Alamo Plaza Historic District
a.k.a. See Also:Alamo, The
Roughly bounded by S. Broadway, Commerce, Bonham and Travis Sts., San Antonio, TXThe Alamo Plaza Historic District is a collection of buildings and spaces that chronicle the history of the area. From mission courtyard, to battlefield, to neglected residential area, to transportation center, and finally to commercial area, the district reveals a diverse history.
The building and spaces role , that compose the Alamo Plaza Historic District chronicle the this area played in the development of the city of San Antonio. From mission courtyard, to battlefield, to neglected residential area, to transportation center, and finally to commercial area, the district reveals a diverse history. In addition, serves as the setting for the famous monument to Texas independence—the Alamo. the area
In 1718 Franciscan missionaries combined two older Spanish missions, San Antonio de Padua and San Francisco Solano to create the new Mission San Antonio de Valero on a site believed to have been on the bank of the San Pedro Creek in present day San Antonio. After a hurricane destroyed the buildings on the old site in 1724, the Franciscans re-located at the site now called Alamo-Plaza. However, the Spanish abandoned the idea of colonizing the area with a series of missions and presidios and in 1793 the mission was partially secularized.
In the early 19th century the function of the old mission compound changed from religious activities to military. Beginning in 1803 a company of Spanish soliders from Alamo del Parras, Coahuila, Mexico, occupied the abandoned mission, using its buildings as barracks. 1 mission complex probably originated from this association, name was derived from a grove of cottonwood trees growing of the acequia, "alamo" being the Spanish word for cottonwood. In 1813 an arena in the fight for Mexican Independence from Spain. During the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition of 1812-13, a filibustering expedition against Spanish Texas, the Republican Army took San Antonio in March of 1813 and made the Alamo their headquarters The name "Alamo" given to the According to some historians, on the banks Alamo Plaza became old the However, when the Royalist Army recaptured the city in August, the victorious army used the mission's square as a prison pen for those in te city who had aided the Republicans. Over 800 prisoners were executed and the savage butchery was thereafter known as la noche triste.
No official use was made of the building and plaza from the late 1820's until 1835 when sites figured prominently in events of the Texas Revolution. Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos, sent to San Antonio by dictator General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to crush the rebellious Texans, converted the mission compound into a fortress in late 1835. However, in the Siege of Bexar, December 5-9, 1835, Texas soldiers defeated the Mexican troops and forced the surrender of Cos. An infuriated Santa Anna, led his army of almost 5000 men against the Texas forces at San Antonio in February 1835 and after a 13-day siege finally massacred the 187 men defending the Alamo on March 6, 1836. The restored chapel has since served as a tangible reminder of the men who fought in the Texas war for Independence, which finally culminated with the Texas victory at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The reconstructed buildings now function as museums containing many of the relics uncovered on the Alamo grounds.
Following the Texas War for Independence the mission ruins and courtyard were seemingly abandoned by both the church and the city. New settlers took advantage of the unused buildings for shelter and a few jacles and adobe houses sprung up in this area in the 1840's. Badly neglected, however, the plaza was primarily a rundown residential area located some distance from the center of town.
After the U.S. annexed Texas in 1845 the government took over the remains of the Alamo structures. With only the walls of the chapel remaining, the U.S. Army rebuilt the parapet.. The present facade actually dates from the 1840 reconstruction. The federal government used the buildings and grounds for quartermaster purposes from 1848 until the Civil War and again after the War until 1876. Under an act of April 23, 1883, Texas purchased from the Roman Catholic church the Alamo church property and placed the Alamo in the custody of the city of San Antonio. This arrangement continued until January 25, 1905, when the Texas Legislature passed a resolution ordering the governor to purchase that part of the old Alamo fortress occupied by a business concern. It was further ordered that the governor should deliver the property thus acquired, with the property then owned by the state (the chapel of the Alamo), to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
The 1850's brought new life to the square with the erection of the Samuel Maverick House in 1850 and the Menger Hotel in 1858. Samuel Maverick, one of the Alamo defenders who escaped death because he was elected to attend the Convention of 1836 which drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence, was obsessed with the desire to live by the Alamo. He built the first large house on the plaza, a stone dwelling on the present site of the Gibbs building (16). Maverick's home at the corner of the Alamo grounds was the first encouragement of development in the area. Across Houston street from his homestead. Maverick owned a lumber yard, and in 1886 he constructed a commercial building on this site. The first five-story building in San Antonio, the Maverick Bank building was designed by Alfred Giles and housed a bank on the first floor and rented offices on the upper floors. This building was replaced in the 1920's by the Woolworth Department store.
