San Antonio History Matrix

A searchable bibliography of sources on the history of San Antonio from the early eighteenth century to the late twentieth century.

1901 - 1914 Progressive

Arreola, Daniel D. “The Mexican American Cultural Capital.” Geographical Review 77 (Jan. 1987): 17 – 34.
San Antonio historically has served as the Mexican American cultural capital of the United States. Railroad linkages to Monterrey in the late nineteenth century ensured that Mexican influences would continue to flow into the Alamo city. It helped make San Antonio function as the center of the migrant workforce in the early years of the twentieth century. Mexican communities established themselves on the west side of San Pedro Creek. They established a number of important institutions: La Prensa, the Order of the Sons of America, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, and Communities Organized for Public Service. Arreola also considers the origins of Mexican cuisine and conjunto music. Even if Los Angeles has a larger Mexican American population, San Antonio has a much heavier concentration (or percentage) of the population hailing from Mexico and remains the nation’s Mexican-American cultural capital.

Davies, Christopher S. “Life at the Edge: Urban and Industrial Evolution of Texas, Frontier Wilderness – Frontier Space, 1836 – 1986.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 89 (July 1985): 443-554.
Davis presents a geographer’s perspective on the San Antonio – Austin area. Numerous maps, charts and tables focus on economic and demographic changes as these (and other) Texas urban areas evolved from frontier havens to modern metropolises. Monopoly capital coupled with “frontier insouciance.” San Antonio and Austin are “predator cities” that draw population and capital from Houston and elsewhere.

Everett, Donald E. San Antonio Legacy. San Antonio: 1979.
Short accounts, running 2 to 4 pages in length, on various topics on San Antonio as drawn from the San Antonio Express newspaper from 1865 to 1929. Topics covered include: stage coaches and shipping, gambling, barbed wire, women’s organizations, a lynching, and local folklore.

McLemore, David. A Place in Time, A Pictorial View of San Antonio’s Past. San Antonio: 1980.
A collection of black and white photographs, sparsely annotated. Many photos were taken by Ernst Raba, spanning the late nineteenth century to the early part of the twentieth.

Allen, Deborah E. “Laurel Heights: The Life of a Suburban Neighborhood.” M. A. Thesis, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1987.
The neighborhood just north of San Antonio College illustrates how the historical phenomenon of suburbanization occurred here much as elsewhere. Allen follows the life cycle of an early San Antonio “streetcar suburb” from when it was developed in the 1890's to its decline beginning in the late 1920's, when it lost its upper middle class, residential character. Uses newspapers and city directories. Numerous tables, maps and illustrations. (100 pp.)

Arionus, Stephen. “Amid the Shadows of Progress: Race and the Struggle for Metropolitan Democracy in Twentieth Century San Antonio.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Michigan, 2019. [ 326 pp.]
The study traces the origins of San Antonio’s westside barrio as a byproduct of various public policy initiatives by local, state and federal authorities. Redlining, racially restrictive covenants and even public housing became means of isolating and containing the area’s mostly Mexican immigrant community. The West Side’s working-class residents nonetheless worked to improve their lot by forming unions, demanding better schools and cheaper housing, creating a tight knit Mexicano community in the process.

Badillo, David A. Latinos and the New Immigrant Church. Baltimore, MD: 2006.
An analysis of the Catholic Church’s historic relationship with its diverse Hispanic parishioners in San Antonio, New York, Miami and Chicago beginning in the late nineteenth century. San Antonio’s barrio was created through legally enforced racial covenants that prohibited homeowners from selling to minorities. Opportunities for economic advancement were undermined by discriminatory practices that kept minorities out of expanding industries and relegated them to the shrinking sectors of the economy. Each of these cities provided only limited urban services to their Hispanic neighborhoods until Spanish-speaking residents organized as a political force. [See also Badillo, David A. “From South of the Border: Latino Experiences in Urban America.” Ph. D. diss.: City University of New York, 1988.]

Belfiglio, Valentine J. “The Italians of Bexar County, Texas: Tradition, Change and Intraethnic Differences.” East Texas Historical Journal 30 (1992): 30 – 44.
San Antonio’s Italian population tripled between 1890 and 1923. They arrived later than most other European immigrants. Many migrated from Southern Italy, specifically Calabria and Sicily. They established the church of San Francesco di Paola in 1927. The essay contrasts the customs and perspectives of the immigrants and their children and grandchildren who more readily assimilated into American society.

Belgian American Club of Texas. The Belgian Americans of Texas. San Antonio. Tex.: 1986.
Offers brief family histories – about 60 in all – of Belgians who settled in the San Antonio area, most of them as farmers.

