened to the public in 2002.
Castroville is a sister city of Ensisheim (Alsace) in France.
Geography.
Castroville is located at (29.3550, −98.8807). This is 20 miles west of Downtown San Antonio.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and 0.39% is covered with water.
Demographics.
As of the census of 2010, 3,053 people resided in the city. The population density was 1,045.4 people per square mile (403.4/km). There were 1,025 housing units at an average density of 402.2 per square mile (155.2/km).
Of the 941 households, 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.5% were not families. About 20.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the city, the population was distributed as 28.0% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $42,308, and for a family was $51,007. Males had a median income of $35,625 versus $27,228 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,615. About 5.4% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.9% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.
Education.
The City of Castroville is served by the Medina Valley Independent School District and Saint Louis Catholic School (pre-k through 5th grade).