Castro Out-lot No. 60

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Castro Out-lot Number Sixty, out in Medina County. Now settle in, because this little patch of ground has seen more hands and more stories than most folks would ever guess just drivin' past. Henri Castro had a problem.

He had himself a brand-new town called Castroville, and he needed people to stay in it. So he did what any man with land and ambition would do. He made it worth their while.

Castro gifted a forty-acre farming out-lot and one town lot to any colonist willing to put down roots and actually live there. That's how out-lot number sixty came to exist in the first place. The first name attached to it was a man called Gaspard Sax.

Now, Sax didn't hold onto it long. In 1846, he sold out-lot sixty, along with six acres of the adjoining lot sixty-one, to a man named Jules Simon Bourgeois. And here's where the story starts to layer on itself.

It is believed that Bourgeois built something on that property called a Casa Fuerte. That's a dwelling type developed by Mexican settlers in San Antonio, rising up out of one tradition and planted into soil being shaped by another. After Bourgeois, the land passed to a man with a very different background.

Texas Ranger Louis Moehring took ownership and constructed a one-room German house on the property. That house, at some point, met with flooding, and it was moved to the location where it stands today. Think about that for a second.

A German house, built by a Texas Ranger, on land first shaped by a colonist who may have erected a dwelling in the Mexican tradition, all of it sitting on an out-lot originally handed out by a man trying to hold a new town together. The deed history keeps going. The Lamons came through.

The Groffs. A man named Charles Suehs. And a veterinarian by the name of Woodrow Sharp.

Each one of them leaving their mark, or maybe just their name in a courthouse ledger. Out-lot number sixty is a small piece of ground. But the marker will tell you, and I'll tell you the same, that it reflects the rich European traditions of Castroville's earliest colonists.

Forty acres, a handful of names, and a house that survived a flood by movin' out of the way. Not a bad life for a piece of land.

What the marker says

To retain colonists in his new town, Henri Castro gifted a 40-acre farming "out-lot" and one "town lot" to those who would live in Castroville. Out-lot no. 60 was originally owned by Gaspard Sax, who quickly sold it along with six acres of adjoining lot 61 to Jules Simon Bourgeois in 1846. It is believed Bourgeois built the "Casa Fuerte," a dwelling type developed by Mexican settlers in San Antonio, on the property. Later owner, Texas Ranger Louis Moehring constructed a one-room German house, which was moved to its current location after flooding. Other notable owners include the Lamons, Groffs, Charles Suehs, and veterinarian Woodrow Sharp. Out-lot no. 60 reflects the rich European traditions of Castroville's earliest colonists. (2022)