Discover San Antonio: History, News, Travel, and Stories

Add History/News/Story

• 1718 - San Antonio, Texas founded
  
  wikipedia.org
  
• 1842 - March 5 - Over 500 Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio and then head back to the Rio Grande.
  
  historyorb.com
  
• 1854 - San Antonio de Bexar
  San Antonio de Bexar, a thriving post- town, capital of Bexar co., Texas, on San Antonio river, 110 miles S. W. from Austin City. This wealthy town has been much improved within a few years, and the population of the adjacent country has increased rapidly. Many of the residences are truly beautiful, particularly around Fort Alamo, which is in the immediate vicinity. Sec Fort Alamo. San Antonio contains a United States arsenal, and several churches and seminaries. Two news papers are published here. It is one of the termini of the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf railroad, (projected.) Population in 1850, 3396; in 1803, estimated at 6000.
  A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.
  
•   1868 - THE TERRIBLE HAIL-STORM IN TEXAS - LOSS $500,000.
  The San Antonio Express, of May 21, gives the following particulars of the late disastrous hail-storm:
  
  "Our city is a perfect wreck; every house in it has received some damage; many are in complete ruins, with nothing but fragments of walls standing. The hail-stones penetrated the best roofs, going through tin roofs like cannon balls. All the windows facing to the north have been smashed in, even window shutters and doors were broken down. The appearance of the city could not have been worse under a severe bombardment. Trees are stripped of their leaves and branches, which lie piled up in the yards and streets - the sides of houses exposed to the hail have the appearance of having withstood a thousand discharges of grape and canister. The roofing of the entire city is perforated like a sieve. The hailstones were of irregular shape and all sizes, as if a mass of ice had broken above our devoted heads, and driven by a tornado to the earth. One hailstone was found weighing over five... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1870 - The postmaster at San Antonio, Texas, was not long since puzzled by the receipt of a letter from New Orleans,
  directed to "My Mammy, living in the City of San Antonio." One day, however, a small, fierce looking old woman appeared at the post office window, saying, "Mister, have you got any letters there from my Johnny?" The letter addressed to "My Mammy" was at once given her at a venture, and the suspicion that it was intended for her proved correct.
  St Joseph Herald
  Saint Joseph, Michigan
  June 25, 1870
  
•   1889 - A unique chair made of the horns of Texas cattle was lately sent from San Antonio to the White House.
  It is the gift of a San Antonio banker to President Harrison, and cost its donor $1,500. The horns are riveted with gold, and there are a number of gold plates used in its construction. From one of them glistens a very handsome diamond.
  St Joseph Herald
  Saint Joseph, Michigan
  March 30, 1889
  
•   1894 - FIRE RECORD. SAN ANTONIO BLAZE.
  San Antonio, Tex., Feb. 13. - A destructive fire, resulting in a total loss of about $35,000 worth of property, occurred here early this morning. The flames started in the rear of the Central hotel at 3 o'clock, and before the fire department responded that building was doomed. The fire quickly spread to the St. Leonard hotel, which adjoined the Central, and soon obtained such headway that it was impossible to save that structure.
  
  The Central hotel was an old two-story building and the St. Leonard a three-story structure. Both hotels were filled with guests, many of whom narrowly escaped being burned in their rooms.
  
  Firemen Ed Hargrove and A. Sebastian were buried under falling walls and were seriously injured. They were rescued in about thirty minutes, and both were unconscious for some time. Their injuries are internal.
  