The next substantial permanent structure erected on the plaza was the Menger Hotel (25). William A. Menger opened a brewery north of Blum street on the plaza in 1855, The brewery was the only one in this part of the southwest and was one of the first manufacturing enterprises in the city. Menger also opened a cooperage works for the manufacture of barrels for his beer. Menger's wife ran a boarding house and because of the popularity of the business, Menger chose to replace it with a two-story stone hotel erected at the corner of Blum and Alamo Plaza. With its opening in January 1859, the Menger Hotel brought elegance to the Plaza for the first time and within a year an addition had to be made to the building. The hotel again expanded in 1875, incorporating the first Turn Verein building, constructed by San Antonioi Germans to the north of the Menger. The hotel has seen a number of additions in the 19th and 20th century. Famed for its excellent meals and beautiful patio garden, the Menger was San Antonio's most prominent hotel in the 19th century . With its location at the stage and later street rail terminus and across the plaza from the 1886 Grand Opera House, the hotel housed many famous visitors. In 1898 Theodore Roosevelt recruited volunteers here for his "Rough Riders" to fight in the Spanish-American war. In the 1930's the building was allowed to deteriorate and prospective buyers took an option with plans to destroy the hotel in the 1940's. However, due to immense public support from people in San Antonio and around Texas, the option was not taken and in 1943 W. L. Moody, Jr. of Galveston bought and restored the hotel.
The Menger was San Antonio's most prominent hotel in the 19th century . With its location at the stage and later street rail terminus and across the plaza from the 1886 Grand Opera House, the hotel housed many famous visitors. In 1898 Theodore Roosevelt recruited volunteers here for his "Rough Riders" to fight in the Spanish-American war. In the 1930's the building was allowed to deteriorate and prospective buyers took an option with plans to destroy the hotel in the 1940's. However, due to immense public support from people in San Antonio and around Texas, the option was not taken and in 1943 W. L. Moody, Jr. of Galveston bought and restored the hotel. Alamo Plaza underwent the transition from basically a residential area to a transportation center in the 1850's. The major stagecoach lines maintained their terminals on the plaza and later the first street railway system in the city operated between the square and San Pedro Springs. After the railroad began to predominate travel in the late 1870's and 1880's, the stage lines disappeared and commercial businesses began to replace transportation as the most important activity of the Alamo Plaza district. But the businesses were slow to come to the area. Prior to 1870 most of the business firms and stores clustered around Main and Military Plaza. However, to serve the residents and military personnel living around the Alamo, the city built a market house in the Plaza de Valero (joined with the Alamo Plaza in 1871). Other businesses in the area in the late 1860's were the lumber yards, livery stables, and a dry goods and grocery store. Even with the increase in commercial activity in the 1870's, many of the firms dealt in transportation and transportation services.
The plaza gained added significance when the San Antonio Post Office moved to the Plaza on December 22, 1877. The postal service occupied the first floor of the Gallagher Building, which had just been built at the south end of the Plaza where Joske's now stands. The location of the Post Office brought more people to the area and served as an incentive for more businesses to locate there.
The same year that the Post Office came to the plaza, Honore Grenet bought the site of the old convent foundations immediately north of the Alamo chapel and built a two-story frame building with double galleries around two sides and crennelated turrets at the corners. The first floor housed Grenet's wholesale grocery business, long the largest grocery in the southwest, while the second floor contained the Alamo museum of Gustav Toudouze. Grenet's clerks often gave tours of Toudouze's museum and the Alamo ruins. In 1886 Grenet's heirs sold the building to the Hugo and Schmeltzer Co. When the company went out of business and the city condemned the building in 1903, a controversy developed because a syndicate had formed to buy the site and additional land to the east to erect a hotel. In order to save the famous site as a monument to Texas history, rather than the site of a resort hotel, Clara Driscoll (see National Register submission, "Laguna Gloria", 12-6-75)bought an option on the property until the title was eventually acquired by the State in 1905. The State gave control and custody of the area to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
The plaza also developed as a center of social and cultural events in the late 19th century. The location of the prominent Menger Hotel influenced several social clubs to find meeting space in the vicinity. The San Antonio Turn Verein, a German athletic and social organization, erected their club right next to the hotel in 1872 and eventually built a larger structure (19) north of the Alamo Plaza on Bonham in 1891. Another organization, the San Antonio Club, moved into rooms on the second floor of the Gallagher Building in 1882. Built in 1886 the Grand Opera House, located at the present site of H. L. Green's (9), brought additional splendor to the plaza. The opening of the opera house brought many road shows to the city and leading figures of the stage performed in this theater. The San Antonio Club relocated their exclusive men's club into this building. The building was demolished in the 1950's after it was largely destroyed by fire.
In 1718 Franciscan missionaries combined two older Spanish missions, San Antonio de Padua and San Francisco Solano to create the new Mission San Antonio de Valero on a site believed to have been on the bank of the San Pedro Creek in present day San Antonio. After a hurricane destroyed the buildings on the old site in 1724, the Franciscans re-located at the site now called Alamo-Plaza. However, the Spanish abandoned the idea of colonizing the area with a series of missions and presidios and in 1793 the mission was partially secularized.
In the early 19th century the function of the old mission compound changed from religious activities to military. Beginning in 1803 a company of Spanish soliders from Alamo del Parras, Coahuila, Mexico, occupied the abandoned mission, using its buildings as barracks. 1 mission complex probably originated from this association, name was derived from a grove of cottonwood trees growing of the acequia, "alamo" being the Spanish word for cottonwood. In 1813 an arena in the fight for Mexican Independence from Spain. During the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition of 1812-13, a filibustering expedition against Spanish Texas, the Republican Army took San Antonio in March of 1813 and made the Alamo their headquarters The name "Alamo" given to the According to some historians, on the banks Alamo Plaza became old the However, when the Royalist Army recaptured the city in August, the victorious army used the mission's square as a prison pen for those in te city who had aided the Republicans. Over 800 prisoners were executed and the savage butchery was thereafter known as la noche triste.
No official use was made of the building and plaza from the late 1820's until 1835 when sites figured prominently in events of the Texas Revolution. Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos, sent to San Antonio by dictator General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to crush the rebellious Texans, converted the mission compound into a fortress in late 1835. However, in the Siege of Bexar, December 5-9, 1835, Texas soldiers defeated the Mexican troops and forced the surrender of Cos. An infuriated Santa Anna, led his army of almost 5000 men against the Texas forces at San Antonio in February 1835 and after a 13-day siege finally massacred the 187 men defending the Alamo on March 6, 1836. The restored chapel has since served as a tangible reminder of the men who fought in the Texas war for Independence, which finally culminated with the Texas victory at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The reconstructed buildings now function as museums containing many of the relics uncovered on the Alamo grounds.
Following the Texas War for Independence the mission ruins and courtyard were seemingly abandoned by both the church and the city. New settlers took advantage of the unused buildings for shelter and a few jacles and adobe houses sprung up in this area in the 1840's. Badly neglected, however, the plaza was primarily a rundown residential area located some distance from the center of town.
After the U.S. annexed Texas in 1845 the government took over the remains of the Alamo structures. With only the walls of the chapel remaining, the U.S. Army rebuilt the parapet.. The present facade actually dates from the 1840 reconstruction. The federal government used the buildings and grounds for quartermaster purposes from 1848 until the Civil War and again after the War until 1876. Under an act of April 23, 1883, Texas purchased from the Roman Catholic church the Alamo church property and placed the Alamo in the custody of the city of San Antonio. This arrangement continued until January 25, 1905, when the Texas Legislature passed a resolution ordering the governor to purchase that part of the old Alamo fortress occupied by a business concern. It was further ordered that the governor should deliver the property thus acquired, with the property then owned by the state (the chapel of the Alamo), to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
The 1850's brought new life to the square with the erection of the Samuel Maverick House in 1850 and the Menger Hotel in 1858. Samuel Maverick, one of the Alamo defenders who escaped death because he was elected to attend the Convention of 1836 which drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence, was obsessed with the desire to live by the Alamo. He built the first large house on the plaza, a stone dwelling on the present site of the Gibbs building (16). Maverick's home at the corner of the Alamo grounds was the first encouragement of development in the area. Across Houston street from his homestead. Maverick owned a lumber yard, and in 1886 he constructed a commercial building on this site. The first five-story building in San Antonio, the Maverick Bank building was designed by Alfred Giles and housed a bank on the first floor and rented offices on the upper floors. This building was replaced in the 1920's by the Woolworth Department store.
The next substantial permanent structure erected on the plaza was the Menger Hotel (25). William A. Menger opened a brewery north of Blum street on the plaza in 1855, The brewery was the only one in this part of the southwest and was one of the first manufacturing enterprises in the city. Menger also opened a cooperage works for the manufacture of barrels for his beer. Menger's wife ran a boarding house and because of the popularity of the business, Menger chose to replace it with a two-story stone hotel erected at the corner of Blum and Alamo Plaza. With its opening in January 1859, the Menger Hotel brought elegance to the Plaza for the first time and within a year an addition had to be made to the building. The hotel again expanded in 1875, incorporating the first Turn Verein building, constructed by San Antonioi Germans to the north of the Menger. The hotel has seen a number of additions in the 19th and 20th century. Famed for its excellent meals and beautiful patio garden, the Menger was San Antonio's most prominent hotel in the 19th century . With its location at the stage and later street rail terminus and across the plaza from the 1886 Grand Opera House, the hotel housed many famous visitors. In 1898 Theodore Roosevelt recruited volunteers here for his "Rough Riders" to fight in the Spanish-American war. In the 1930's the building was allowed to deteriorate and prospective buyers took an option with plans to destroy the hotel in the 1940's. However, due to immense public support from people in San Antonio and around Texas, the option was not taken and in 1943 W. L. Moody, Jr. of Galveston bought and restored the hotel.
The Menger was San Antonio's most prominent hotel in the 19th century . With its location at the stage and later street rail terminus and across the plaza from the 1886 Grand Opera House, the hotel housed many famous visitors. In 1898 Theodore Roosevelt recruited volunteers here for his "Rough Riders" to fight in the Spanish-American war. In the 1930's the building was allowed to deteriorate and prospective buyers took an option with plans to destroy the hotel in the 1940's. However, due to immense public support from people in San Antonio and around Texas, the option was not taken and in 1943 W. L. Moody, Jr. of Galveston bought and restored the hotel. Alamo Plaza underwent the transition from basically a residential area to a transportation center in the 1850's. The major stagecoach lines maintained their terminals on the plaza and later the first street railway system in the city operated between the square and San Pedro Springs. After the railroad began to predominate travel in the late 1870's and 1880's, the stage lines disappeared and commercial businesses began to replace transportation as the most important activity of the Alamo Plaza district. But the businesses were slow to come to the area. Prior to 1870 most of the business firms and stores clustered around Main and Military Plaza. However, to serve the residents and military personnel living around the Alamo, the city built a market house in the Plaza de Valero (joined with the Alamo Plaza in 1871). Other businesses in the area in the late 1860's were the lumber yards, livery stables, and a dry goods and grocery store. Even with the increase in commercial activity in the 1870's, many of the firms dealt in transportation and transportation services.
The plaza gained added significance when the San Antonio Post Office moved to the Plaza on December 22, 1877. The postal service occupied the first floor of the Gallagher Building, which had just been built at the south end of the Plaza where Joske's now stands. The location of the Post Office brought more people to the area and served as an incentive for more businesses to locate there.
The same year that the Post Office came to the plaza, Honore Grenet bought the site of the old convent foundations immediately north of the Alamo chapel and built a two-story frame building with double galleries around two sides and crennelated turrets at the corners. The first floor housed Grenet's wholesale grocery business, long the largest grocery in the southwest, while the second floor contained the Alamo museum of Gustav Toudouze. Grenet's clerks often gave tours of Toudouze's museum and the Alamo ruins. In 1886 Grenet's heirs sold the building to the Hugo and Schmeltzer Co. When the company went out of business and the city condemned the building in 1903, a controversy developed because a syndicate had formed to buy the site and additional land to the east to erect a hotel. In order to save the famous site as a monument to Texas history, rather than the site of a resort hotel, Clara Driscoll (see National Register submission, "Laguna Gloria", 12-6-75)bought an option on the property until the title was eventually acquired by the State in 1905. The State gave control and custody of the area to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
The plaza also developed as a center of social and cultural events in the late 19th century. The location of the prominent Menger Hotel influenced several social clubs to find meeting space in the vicinity. The San Antonio Turn Verein, a German athletic and social organization, erected their club right next to the hotel in 1872 and eventually built a larger structure (19) north of the Alamo Plaza on Bonham in 1891. Another organization, the San Antonio Club, moved into rooms on the second floor of the Gallagher Building in 1882. Built in 1886 the Grand Opera House, located at the present site of H. L. Green's (9), brought additional splendor to the plaza. The opening of the opera house brought many road shows to the city and leading figures of the stage performed in this theater. The San Antonio Club relocated their exclusive men's club into this building. The building was demolished in the 1950's after it was largely destroyed by fire.
