medina County

Medina County, located immediately west of Bexar County in southwest Texas, is also surrounded by Atascosa County on the southeast, Frio County on the south, Uvalde County on the west and Bandera County on the north. Hondo, the county seat, is located near the center of the county, 100 miles from the Mexican border at Eagle Pass.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Castroville | D’Hanis | Devine | Dunlay | Hondo – county seat | LaCoste | Lytle (mostly in Atascosa, Bexar counties) | Medina | Mico | Natalia | New Fountain | Pearson | Quihi | Rio Medina | Vandenburg | Yancy

History

Medina County 1858. A great deal of the surface of this county is made up of hill, dale, valley, and prairie : it is well watered with mountain streamlets, on some of which thriving manufacturing villages will arise. This is a western county, and is settled mostly with foreigners. Castroville, the seat of Medina, county, is most happily located, with regard to fertility of soil, abundance of water, timber and grazing lands. It extends over a level prairie, following the meanderings of the Medina; is surrounded by gentle, well-timbered hills, from the top of which the eye embraces the whole valley, which has been made a perfect garden by the settlers.

Medina County was separated from Bexar County by the legislature on February 12, 1848, and enlarged on February 1, 1850, again gaining lands from Bexar County. At this time the population of Medina County was estimated to be predominantly Catholic at a ratio of five out of every six people. The first church in the county, the Catholic Church of St. Louis Parish in Castroville, was completed in November 1846. The Lutherans organized churches at Castroville and Quihi in 1852 and 1854. The Catholic church organized a school in Castroville in 1845; the Protestants did likewise in 1854. The first public school in Medina County was also established in Castroville in 1854. By 1858 the county had five schools for 453 pupils and five churches, three Protestant and two Catholic. A short-lived Mormon community was established in northeastern Medina County in 1854. By 1858 stock raising and the cultivation of corn were the chief agricultural pursuits in the county. Much of the labor needed to clear the land for homes and farms was done by Mexican laborers. Statistics taken in that year show 10,000 acres of corn planted and 100 acres of wheat on 240 farms; there were 11,000 cattle, principally in the Castroville, D’Hanis, Quihi, and Vandenburg areas; sheep were raised principally in the northern hilly and rocky areas. Peach trees were abundant; cypress and pecan grew along streams and rivers; mesquite, live oak, post oak, and cedar were prevalent trees in the prairies.

Location

Hondo, TX 29° 20′ 50.8452″ N, 99° 8′ 29.13″ W

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