  The new courthouse in process of construction, is situated near the Central hotel, and the stone walls were damaged to the extent of $15,000, with $10,000... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1895 - San Antonio
  San Antonio, a city, the capital of Bexar co., Tex., is on San Antonio River, 80 miles S.W. of Austin. It is near lat. 29° 30' N., Lon. 98° 25' W. It was in 1890 the most populous city of the state except Dallas. It contains a court-house, a United States arsenal, 4 national banks, 4 other banking-houses, 2 large Roman Catholic colleges or seminaries, a Roman Catholic cathedral, 11 churches, and many fine residences. Three daily and 3 or 4 weekly news papers are published here. San Antonio is surrounded by a fertile country, of which cattle, cotton, wool, and hides are the staple products. It is on the Southern Pacific, International & Great Northern, and Aransas Pass Railways, 256 miles W. of Galveston. Here are military head quarters, with a quartermaster's depot. San Antonio has extensive water-power, several flouring-mills, breweries, and tanneries. It is built on the site of Fort Alamo, celebrated in the history of Texas. It has a large public park, called San Pedro. Pop. in... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1906
  San Antonio, a city, the capital of Bexar co., Tex., is on the San Antonio River, which here receives the San Pedro, 80 miles SW. of Austin, on the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio, the International and Great Norther and other railroads... The city is surrounded by a fertile country, of which cattle, cotton, wood, and hides are the staple products. It is one of the leading cattle, horse, and mule markets of the country and has large flouring-mills, breweries, foundries and machine-shops. The city is of a distinctly Spanish cast and contains a number of plazas (Alamo Plaza, Plaza de las Yalas) and the attractive San Pedro and Breckenridge parks. Among its notable buildings are the Federal building, court-house, the cathedral of San Fernando, opera-house, and the Alamo (Church of the Alamo), part of the structures of an old Franciscan mission, the defence of which, in 1836, is a noted event in the history of the state. The city has several collegiate and academic institutions and... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1910 - The first military air flight in a Wright brothers' plane took place in San Antonio
  
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ txtimeln.htm
  
•   1920 - PLANE HITS POLE, TWO ARE KILLED
  SAN ANTONIO, Texas, May 21. - Lieutenant Alvin M. St. John, of Memphis, Tenn., and Private Carl L. Cubler, of Elgin, Illinois, were instantly killed this afternoon when a plane they were flying crashed into a flagpole and then into a building at Kelly field.
  Billings Gazette
  Billings, Montana
  May 22, 1920
  
•   1928 - January 1 - 1st US air-conditioned office building opens, San Antonio
  
  historyorb.com
  January 1, 1928
  
•   January 31, 1949 - The temperature at San Antonio, TX, plunged to a record low of one degree below zero.
  
  WeatherForYou.com
  January 31, 1949
  
• 1949 - December 11 - WOAI TV channel 4 in San Antonio, TX (NBC) 1st broadcast
  
  historyorb.com
  
•   1968 - MONORAIL AT FAIR STOPPED.
  San Antonio (AP) - HemisFair and mini-monorail officials declined official comment Monday while an investigation began into Sunday's monorail train smashup that killed one person and injured 48 others.
  
  Thirteen of the victims hospitalized overnight Sunday were still being treated late Monday.
  
  William Jackson, director of operations at HemisFair, said only that a preliminary report by an insurance company investigative team may be forethcoming in two to three days.
  
  Until the report is made, he said, the colorful trains will not operate.
  
  Repairs were being made Monday to the track from which 11 cars spilled onto asphalt pavement and into a shallow lagoon and a flower bed.
  
  Jackson said that until the investigation is completed, no statements will be made concerning the cause of the accident.
  
  Witnesses and officers said the accident occurred when one of the mini-monorail trains struck another from behind and the impact derailed 11 cars.
  
  Two of the small cars landed in ... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1985 - FOUR KILLED IN EXPLOSION. ICE PLANT GUTTED BY AMMONIA BLAST; 21 PEOPLE INJURED.
  San Antonio, Texas (AP) - Investigators poking through the remains of a gutted ice plant tentatively blamed an ammonia leak for an explosion that killed four people and injured at least 21.
  
  Deputy Fire Chief Jim Miller said the blast Wednesday "evidently was caused by an ammonia leak" at the downtown plant, owned by Lone Star Ice and Food Stores and Southern-Hencke.
  
  All but one of the injured were treated at hospitals and discharged for ammonia burns or inhalation of fumes, officials said. DELFINO MUNOZ, 31, one of at least 15 firefighters hurt at the explosion site, was held overnight for observation, said Baptist Hospital spokesman Ruben Garansuay.
  
  The dead were identified as MACARIO MARTINEZ, 55, of San Antonio; JESUS RIOS ACOSTA, 31, of San Antonio; ASCENCION ORTIZ RODRIGUEZ, 33; and RITO CAZARES, 55, said investigator Eva Hickman of the Bexar County medical examiner's office
  
  "There wasn't a whole lot to work with," said Alfred Lozano, an Emergency Medical Service... Read MORE...
  
  
•