Exploring San Antonio

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:

• Emma Tenayuca and the Pecan Shellers Strike

• 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+, OL4120668M
• Richard A. Garcia (1991), Rise of the Mexican American middle class: San Antonio, 1929–1941, Texas A&M University Press, ISBN0890963681
• 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, OL7693062M
• Rodolfo Rosales (2000). Illusion of Inclusion: The Political Story of San Antonio, Texas. University of Texas Press. ISBN978-0-292-77103-1.
• Char Miller, ed. (2001). On the Border: An Environmental History of San Antonio. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN978-0-8229-7060-6.
• Judith Berg-Sobré (2003). San Antonio on Parade: Six Historic Festivals. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN978-1-58544-222-5.
• David Goldfield, ed. (2007). “San Antonio, Texas”. Encyclopedia of American Urban History. Sage. ISBN978-1-4522-6553-7.
• Charles R. Porter (2009). Spanish Water, Anglo Water: Early Development in San Antonio. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN978-1-60344-468-2.
• American Cities Project (November 11, 2013). “San Antonio”. America’s Big Cities in Volatile Times: City Profiles. Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts.