Seguin, TX

Seguin, population 25,000, is a bedroom community of San Antonio that is located about 35 miles northeast of the city. It is also 20 miles south of San Marcos and 50 miles south of Austin. Although Seguin is an old community, it is also part of San Antonio's urban sprawl, giving the town a mix of old, charming houses in the center and new developments on the outskirts. Seguin is known for its production of pecans.

The northeast suburbs of the San Antonio metropolitan area are expanding rapidly. Seguin is benefiting from a multimillion-dollar city revitalization effort, and the city's population has grown 20 percent since 1990.

ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

Although Seguin's economy has not been the healthiest in the region, there are signs that the situation is about to improve. A toll road is currently being built from San Antonio to Seguin and is expected to bring more businesses and people into town. In addition, nearby communities are becoming overcrowded, so people are starting to choose Seguin as an alternative.

Even more encouraging is the promise of job growth, which is expected to top 20 percent in the next few years. Caterpillar is building a $170 million manufacturing plant in Seguin, which is expected to create hundreds of jobs. The Guadalupe Regional Medical Center is undergoing an extensive renovation, which is also expected to bring in new jobs.

Housing prices offer another indicator that Seguin's economy is improving. Despite the economic downturn that began in 2008, the median home price in Seguin was about $180,000 in 2008 - up 50 percent from the previous year. Greater San Antonio is one of the most affordable metropolitan areas in the country.

NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRICTS

Seguin accommodates more than 8,100 houses, out of which 7,500 are occupied. Out of these occupied houses, 4,450 houses are owner-occupied and 3,000 are renter-occupied.

Downtown Seguin includes 26 square blocks, which accommodate many structures that were built in the early 1900s and some that date back to the days of the Republic of Texas. Downtown has a mixture of commercial and public buildings, including two four-story hotel buildings. The area was influenced by prominent architects like J. Riely Gordon, Atlee B. Ayers, and Alfred Giles.

FOR VISITORS

• ZDT Amusement Center: ZDT is part playground, part arcade, part amusement park and part science museum. The many activities include a rock wall, go-karts, a roller coaster simulator, video games and a 65-foot parachute drop. For young kids, there's a five-level jungle playground with a huge "ballocity" machine that lets kids shoot soft foam balls. The snack bar serves pizza, foot-long corn dogs, pickle pops, funnel cakes and other treats.
• Texas Agricultural Education and Heritage Center: For parents who want their city kids to learn about farm life, this is the place to go. This indoor/outdoor museum features displays that demonstrate how farm life works and how goods are produced from farm products. There's also a display of antique farm and ranch equipment. Visitors can tour an historically furnished pioneer farming village that includes a blacksmith shop, justice-of-the-peace office, one-room school and smokehouse.
• Seguin-Guadalupe County Heritage Museum: This museum offers visitors a glance at the history of the Seguin area, from 60-million-year-old ossified marine life to the present. Exhibits from the distant past highlight the Ice Age, Native American life and Spanish/Tejano culture. Other exhibits display items from German settlers and the Spanish Revolution, and there are several reconstructed, frontier-style rooms.
• Sebastopol House: built in 1856, it is a Texas Historical Commission Landmark and is in the National Register of Historic Places due to its unusual limecrete construction and architectural style.

EDUCATION

Seguin is the home of Texas Lutheran University, a liberal arts institution with an enrollment of around 1,300 students. The school is known for its business and theology programs, and its choir performs an annual Christmas show that is well-attended by the community. Students praise the small class sizes, personal attention from professors and the campus's open-minded dialogue about issues.

Seguin is within an hour's drive of many other colleges and universities:

• Texas State University-San Marcos (formerly Southwest Texas State), which has an enrollment of more than 20,000, is only 20 miles away in San Marcos.
• Trinity University, a small, liberal arts institution is nearby in San Antonio.
• San Antonio Community College, a sizable, two-year institution, is also within reach of Seguin.
• The University of Texas at Austin, the largest university in the state and one of the largest institutions of higher education in the country, is about an hour away in the state capital of Austin.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Seguin residents cheer for a number of teams from around the region:

• Nearby San Antonio has a National Basketball Association team, the San Antonio Spurs.
• Also in San Antonio is a double-A minor league baseball team, the San Antonio Missions.
• College sports fans can root for the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs; the baseball team has done well in recent years.
• The University of Texas Longhorns are well-known across the region and have many fans in Seguin.
• The Texas State University Bobcats in nearby San Marcos are also popular in the Seguin area.