Here is the list of topics for our new special theme “Exploring San Antonio.” If you are interested in pursuing one of these topics for either your first or second articles, claim one today by emailing your professor! We’ll be partnering with the Office of Historic Preservation’s ScoutSA Discovery Map Project, which is a crowdsourced collection of stories about the places, people, and traditions that make San Antonio unique! ScoutSA will place the best articles in the “Exploring San Antonio” series on their map! The articles that best fit this theme will employ “place-based storytelling,” a kind of storytelling rooted in the spaces and places that you’re writing about.
Descriptive Article Topic Ideas:
Hemisfair
Its Creation and Construction (1965-1968)
Displacement of people who lived in this neighborhood
Funding from US Housing and Home Finance Agency to clear the neighborhood
Construction of the Tower of the Americas
Its Opening as a World Fair Site (1968)
Disappointment about its success
Opening Ceremonies
San Antonio Missions
Mission period – indigenous peoples and the Spanish collide
Creation of the Espada Acequia (1731)
Catholic heritage at these sites
Preservation and Tourism
Development as a World Heritage Site
The Alamo
Mission San Antonio de Valero
The secularization of the mission (1793)
the Siege of Béxar
The Battle of the Alamo (1836)
When the Alamo was sold to the state of Texas and then established as a wholesale grocery store
Clara Driscoll’s efforts to preserve the Alamo
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas’s battle to preserve the Alamo
The development of the Alamo as a site of tourism (starting with the railroad coming to San Antonio)
The River Walk
The Flood of 1921 that prompted the creation of the River Walk
Robert Hugman’s development of a plan to create the River Walk
The Works Progress Administration’s construction of the River Walk
Subsequent extensions of the River Walk
Creating the River Walk as a Tourist Hub
Casa Navarro
St. Mary’s College (Downtown location)
The Majestic Theatre
The Empire Threatre
The Menger Hotel & its ghosts
Creation of NIOSA
Urban Renewal
Hemisfair
Santa Rose
Bexar County Jail area
Frio / Vista Verde
Interstate Highway Development
35/10 effects on Westside
37/281 effects on Eastside
281 curves
Streetcars
Related to suburban development
Early destinations
San Pedro Springs
Hot Wells
Ft Sam
Bellinger Family and Estate (Greater Corinth)
Ostrich Farms
San Pedro Springs
Hot Wells
HOLC Maps
City Graveyards
Railroad Development
Passenger stations
Freight and warehouse districts
Hinterland ranches
Kallison
St. Cloud
Sunshine (Maverick)
Military
School of Aerospace Medicine
Aviation
Chinese grocery stores
Food
San Antonio as the city of gastronomy
Music
Conjunto
punk
hard rock
many other types of music too!
Religion
Jewish community / synagogues (see Harness Maker’s Dream)
Catholicism
Baptist Settlement
Edgewood vs Kirby
Malls
Botanicas
Prohibition in San Antonio
Annexation
Grottos/altars
Potential References
(Initial list drawn from Wikipedia)
Leah Carter Johnston (1975), San Antonio (Revised ed.), Naylor Co., ISBN 9780811105859 , OCLC 2137230
R. Fehrenbach , The San Antonio Story (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Continental Heritage Press, 1978)
Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), “San Antonio, TX”, Encyclopedia of American Cities , New York: P. Dutton , p. 302+, OL 4120668M
Richard A. Garcia (1991), Rise of the Mexican American middle class: San Antonio, 1929–1941, Texas A&M University Press, ISBN 0890963681
Jesús F. de la Teja (1995). San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain’s Northern Frontier. University of New Mexico Press.
Peter Skerry (1995), “San Antonio”, Mexican Americans , Harvard University Press, OL 7693062M
Rodolfo Rosales (2000). Illusion of Inclusion: The Political Story of San Antonio, Texas. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-77103-1 .
Char Miller, ed. (2001). On the Border: An Environmental History of San Antonio. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-7060-6 .
Judith Berg-Sobré (2003). San Antonio on Parade: Six Historic Festivals. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-222-5 .
David Goldfield , ed. (2007). “San Antonio, Texas”. Encyclopedia of American Urban History . Sage. ISBN 978-1-4522-6553-7 .
Charles R. Porter (2009). Spanish Water, Anglo Water: Early Development in San Antonio. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-60344-468-2 .
American Cities Project (November 11, 2013). “San Antonio” . America’s Big Cities in Volatile Times: City Profiles. Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts .