This was our day to get to know San Antonio a little better. Our local tour guide, Kay Grosinske, concentrated on the top two features of the city: its Spanish missions and the riverwalk. They are the two most-visited attractions in Texas. Here are some highlights and interesting facts:
—San Antonio has five Catholic missions. Franciscan friars from Spain set up the missions in the 1700s to turn aborginal people into Spanish citizens. The friars taught them how to farm, speak Spanish and be good Catholics. The goal was to strengthen Spain’s control in the area due to threats of encroachment from the French in Louisianna. The best preserved of the five is the Mission San Jose, which has a small museum and guided tours.
—Our tour guide explained why much of southern Texas is covered with scrub brush and cactus, which I noticed on the way to Laredo. It used to be grassy plains, but intensive cattle grazing — especially during the Civil War — took the grass down to nothing. Normally the grass would out-compete all other plants, but with the grass grazed down, brush and cactus took over. Much of the land has never recovered.
—Spanish missions introduced ranching to Texas, and the first cowboys were the American Indian “vaqueros.” Cattle inside the mission walls ate all the vegetable crops, so the missions applied for more land. They got thousands of acres. Eventually the San Jose Mission had about 5,000 cattle on 16,000 acres, all free range. Many of the cowboy terms of today came from the original Spanish words. For example, chapperias became chaps, espuelas became spurs, and mesteno, the Spanish wild horse, became mustang.
—The most famous mission is San Antonio de Valero. After the friars closed the missions, the Spanish army used them. The San Antonio mission housed a garrison from Alamo de Parras, and their quarters were called the Alamo. In the Texas Revolution of 1836, about 200 fighters under siege in the Alamo fought Mexican general Santa Anna and his 4,000 troops for 13 days. Then finally Santa Anna’s army launched a full assault and wiped out the fighters in the Alamo. But “Remember the Alamo” became the rallying cry for the Texans. Under General Sam Houston, the Texans beat Santa Anna a month later and Texas became an independent republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States.
—Today, the Department of Defense is the biggest employer in San Antonio. Some bases have been closed recently, including Kelly Air Force Base, but the biggest based — the army’s Fort Sam Houston — is getting bigger. Our guide Kay takes visitors around as a volunteer. Her real job is as an engineer with the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment.
—A worker at the Alamo told me that Texas comes from the local American Indian word “tejas,” which means friendly. But Texas bumper stickers say, “Don’t mess with Texas,” which doesn’t sound friendly at all. Turns out, as Kay tells me, “Don’t mess with Texas” was originally an anti-litter campaign that became a universal slogan for the state.
—The River Walk goes up both sides of the tiny San Antonio River for about two and a half miles. The riverbanks are all concrete and the walk — which is only about six feet wide — lips right up to the river — which is only about 30 feet wide, tops. All of this is about 20 feet below street level. The result is an intimate, warm and windless world, full of lanterns, tall trees and restaurants. It’s the city’s best feature, no doubt. And it almost didn’t happen. An information package from the San Antonio convention and visitors bureau noted that after a flood of 1921, which killed 50 people and caused lots of property damage, there was a public outcry to pave over the river. A small group of women saved the river. Then 20 years later the River Walk project began. It has been a work in progress ever since. Only recently did it become a place where tourists and average San Antonio citizens would actually want to visit. Elena Villerreal, whom we met yesterday, says the River Walk is now the one place every visiting mayor wants to see (and perhaps try to recreate in their own cities).
Finally, I give a big thank you to Jerry and Cindy Gomez. Part of the international visitor program includes “home stay” meals. Jerry and Cindy made supper for Steve MacLean and me, along with four international students. Cindy travels the world buying and ordering merchandise to sell in HEB stores, a Texas chain. Jerry runs a home stay business, in which he matches international students with families in the area willing to host them while they’re at university. The Gomezes have had 76 students from 22 countries over the years.
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