Alsatian flavor fills Castroville

By Elizabeth Sorrell

Come with me to Castroville in Priscilla DaCamara Hancock's big black car. Castroville was named for its founder, Henri Castro. This French empresario brought 600 families to land grants he had obtained from Sam Houston and the government. The town was to be a buffer for San Antonio from the Apaches. The people sailed from Le Havre to Galveston on Jan. 1, 1843, bringing their language, food, and customs.
The highway rolls by fields of corn, shoulder-high and golden in the sun. The little town maintains its Alsatian flavor, and homes of the settlers and the little church of St. Louis are preserved. There are more historic homes (250) than anywhere else in Texas. The Medina River flows eastward on the south side of town, the inhabitants of which number 3,000.
Father Claude Dubuis built the first church, still furnished with highly polished pews and centered above the altar with a cross.
The new St. Louis Church, very large, was built by the people. It is a jewel with stained glass windows and carved stations of the cross from Alsace. The father established a school where the Alsatian language was taught. It later became the Moye Military School, where Laredo's late mayor Joe C. Martin attended.
Prissy's husband Robert Hancock, a retired Air Force colonel, is the mayor. We go to visit City Hall. He presents a medallion of the town. We dine at a French restaurant, and the food is delicious. La Normandie, it is called. Everywhere there are flowers, growing besides the homes, in baskets on tables, and in window boxes.
Prissy is superb at naming the homes, one of which the Hancocks bought years ago and then restored. They enjoy living there. It has 18-foot ceilings and hand-carved wooden beams. The Hancocks converted a carriage to a bed & breakfast.
There is much in Castroville correspondence with its sister city. People every year come from Alsace to visit. They have even written an Alsatian dictionary. Alsace-Lorraine sent a house built in the 1600s in pieces across the ocean as a gift. It now houses the Chamber of Commerce. The antiques which furnish it were also sent from France.

Castroville has no unemployment, no crime. When the Feast of St. Louis is celebrated, all the populace, regardless of their religious affiliation, participates. A bit of France in Texas. Vive la France!