The comfortable, litte town of China Grove
China Grove hasn’t changed too much since the Doobie Brothers’ 1973 homage to the “sleepy little town down around San Antone.”
Incorporated in 1960, the town of about 1,250 is laidback, quiet and sparsely populated. On a recent hot afternoon, cattle grazed in fields while children splashed around pools and cars zipped down U.S. 87, the town’s main thoroughfare. The scene was a stark contrast to the San Antonio’s packed highways and busy city life, but not far from it physically.
Residents and real estate agents say people are drawn there by its close-knit community and “country feel.”
“It’s just a great place to raise your kids,” said Cynthia Farmer, a real estate agent with Realty Place who lives in China Grove and specializes in property there. “The best part of China Grove is you don’t have to fight traffic, but it’s still convenient to go downtown. You’re just hidden away.”
The town was made popular by a Doobie Brothers song named after it, which gives a fictional account of the town as the state’s version of Chinatown, though China Grove has few to none Chinese influences.
China Grove has few businesses, no grocery store and just two gas stations. Restaurants there include a Dairy Queen, Taqueria La Perla and Italian Archway.
But it’s more than enough for Yvonne Baker, who has lived there for the past 17 years and chose China Grove to raise her two children. Baker moved to China Grove from the North Side in search for a more peaceful neighborhood.
“Everybody watches out for everybody here,” Baker said. “You don’t get that everywhere.”
Her 29-year-old son, Chap Breland, moved from China Grove to San Antonio as an adult but missed the rural life so much he moved to Floresville, another rural town about 30 miles southeast of San Antonio. He commutes to the city for work. “There are no lights at night,” Breland said. “You can actually see the stars.”
The tiny town is mostly populated by families and some farmers and ranchers, and it is served by a volunteer fire department and a small police department that was incorporated in 2006. City Administrator Susan Conaway said the municipal court opened in May 2007.
The largest business there is Lone Star Bakery, a food manufacturing plant that spans about 400,000 square feet.
To get to a supermarket, residents must drive to Loop 410 to shop at Walmart or head east toward La Vernia on U.S. 87 to get to an H-E-B.
The town also has a longstanding local convenience store and gas station called Hero’s Ice & Feed located at the intersection of Real Road and U.S. 87, across the road from a Chevron station.
Served by the East Central School District, China Grove has homes that typically cost from $200,000 to $300,000. It is bisected by U.S. 87 and encompasses about four square miles of land, much of which is farmland. The town also has a few luxury homes, including one active property that has a list price of $649,900.
“Most of them are custom homes,” Farmer said. “I’ve sold a few of them under $200,000, but none of them under $175,000.”
China Grove is ideal for families who want to be close to San Antonio, but still live in a small rural town. While San Antonio has seen explosive growth in the past decade, China Grove has maintained much of its country charm, Farmer said. Still, it’s less than 12 miles from the city’s center. Farmer suspects it has remained sparsely populated because homes there require septic systems.
The town draws hundreds of visitors from San Antonio during Halloween, Farmer said. Families ride around the town on four-wheelers while residents hand out bags full of candy to trick-or-treating crowds. It has drawn large groups of revelers on Halloween as long as she can remember.
“It’s crazy out here,” Farmer said. “It’s one big party.”
And during Christmastime, the town’s volunteer fire department decks out a fire truck in holiday lights and tosses candy at children on the streets.
“It’s very family oriented,” Farmer said. “People like the rural atmosphere.”
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