Founding History of San Antonio, Texas

With many big cities in the state of Texas, you would have to expect which one would be the most historical. With the amount of history and how Texas was originally a part of Mexico, you would need to know what to expect. San Antonio is known for two of the biggest things (no pun intended): The Alamo and The Riverwalk, and with all of that, it still continues to be a vibrant city in Texas.

San Antonio is a big city in Texas with a history and landmarks. Some of the very first residents who arrived in San Antonio were Spaniards.

San Antonio was founded in 1718.

“The Mission of San Antonio de Valero was a Franciscan mission with the idea Spain wanted to protect its Texas territory from the French in Louisiana,” said Vincent Michael, Director of Conservation Society San Antonio. “They couldn’t get any people to move there, so they got the indigenous people.”

The founders were the Spanish Franciscan missionaries. Missionaries were supported by the soldiers. There was a presidio (military base). The first civilian settlers from Spain from the Canary Islands in 1731 created the first civilian governments founded in Mission 1718.

During its two decades of existence, they set up four more mission bases and created the town of San Antonio. They had seen a river here, and the Franciscans built and set up a community.

The Mission of San Antonio de Valero is also known as The Alamo.

“General Santa Ana, who was president of Mexico, brought an army of 2000 then successfully deceased the Alamo on March 6, 1836, and killed everybody,”  Said Vincent. That led Texas to defeat Santa Ana 6 weeks later in Houston in the Battle of San Jacinto. San Antonio was again occupied in the 1840s by the Mexican army until it became a part of the US in 1846.”

Tejano residents (of Spanish origin) started fighting for Texas’s freedom in 1811. By 1836, many U.S. residents had settled in Texas. In 1835, a Texas militia kicked out the Mexican Army from San Antonio. They then occupied the Alamo, which at the time was a fortress instead of a mission. It stopped being a mission in 1794.

The Texas Revolution went on from Oct. 2, 1835, until April 21, 1836.

“General Santa Ana, who was president of Mexico, brought an army of 2000 then successfully deceased the Alamo on March 6, 1836, and killed everybody,”  Said Vincent Michael. “That led Texas to defeat Santa Ana 6 weeks later in Houston in the Battle of San Jacinto.”

The Texas Revolution lasted from Oct. 2, 1835, to April 21, 1836. San Antonio was again occupied by the Mexican army in the 1840s until it became part of the U.S. in 1846.

The Riverwalk was designed by an architect named Robert H. H. Hugman, who thought that San Antonio should capitalize on its Spanish history the way New Orleans capitalized on its French history.

The Riverwalk is the most popular attraction in the state. It features bridges, waterfalls, businesses, stone walkways, theatres, and more. There were proposals to bury the river due to flooding. It looked like a park in 1910.

“Hugman envisioned creating businesses and shops; the Riverwalk was finally built in 1929 and 1939,” said Vincent Michael. “Then, in the 1960s, it became popular when we had The World’s Fair, which was called the Hemisfair.”

Hemisfair had begun its first-ever event back in 1968.

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This project was created through a journalism class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies Department. This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club.