Westphalia, Texas

Westphalia is a small unincorporated community in Falls County, Texas, United States, located 35 mi (56 km) south of Waco on State Highway 320. Westphalia has a strong German and Catholic background. The Church of the Visitation was, until recently, the largest wooden church west of the Mississippi River. Westphalia is mainly noted for its historic church and convents, but also for its meat market and for its annual church picnic, which is one of the largest in the area. Westphalia is also known for the Westphalia Waltz.
The Westphalia Independent School District serves area students.
The entire town of Westphalia, along with a large 5,500-acre (2,200 ha) swath of surrounding countryside, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1996 as the Westphalia Rural Historic District. The district lies at the center of a broader rural farming community culturally bound through German Catholic traditions. The town of Westphalia is home to the region's Catholic parish, the religious institutions supported by the parish, the schools, and commercial businesses that grew up to serve local farmers. Outside of Westphalia, the district holds 35 historic farmsteads containing late 19th- and early 20th-century residential and agricultural buildings still retaining a high degree of integrity in their environment, design, materials, and workmanship.
Westphalia, never formally platted or incorporated, historically is situated along three principal streets, and is composed of four distinct sections. Church Road, now known as County Road 3000, forms a northern district featuring the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin and its rectory and parish hall, cemetery, schools, and a former convent. These structures were formerly on large lots, but in later years, residential infill has been added. The Main Village Road, now CR 366 and CR 380, was the center of the town's commercial development at the intersections of the other two streets until 1938 when State Highway 320 (SH 320) was constructed through town, reorienting the town's business settlement pattern. Cotton Gin Road, now CR 366 south of CR 380, led to the cotton gin that served as Westphalia's only industrial infrastructure on the southwest of town. Initially, the town's residences formed the fourth section along the Main Village Rd. east of and near the commercial center.
Outside of town, agrarian lands within the district were originally structured in a rectangular grid pattern with roughly 270-acre (110 ha) tracts broken only by wooded areas along streams and later by the diagonal path of SH 320. Although some large tracts have been further subdivided beginning in the 1910s, the modern county road network along with fence lines and their associated vegetation respect this historically rectangular framework. Common land uses including widespread corn, cotton, and livestock production along with shared agricultural practices including seasonally consistent farming methods give the farmsteads a uniform appearance that reflects its late 19th-century appearance. The twin steeples of the Church of the Visitation in Westphalia form a commanding presence, being visible from most locations throughout the district.
The district contains 283 contributing resources, including 188 buildings, 43 sites, 50 structures, and two objects, along with 127 total noncontributing resources. The district's NRHP registration form specifies the following properties as being representative of the district including one that is also a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL):