Alamo Stadium and Gymnasium

The effort to build Alamo Stadium (1940) and Gymnasium (1949) in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, began in 1921, when sports aficionados first presented their vision to build a public stadium in the city's abandoned rock quarry. Various proposals along the way failed, including the plan to build a stadium in conjunction with the city's bid to host the Texas centennial celebration in 1936, but as San Antonio's population grew and the number of local high schools increased, the need for a dedicated high school sports stadium became more pressing. The San Antonio Board of Education and its president, Dr. James P. Hollers, took up the cause in the mid-1930s and worked with Congressman Maury Maverick to obtain WPA funding, and with the Texas legislature to enable the school board to issue revenue bonds. Alamo Stadium, designed by Phelps, Dewees and Simmons, was constructed in 1939-1940 at a cost of $477,000 by 449 Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers. The stadium was dedicated to the use of a free and happy people” on September 20, 1940. Because of the stadium's unique setting in the old quarry, it has become known as “The Rockpile.” Four tile murals over the main entrance depict the history of sports in the city from 1840 until 1940. Designed by artists Henry Wedemeyer and Leonora Feiler, the tiles were fired by Ethel Wilson Harris in her renowned Mexican Arts and Crafts studio. The Board of Education constructed a stone and concrete gymnasium, now called the Alamo Convocation Center, immediately east of the stadium in 1949. The stadium and convocation center have remained the home of San Antonio Independent School District sports teams since their completion. Alamo Stadium was the largest high school football stadium in Texas at the time of its construction, and remains the largest in 2011. Alamo Stadium is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the area of Entertainment/Recreation at the state level of significance for its role in hosting local, regional, and statewide sporting events. It is also nominated under Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the state level of significance as an outstanding example of rustic Art Moderne institutional design of the New Deal Era, as an excellent and largest in Texas) example of a high school football stadium, and for its design, which is dependent on its siting in an abandoned rock quarry. It is also nominated at the state level of significance in the area of Art for its display of large tile murals designed by Henry Wedemeyer and Leonora Feiler and executed by artisans of the WPA Arts and Crafts Division under the direction of its supervisor, Ethel Wilson Harris. Completed in Harris' Mexican Arts and Crafts workshop, the murals depict scenes of life and culture (including sports) in San Antonio. They are the largest extant works by any of the three workshops operated by Harris and the largest WPA tile pieces in San Antonio.