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The Lawlers Arrive in Castroville

Jordan T. Lawler bought the old Vance Hotel property in 1927, and his sister Ruth moved to Castroville with him.

The property included a hotel that had sat empty for years, an 1849 gristmill with a broken waterwheel, and several buildings with crumbling limestone walls.

All across Castroville, unique homes that Alsatian settlers had built in the 1840s were falling apart.

Ruth took a teaching job at the local school while Jordan figured out what to do with the property, and she started playing organ at St. Louis Church every Sunday.

Jordan Brings Electricity to Town

Jordan converted the old gristmill into a hydroelectric plant in 1927, replacing the broken waterwheel with equipment that could generate power from the Medina River.

Castroville got its first electricity when Jordan flipped the switch, with power lines carrying current to homes and businesses throughout town.

Ruth taught school during the day and watched historic buildings continue to decay, their limestone walls cracking and wooden beams rotting.

The Lawler siblings became respected community leaders as Jordan kept the lights on while Ruth educated local children.

The Texas Centennial Sparks Vision

The 1936 Texas Centennial celebrated 100 years of independence with events and historical markers appearing across the state, and the celebration inspired Ruth to act on her preservation dreams.

She saw Castroville’s Alsatian architecture and European immigrant culture getting ignored. Ruth began planning how to restore the old hotel and other buildings on her brother’s property.

The Alsatian colonists who settled Castroville in 1844 had brought European building styles that created limestone homes with steep roofs unlike anything on the Texas frontier.

War Creates Urgent Need

World War II brought thousands of military personnel to air bases in San Antonio and Hondo, and their families desperately searched for housing near the bases.

Apartments and hotels were full across the region, with military wives and children struggling to find places to stay. Ruth saw she could serve these families while saving the 1849 hotel structure from complete ruin.

She accelerated restoration work on the old Vance Hotel, replacing rotten floorboards and patching cracked walls to make rooms habitable again.

Landmark Inn Opens Its Doors

Ruth reopened the restored hotel as Landmark Inn on July 4, 1942, with military families filling the rooms within days.

The income from guests paying for rooms helped fund continued restoration work on other buildings scattered across the property.

Military families got comfortable places to stay while Ruth told them about Castroville’s history and pointed out the unusual European architecture.

She ran the inn while still teaching full time at Castroville schools, waking early to prepare breakfast for guests before heading to her classroom.

The successful reopening proved old buildings could serve modern needs.

Historical Tours Begin

Ruth started leading visitors through Castroville’s original Alsatian homes and structures in 1942, showing them limestone buildings they had never seen in Texas before.

The tours brought attention to Castroville’s European heritage, with visitors learning how 1844 colonists from France had built their new town using techniques from their homeland.

Ruth walked groups down streets lined with steep-roofed houses that looked like they belonged in a German village.

Word spread beyond Castroville about the unique architecture and immigrant history preserved in the small town.

A Team of Women Preservationists

Ruth’s sister Genevieve joined the preservation work, and Mary Ruth Lionberger moved to Castroville in 1952 specifically to help Genevieve plan how to save historic structures across town.

The three women met regularly to develop strategies for protecting buildings beyond just the inn property, identifying which structures needed immediate attention.

The team documented buildings, researched property histories, and contacted owners about preservation options while Ruth continued teaching and running the inn.

Ruth Documents Castroville’s Story

Ruth published “The Story of Castroville” in 1952 after spending 25 years living in the town and filling notebooks with research about its history.

The book documented Alsatian colonist history, architectural styles, and cultural traditions using original sources Ruth had tracked down in archives and private collections.

Her experience as both educator and historian gave her the skills to research complex topics and write clearly for general readers.

The book became the first complete history of Castroville’s heritage, filling a gap that Texas historians had overlooked for decades.

Securing Official Recognition

Ruth successfully got the property designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1965 after submitting detailed documentation about its historical importance.

The property received listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, bringing national recognition to the site Ruth had saved from ruin.

Ruth became a charter member when the Castro Colonies Heritage Association formed in 1975, joining other preservationists dedicated to protecting Alsatian heritage sites.

The Gift to Texas

Ruth donated the entire Landmark Inn property to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on March 11, 1974, while keeping the right to live there until she died.

She gave up ownership of the property she had poured 47 years of work into because state ownership would guarantee permanent protection.

Texas Parks and Wildlife conducted extensive archaeological investigations across the property, with researchers digging careful trenches to learn about the people who had lived there since 1849.

Legacy Completed

Texas Parks and Wildlife opened Landmark Inn as a state historic site on October 25, 1981, with visitors arriving to tour the restored buildings and learn about Alsatian heritage.

Ruth continued living at the inn, greeting tourists and watching people from across Texas discover the history she had worked her entire adult life to preserve.

She stayed active in Castroville community life until her death on December 30, 1990, having spent 63 years in the town she had helped save.

One schoolteacher had transformed a deteriorating property and nearly forgotten immigrant story into protected Texas heritage that future generations could experience.

Visiting Landmark Inn Today

Landmark Inn State Historic Site sits at 402 Florence Street in Castroville, open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Admission costs $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, veterans, teachers, and first responders, $2 for children ages 6 to 17, and is free for kids 5 and under.

Guided tours run Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with reservations requested. Visitors can stay overnight and enjoy a continental breakfast.

The five-acre grounds include the 1849 Vance Hotel, the 1859 Vance House where Ruth lived, the 1854 Haass-Quintle Gristmill, and a detached kitchen building.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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