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Wandering along the Riverwalk or exploring one of San Antonio’s unique historic neighborhoods, any curious traveler will inevitably begin to speculate about the past. Was that always a church, a market, or a museum? Find the answers to all your musings in This Used to Be San Antonio. From the iconic Alamo that played an indispensable role in the state’s and country’s history to a mansionturned-casino that was originally won in a card game, you’ll get a tour of these places paired with stories that will inform and sometimes surprise. Along the way, you’ll meet a colorful cast of characters who walked through those places in a totally different era. Local author and journalist Gil Dominguez brings an historian’s eye and penchant for detail to this revealing look at his hometown. His fascinating descriptions will bring you a better understanding of San Antonio’s history and culture, from major historical landmarks to prominent churches and military bases, all with a nod to the San Antonians who made these places important. Be transported through three centuries of history and find out what used to be in the Alamo City.
This is the first general history of San Antonio, Texas, the seventh largest city in the nation. Its past is complex and ranges across 300 years, from the community’s origins as a tiny Spanish frontier town to its contemporary status as a vital American mega-city. Site of some of the most violent struggles between warring empires and people—historians believe San Antonio may be the most fought-over city in U.S. history—it is perhaps most celebrated for the iconic 1836 Battle of the Alamo. The city is also home to four beautifully restored Spanish missions, which in 2015 UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site and have become integral to San Antonio’s robust tourist economy along with the fabled River Walk. This study weaves together a series of environmental, social, political, and cultural pressures that have shaped life in the Alamo City over the last three centuries. Residents have long fought to protect and utilize water and other resources even as they have struggled to achieve equal rights and build a more open and democratic society. Activists from all sectors of this multicultural city have believed deeply in its promise even though they have had to push hard to secure and expand its potential. Their efforts were every bit as intense in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as they have been in the twenty-first. Written for a general audience, but with a scholarly attention to detail and nuance, San Antonio: A Tricentennial History immerses readers in the city’s fascinating and fraught past.
For a city that predates the Declaration of Independence, San Antonio has a youthful vibrancy that belies its age. The Alamo City may be the seventh-largest municipality in the United States, but it still manages to convey a small-town vibe. Friendly locals are happy to share their favorite spots for romance, history, arts, culture, nature, food, drinks, and más! With 100 Things to Do in San Antonio Before You Die as your guide, you’ll get a taste of the same ciudad that visitors and natives have come to love. Stroll down the picturesque River Walk that now spans fifteen miles from north of downtown to the World Heritage Site missions in the south, or take in one of the city’s awesome museums. Cheer on San Antonio’s own professional basketball team, lovingly nicknamed Los Spurs. From breakfast tacos through evening margaritas, a fiesta awaits. It’s difficult to find a day in San Antonio without some kind of celebration. Local author and blogger Dr. Denise Barkis Richter invites fellow tourists to join the party that is San Antonio. With her book in hand, you’ll have the tools you need to enjoy America’s best town. ¡Bienvenidos! Welcome!
In the Loop: A Political and Economic History of San Antonio, is the culmination of urban historian David Johnson’s extensive research into the development of Texas’s oldest city. Beginning with San Antonio’s formation more than three hundred years ago, Johnson lays out the factors that drove the largely uneven and unplanned distribution of resources and amenities and analyzes the demographics that transformed the city from a frontier settlement into a diverse and complex modern metropolis. Following the shift from military interests to more diverse industries and punctuated by evocative descriptions and historical quotations, this urban biography reveals how city mayors balanced constituents’ push for amenities with the pull of business interests such as tourism and the military. Deep dives into city archives fuel the story and round out portraits of Sam Maverick, Henry B. Gonzales, Lila Cockrell, and other political figures. Johnson reveals the interplay of business interests, economic attractiveness, and political goals that spurred San Antonio’s historic tenacity and continuing growth and highlights individual agendas that influenced its development. He focuses on the crucial link between urban development and booster coalitions, outlining how politicians and business owners everywhere work side by side, although not necessarily together, to shape the future of any metropolitan area, including geographical disparities. Three photo galleries illustrate boosterism’s impact on San Antonio’s public and private space and highlight its tangible results. In the Loop recounts each stage of San Antonio’s economic development with logic and care, building a rich story to contextualize our understanding of the current state of the city and our notions of how an American city can form.
Over the past 300 years, settlement patterns, geography, and climate have greatly affected the ecology of the south Texas landscape. Drawing on a variety of interests and perspectives, the contributors to On the Border probe these evolving relationships in and around San Antonio, the country's ninth-largest city.Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers required open expanses of land for agriculture and ranching, displacing indigenous inhabitants. The high poverty traditionally felt by many residents, combined with San Antonio's environment, has contributed to the development of the city's unusually complex public health dilemmas. The national drive to preserve historic landmarks and landscapes has been complicated by the blight of homogenous urban sprawl. But no issue has been more contentious than that of water, particularly in a city entirely dependent on a single aquifer in a region of little rain. Managing these environmental concerns is the chief problem facing the city in the new century.
The iconic stories, moments, people, and places that define one of the oldest communities in the United States
Illustrated photographs and narratives describe the history, restoration, and continued development of San Antonio's River Walk.
Once again, well-known ghost story writer Docia Williams brings us an all-new book about recent ghost sightings and mysterious happenings in the Alamo City. A chilling book for those wanting a guide to places where spirits are known to rendezvous or for those who just like a good ghost story.
Everything is bigger in Texas—including ghosts—especially in San Antonio, considered one of the ten most haunted cities in the world by National Geographic. As the saying goes, “dead men tell no tales.” Or do they? From its humble beginnings as a Spanish settlement in 1691 to the bloody battle at the Alamo, San Antonio’s history is rich in haunting tales. Discover Old San Antonio’s most haunted places and uncover the history that lies waiting for those who dare enter their doorways. Take a peek inside the Menger Hotel, the “Most Haunted Hotel in Texas,” and just a block away, peer into the Emily Morgan Hotel, renovated after a decade of being vacant, was once the city’s first hospitals where many men and women lost their lives. Explore the San Fernando Cathedral, where people are buried within the walls and visitors claim to see faces mysteriously appear. Uncover the legends behind Bexar County Jail. Join authors James and Lauren Swartz and decide for yourself what truly lurks behind the Alamo City’s fabled past. Includes photos!
Putting archive and contemporary photographs of the same landmark side-by-side, San Antonio Then and Now® is a visual chronicle of the city's pastSan Antonio has a history stretching back almost three centuries. It was established as a Spanish military garrison in 1718, the home of Mission San Antonio de Valero, later renamed the Alamo. During the Mexican War of Independence, Americans fought alongside Mexicans, and at the war's end Texas became a Mexican state. With more than 3,000 American settlers moving into the area, peace didn't last for long. The Texan settlers fought their own war of independence between 1835 and 1836, culminating in the historic last stand at the Alamo. By 1879, Fort Sam Houston was established by the U.S. Army. Throughout the last century San Antonio vied with Galveston, Dallas, and Houston as the largest city in Texas. Today the city is known for its medical and biotechnology industries and is the hub for many multinational companies. Its reputation as a center for business was enhanced when San Antonio hosted the World's Fair in 1968; however, the tourist trade will always be a significant employer thanks to the enduring appeal of that last stand by a small, determined force at the Alamo. Prominent sites shown here include Alamo Plaza, Cenotaph, Menger Hotel, Medical Arts Building, Bexar Courthouse, Governor's Palace, Empire Theatre, Smith-Young Tower, Travis Park, San Antonio River, and Fairmount Hotel.