Bibliography
Stumpf, Ella D., San Antonio's Menger, 1953
Webb, Walter Prescott, ed., The Handbook of Texas. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1952.
Webb, Walter Prescott, ed., The Handbook of Texas. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1952.
Community Planning And Development; Commerce; Military; Transportation; Architecture; Religion
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
About National Register Listings
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.
The city of Austin, the state capital, is known as the live music capital of the world. It is home to many music festivals, including South by Southwest (SXSW) and the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
About Bexar County
Bexar County Timeline
Bexar County, Texas, holds a significant place in the history of the Lone Star State. Native American tribes thrived in the region for centuries before the arrival of European explorers. In 1718, the Spanish established the Mission San Antonio de Valero, known as the Alamo, which became a symbol of Texas' fight for independence. The area came under Mexican control after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821.
During the Texas Revolution in 1836, the Battle of the Alamo took place, where a small group of Texan defenders valiantly fought against Mexican forces. Although the defenders ultimately lost, their bravery and sacrifice galvanized the Texan cause. Soon after, the Republic of Texas was established, and Bexar County was officially created in 1837, named after San Antonio de Béxar.
Bexar County played a vital role in the westward expansion of the United States. It became part of the United States when Texas joined as the 28th state in 1845. The county saw significant growth with the construction of railroads, the establishment of military bases like Fort Sam Houston, and the influx of European immigrants. In 1968, HemisFair '68 brought international attention to the county, showcasing its rich cultural heritage and attracting visitors from around the world. Today, Bexar County is known for its vibrant tourism industry, robust military presence, renowned healthcare institutions, and prestigious educational establishments.
During the Texas Revolution in 1836, the Battle of the Alamo took place, where a small group of Texan defenders valiantly fought against Mexican forces. Although the defenders ultimately lost, their bravery and sacrifice galvanized the Texan cause. Soon after, the Republic of Texas was established, and Bexar County was officially created in 1837, named after San Antonio de Béxar.
Bexar County played a vital role in the westward expansion of the United States. It became part of the United States when Texas joined as the 28th state in 1845. The county saw significant growth with the construction of railroads, the establishment of military bases like Fort Sam Houston, and the influx of European immigrants. In 1968, HemisFair '68 brought international attention to the county, showcasing its rich cultural heritage and attracting visitors from around the world. Today, Bexar County is known for its vibrant tourism industry, robust military presence, renowned healthcare institutions, and prestigious educational establishments.
Bexar County Timeline
This timeline provides a concise overview of the key events in the history of Bexar County, Texas.
Pre-19th Century: The region that would become Bexar County was inhabited by various Native American tribes, including the Coahuiltecan and Lipan Apache.
1718: The Spanish established the Mission San Antonio de Valero, known today as the Alamo, in what is now downtown San Antonio. This marked the beginning of Spanish colonization in the area.
1821: Mexico gained independence from Spain, and the region came under Mexican control.
1836: The Battle of the Alamo took place during the Texas Revolution, where a small group of Texan defenders fought against Mexican forces. Though the defenders were ultimately defeated, their resistance became a symbol of Texas independence.
1837: The Republic of Texas officially established Bexar County, naming it after San Antonio de Béxar, the former Spanish name for the area.
1845: Texas joined the United States as the 28th state.
1861-1865: During the American Civil War, Bexar County remained part of the Confederacy.
Late 19th-early 20th century: The county saw growth and development with the expansion of railroads, the establishment of military bases like Fort Sam Houston, and the arrival of European immigrants.
1968: HemisFair '68, a world's fair, was held in San Antonio, bringing national and international attention to the city and the county.