DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official Texas Historical Commission marker has to say about the Biry-Ahr Property in Medina County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a man crossing an ocean and ends with something that still stands. It begins with a fellow named Henri Castro — Empresario Henri Castro — who had the audacity to found a whole town in 1844 out in the Texas Hill Country and call it Castroville.
And once that seed was planted, the people came. By the mid-1840s, immigrants were pouring in from the Alsatian region of Europe, hauling their traditions, their building sense, and their old-country stubbornness all the way to Medina County. And here's the remarkable thing — that Alsatian culture didn't just survive out here on the Texas frontier.
It largely remains intact to this very day. Now enter one Jean Jacques Biry — went by Jacob. Born in 1816 in a place called Oberentzen, in Alsace.
Thirty years on this earth, and he decides December of 1846 is the right time to pack it up and immigrate to Texas. The man had timing, you have to give him that. In 1847, Jacob and his business partner, Etienne Ahr — Stephen, folks called him — purchased a lot right here in Castroville.
Stephen was born in 1821, also from Alsace, and according to the deed records, these two men bought several properties together. Partners in the truest sense. Then Jacob set to work building a home on this site, stacking local limestone — semi-regular shaped, nothing too fancy — with a lime-based mortar, raising thick walls, steep asymmetric roofs, small rooms.
Cedar shakes on the roof. Wide cypress planks or large flat flagstone on the floors. He built it room by room, over a period of several years, until what stood was two front rooms, a rear lean-to, and a loft you reached by a wooden stairway.
The house was done somewhere between 1847 and 1850. And in the middle of all that building — on June 12, 1849 — Jacob married Marianna Bilhartz, born in 1828. Now here is where this story starts to feel less like coincidence and more like fate had a hand in it.
Marianna's sister, Anne Marie Bilhartz, born in 1830, was already the wife of Jacob's own business partner, Stephen Ahr. Two Alsatian partners, two Bilhartz sisters. If that's not a coordinated immigration, I don't know what is.
Jacob and Marianna raised their four boys in that limestone house. They also raised Marianna's four brothers under that cedar-shake roof. Eight children in small rooms with thick walls and a loft — humble, yes, but deliberate.
Hardworking people with a sense of tradition, the marker says, and you can feel it in every choice of the place. Jacob Biry died in 1868. Stephen Ahr lived all the way to 1903.
And Marianna — that woman born in 1828 — lived to 1920. She outlasted them both by decades, which feels right somehow for the woman who held that house together. The Biry house was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 2016.
It still stands in Castroville, built of stone pulled from local ground, mortared together by the hands of a thirty-year-old man who crossed an ocean in December and got straight to work. Simple architecture, the marker calls it. Unique architecture.
And out here in Medina County, where an entire culture replanted itself and refused to forget where it came from — that combination turns out to be just about enough to last forever.
What the marker says
Castroville was founded by Empresario Henri Castro in 1844. By the mid-1840s, immigrants, many from the Alsatian region in Europe, began to settle here. The unique Alsatian culture was recreated in the countryside of Medina County and largely remains intact. An excellent example of early Alsatian immigrant architecture, the Biry house was built between 1847 and 1850 by Jean Jacques (Jacob) Biry (1816-1868). He was born in Oberentzen, Alsace, and immigrated to Texas in December 1846 at the age of 30. In 1847, this lot was purchased by Jacob and his business partner, Etienne (Stephen) Ahr (1821-1903), also from Alsace. According to deed records, Jacob and Stephen purchased several properties jointly. Soon, Jacob began constructing a home on this site. On June 12, 1849, Jacob married Marianna Bilhartz (1828-1920), the sister of Stephen Ahr’s wife, Anne Marie Bilhartz (1830-1913). The Birys raised their four boys and Marianna’s four brothers in this house. This historic home was built of local semi-regular shaped limestone stacked with a lime-based mortar. With asymmetric and steep roofs, thick walls and small rooms, the house reflects a humble lifestyle of hardworking people with a sense of tradition. Wide cypress planks or large flat flagstone covered the floors along with cedar shakes on the roof. Constructed room by room over a period of several years, the house consists of two front rooms, a rear lean-to and a loft, reachable by a wooden stairway. The simple yet unique architecture of the Biry house enhances the heritage of Medina County and Castroville. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2016