Vintage Alamo Photos

[RLC-GTT]

So, discussing the tree growth on the Rio San Antonio with the sage of Alamo Village is certainly far from anal---I just wish we were both standing in Alamo Plaza have this discussion!

I'll certainly drink to that with anything that pours.

[RLC-GTT]

...and the top of the old Presbyterian church off to the right (no longer standing).

You mean what I've been calling St. Mary's is really the old Presbyterian church? Are you sure?

[RLC-GTT]

This is looking north at the north side of Main Plaza (Plaza de las Islas). Soledad Street is actually out of sight behind the buildings on the right and going north from the plaza next to the gabled two-story, which is on the corner, and visible from the back in the photo below. The low Spanish colonial building on the left was the Yturri house in 1836 and used by Santa Anna (and possibly Neill and Travis) as headquarters. The Plaza House was quite well-known at the time of this photo as was Jack Harris' Vaudeville Theater to the right of it. I have alway had the suspicion that THIS block left to right (in this 1860's period) is what Alfred Ybarra was using for a model for the same block at Alamo Village. The Yturri house would have translated into our blacksmith shop, the Plaza House into our Hotel San Antonio and Jack Harris' into the Cantina.

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This is looking south at Main Plaza from the roof or porch of one of the buildings on Soledad St. half way between the plaza and the Veramendi Palace, which would be to our back. The original Spanish Colonial buildings on far side of the plaza are the same ones in the background of the troops formed on the plaza in the earlier photo. San Fernando Parish would be off-scene right.

[RLC-GTT]

Obviously, Main Plaza and San Fernando Cathedral. This growth spurt from Spanish Colonial architecture that was there at the time of the Alamo to the Neo-Gothic architecture and "highrise" buildings took place in a very few years from 1868 to 1872. A real building boom here and on Alamo Plaza.



I have always loved this photo even though San Fernando Cathedral is already complete and the "bat cave" (the courthouse and jail) stands in the NW corner. You get a very good impression of San Antonio de Bexar of colonial days. El Camino Real climbs a gentle grade beyond San Pedro Creek behind the Governor's Palace and passes, to its right in the distance, the Campo Santo where Ben Milam and the lucky soldados from the Alamo battle were buried. The scattering of shacks an jacales is probably much greater in the picture than at the time of the revolution, but the feel is the same -- and limitless wasteland beyond. Obviously, Alazan Heights (where the sentry first spotted the Mexican Army) is "but a small affair."

[RLC-GTT]

Ah yes, the ford at La Villita (behind us). The wagon is actually following the old route of the ford that cut diagonally across the river just below the Concepcion Dam on the right which backed water up to feed the Pajalache (the acequia that headed for Mission Concepcion and its fields). The modern (!!!) bridge is the Navarro Street bridge, now replaced by a concrete bridge with very low arches that River Walk strollers have to almost duck to go under, the banks being the lowest of anywhere along the river for miles -- hence the ford. The island is still there and has a little concrete bench in the middle of it. This is the spot where Santa Anna's infantry crossed the river, or, as Sanchez-Navarro put it, "Island which facilitates the crossing of the river by means of two boards." The Lewis Mill is facing us across the river. This was owned by Nat Lewis who kept the store on Main Plaza where Dr. Sutherland was helping with his inventory on February 23, 1836. Obviously, Lewis came back to Bexar and prospered. As he said to Antonio Menchaca on Feb. 23 as he was climbing Powder House Hill on foot with some of his inventory on his back, "I am not a fighting man, I'm a business man." Menchaca then said, "Go then about your business."

Ths Sanborn map shows this ford, island and bridge very clearly.

[quincey morris]

...and the top of the old Presbyterian church off to the right (no longer standing).

You mean what I've been calling St. Mary's is really the old Presbyterian church? Are you sure?

My bad as to clarification-off to the far right are the tops of the Old First Presbyterian Church bell towers (Houston and Flores). The one closure to the center on the right is the original St. Mary's.

[quincey morris]

This is looking north at the north side of Main Plaza (Plaza de las Islas). Soledad Street is actually out of sight behind the buildings on the right and going north from the plaza next to the gabled two-story, which is on the corner, and visible from the back in the photo below. The low Spanish colonial building on the left was the Yturri house in 1836 and used by Santa Anna (and possibly Neill and Travis) as headquarters. The Plaza House was quite well-known at the time of this photo as was Jack Harris' Vaudeville Theater to the right of it. I have alway had the suspicion that THIS block left to right (in this 1860's period) is what Alfred Ybarra was using for a model for the same block at Alamo Village. The Yturri house would have translated into our blacksmith shop, the Plaza House into our Hotel San Antonio and Jack Harris' into the Cantina.

What a fantastic observation!

[quincey morris]

Rich-these are all from the San Antonio Public Library Local History Page-

Women River

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Nat Lewis Store(?) and St. Mary's

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[quincey morris]

A better view of that St. Mary's view-

[zapadore]

QM can ya post a larger image of Lewis' store?..........Also I see San Fernando clearly in the women doing laundry shot,.but still can't get oriented as to where along the river it is.........