Friedrich Knobloch

The property at 1105 Alamo features a single-story residential structure with an open front porch and a square-shaped floor plan. The historic part of the structure is located at the rear, where the smokehouse is situated, featuring unpainted walls. The house has a single functioning chimney and a metal standing-seam roof in an Alsatian vernacular style. The facades are white plaster and wood siding, and the smokehouse has unpainted walls with exposed rock.

The front facade is asymmetrical, with a porch featuring a one-panel half-lite door flanked by two double-hung windows, as well as another two double-hung windows on the right with blue trims and another door providing access to the room parallel to the porch. The white plastered chimney is located on the right side of the front elevation.

On the left side, there are two double-hung windows of different sizes and a small wood door above them, which seems to be the main access to the attic, although there is no evidence of an attic inside. It is speculated there might have been an outdoor stairway in the building in the past, but no historic information is available. The door on this side provides access to the attached shed box.

The rear facade has three square-shaped windows, all opening into a room used for dining and the smokehouse on the left. The smokehouse is a simple room with stone walls and limestone mortar, wooden rafters, and small, narrow windows possibly used as gun slits to protect the home.

This historic property was originally purchased on August 15, 1847, for $1 by Auguste St. Martin from Henri Castro, the founder of Castroville. In 1844, Auguste St. Martin married Caroline Dwyer from Von Ormy and emigrated to Castroville the same year. After purchasing the land, Auguste and Caroline lived in the limestone room and attached smokehouse made from native rock and cypress trees found on the property. These historic limestone rooms are intact, having been repaired and maintained over the course of nearly two centuries.

The original well is also located on the property but has been covered by a concrete block for safety. The property remained in the same family until 1870 when it was sold for $65 to Friedrich August Knoblauch, a tinsmith who established the town’s first Tin Shop in Castroville. After Friedrich married Johanna Julia Koenig in 1878, he added two additional rooms to the property, incorporating the original limestone room and smokehouse and maintaining the original fireplace.

A detached garage was built on the premises in 1900. The Knoblauch family owned the property until 1919 when it was sold to Anna Marie and Gustave Koenig, and later changed hands multiple times until 1997 when it was bought by Josephine and John Bender. John Martin owned the property from 2011 to 2021, and the current owners, Michael and Charity Rivera, purchased it in August 2022. 

This property holds significant historical value and is listed on the Texas Historical Commission 1969 Survey as a historic property, with a PCH marker signifying it as a Pioneer Castroville Home.

1844  -Smokehouse on property

1847 – Land purchased by Auguste St. Martin from Castroville founder Henri Castro for $1

1847-1870 – St. Martin and Carolina St. Martin Krempkau

1870-1919 – Friedrich Knoblauch and the heirs of Julia Knoblauch

1919-1920 – Anna Marie Gustave Koenig

1920-1929 – W.J. Garnand

1929-1942 – Halbardier

1942-1997 – Hulda Schneider family

1997-2011 – Josephine and John Bender

2011-2021  – John Martin

2021-2022 – Leif Richard Syversen

2022 – Michael and Charity Rivera