A New Life in Castroville, Texas
A short post of what is only one image and love at first sight. As of this month, the image qualifies as a piece of history.
It’s a small town, Castroville. The 2010 census shows 2,954 souls on board. But there must be something in the water, air, food and people because the little town 30 minutes outside San Antonio feels much larger, very special and somehow mystical.
Perhaps some of the mystery lies in the community’s roots. Castroville was founded in 1844 by Henri Castro and Alsatian-Texans who were primarily Germanic-speaking people from northwestern France along the Swiss and German borders.
Castro was an empresario of the Republic of Texas. Empresarios were entrepreneurs who agreed to settle and develop land in Texas through contracts first with Spain, then Mexico and then Texas. Castro brought several dozen European families to the area from Alsace to populate and settle his land grant along the Medina River.
Much of the town has an old world feel, though there’s plenty of modernity. My wife and I visited last summer for a brief two-night stay for the sake of attending a hot summer wedding.
We arrived on a Friday night and it was just sheer dumb luck that led us to one of the absolute best Italian dinners either of us have ever had. If you are ever in the vicinity, Luigi's Italian Restaurant is a gem of a family restaurant. Trust me… if you’re not in the area, it’s worth a long drive. We both took a bite and our eyes widened. When that happens, life is good, right?
Now, in another stroke of sheer dumb luck, I photographed The Rainbow Theatre in the dead of night, lit only by a bright street light. The dumb luck comes in as I decided to re-edit the image this week doing a touch of double exposure, compliments of a 1960s Chevrolet Biscayne. As I began to write this post, I discovered that The Rainbow Theatre was re-opened this month after a 50-year hiatus! Well, here’s the re-edited image.
First opened in 1943 during World War II, the theatre had a 30-year run as a movie theatre, closing in 1974. It then served as an exercise studio, an antique store and thrift shop for the past 50 years. On July 15, it reopened as a fully restored theatre.
![The Rainbow Lodge Scott Edwards The Rainbow Lodge Scott Edwards](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_2400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76f869b1-30b3-4885-9430-f5013949fe5e_5013x4010.jpeg)
How did the new transformation occur?
A group of 50 Castroville residents formed The Elsass Group to revitalize the downtown area, protect the town’s history against inevitable urban sprawl and provide a new entertainment option. The group has purchased or built 10 buildings in the area but hasn’t disclosed the acquisition and renovation cost for The Rainbow Lodge.
So what does this mean? While I’m pretty sure this is not a historical image (I only took it last summer), I’m absolutely certain that you’re looking at history. And I look forward to returning to capture the new splendor of an old 1940s-styled building.
I absolutely have to go back now and capture the new splendor of an old 1940s-styled building.
Here’s the original image taken last summer, prior to being created as a double exposure. I’ll likely soon make fine-art prints available of the double exposure or of this moment in time.
The vision behind One Square Mile is largely photographic and written explorations of one square mile patches in cities, towns and countryside. I’ll encourage you to look around, explore and consider, and I’ll sometimes share a few opinions.
One square mile. Easily understood. You walk a mile, turn left, walk a mile and turn left, walk a mile and turn left, and then walk another mile right back to where you began.
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All images © Scott Edwards, 2023.
Sources for this story include:
Rainbow Theatre, Axios.com Castroville, Texas wikipedia https://www.castrovilletx.gov/ and https://www.castroville.com/