Arcadius Steinle House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Arcadius Steinle House in Medina County. Now settle in, because this one's got layers. It starts with a man, a trade, and a long ocean crossing, and it ends with a house that stood in one family's hands for nearly a century.

Let's go back to the beginning. Arcadius Steinle was a native of Hettingen, Prussia, and he came to this country in 1844 as a mason. A man who worked in stone.

That detail is going to matter. The very next year, 1845, he made his way to Castroville, and in 1847 he wed a woman named Marie Ann Dreyer. And then he did what a mason does.

He started building. Right there in Castroville, Arcadius began construction of a home for his family. He and Marie Ann would go on to rear six children in that house.

Six. Now here is where the story takes a turn, a quiet and somber one. Arcadius died in 1858.

And the marker, without a word of editorializing, tells you what came next: also in 1858, Marie wed his brother, Franz. To that union were born five more children. Eleven children total in that household, between the two marriages, and that house had to hold them all.

Which brings us back to the stone. The home was built in phases, the marker says, to accommodate the growing family. What you see today is a vernacular, side-gable house, stucco over rubble stone, with a rear ell of timber frame and stone.

There is a central entry flanked by paired windows. It is the kind of structure that does not announce itself. It just endures.

And endure it did. The home eventually passed to son Henry Steinle, and it remained in the family all the way until 1946. From a Prussian mason's hands to his son's keeping, through more than one generation of Steinles who called it home.

A mason came to Texas, built something out of rubble stone and timber, and it outlasted him by the better part of a century. That is not nothing. That is, in fact, exactly what stone is for.

What the marker says

A native of Hettingen, Prussia, and a mason by trade, Arcadius Steinle emigrated to the U.S. in 1844 and moved to Castroville the next year. In 1847, he wed Marie Ann Dreyer and began construction of this home, where they reared six children. Arcadius died in 1858, and in 1858 Marie wed his brother, Franz. To the union were born five more children. The home later passed to son Henry Steinle, and it remained in the family until 1946. Built in phases to accommodate the growing family, it is a vernacular, side-gable house of stucco over rubble stone and a rear ell of timber frame and stone. Features include a central entry flanked by paired windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1962