Bertinato, Sarita Molinar. “Próspero: A Study of Success from the Mexican Middle Class in San Antonio, Texas.” Ph. D. diss.: Texas A & M U., 2012. [193 pp.]
This sociological investigation into the Prospect Hill neighborhood and its mostly middle class Mexican American residents begins with the migration of many of its earliest residents during the Mexican Revolution. They experienced far more economic success than most Mexican immigrants owing to the high levels of human and social capital they brought with them. Their “synergistic interactions” with their neighbors also contributed to their greater social mobility. The power of these social attributes is illustrated in the career of printer and community leader Rómulo Mungía.

Bowser, David. San Antonio’s Red Light District: A History 1890-1941. San Antonio: 1992.
This sixteen page pamphlet covers the city’s sex industry in its heyday when it was located just South of Market Square. San Antonio tolerated and even regulated prostitution by requiring women to undergo periodic physical exams. A 1911 directory listed 106 brothels. The military forced the city to close the establishments down at the outset of World War II. Maps detail the location of many of the brothels and “cribs.”

Bowser, David. West of the Creek: Murder, Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio. San Antonio: 2003
Short vignettes uncover the crime and vice associated with the west side of San Pedro Creek. The neighborhood was home to gambling establishments, brothels and saloons during its heyday around 1900.

Buitron, Richard Arthur, Jr. “Who Are We? The Quest for Tejano Identity in San Antonio, Texas, 1913 – the Present.” Ph. D. diss.: Florida State U., 2002.
Buitron emphasizes the role of history in shaping ethnic identity and contrasts the situation in San Antonio with that of Los Angeles. San Antonio’s Tejano population was rooted in history while that of Los Angeles was not. Consequently, the cities developed somewhat different Hispanic cultures. San Antonio’s Hispanic middle class aimed to achieve full integration into American society, meeting resistance from an Anglo population that shared an outlook on race relations similar to that of other Southerners. Other influences from the host culture shaping Tejano identity included Progressivism and feminism.

Bushick, Frank H. Glamorous Days. San Antonio: 1934.
Brief chapters offer vignettes on various aspects of San Antonio life and some of its more colorful characters from the Gilded Age to the Twenties. A potentially rich source for social histories dealing with the era’s customs and social settings. Topics covered include: notable eateries, saloons, gambling dens, vaudeville, chili queens, Chinese laundries, Bryan Callaghan, local politics, gunfights, desperadoes, cattlemen, cowboys and John Wesley Hardin.

Butler, Anne M. “Building Justice: Mother Margaret Murphy, Race, and Texas.” Catholic Southwest 13 (2002): 13-36.
Margaret Murphy (1833 – 1907), a rich widow, arrived in San Antonio in 1887 and established a Catholic school for Afro-Americans at St. Peter Claver Church. At this time civil authorities in San Antonio operated a segregated school system with far less funding for “colored” schools. Murphy met with local opposition to her plans and even Catholic religious orders were reluctant to cooperate. She founded the Sisters of the Holy Ghost and Mary Immaculate to work in her school. Murphy proved an able administrator and recruited many nuns from her native Ireland.

Bybee, Larry Lane. “Germans in San Antonio, 1844 – 1920: A Study in Cultural Persistence.” M. A. Thesis: University of Texas at San Antonio, 1980.
German immigrants enjoyed prominent status in mid-nineteenth century San Antonio because of their large numbers and comfortable economic status. The arrival of the railroad in 1877 brought more Americans to the community that diluted the German presence and accelerated the process of assimilation. Although Germans increasingly mingled and identified with non-Germans in the workplace and elsewhere, they retained much of their culture into the twentieth century. (106 pp.)

Chabot, Frederick C. Life and Memoirs of Emil Frederick Wurzbach. San Antonio: 1937.
Wurzbach arrived from Germany as a child in 1844 and lived in Austin. During the 1850's he served with the Texas Rangers and volunteered for the Confederacy. He later moved to San Antonio, where he recorded his memoirs in 1915. He died in 1930.

Chavana, Adrian Vicente. “Reclaiming Tribal Identity in the Land of the Spirit Waters: The Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Minnesota, 2023) [285 pp.]
Despite claims that the Coahuiltecan Indians who inhabited the Missions were culturally if not physically extinct, this study documents their survival through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rather than disappearing, they often continued to reside near the missions and merged into the local population where they became identified as Hispanic. The American Indian movement that emerged in the 1960s, along with renewed interest in the Missions, prompted descendants of the Mission Indians to reclaim their heritage and eventually form the Tap Pilam CoahuilTecan Nation in 1994. Their efforts to seek recognition from state and Federal authorities would be hampered by earlier claims of their demise.

Christian, Garna L. Black Soldiers in Jim Crow Texas, 1899 – 1917. College Station, Texas: 1995.
A chapter in the book discusses an alleged racial episode in San Antonio in 1911. One or more Afro-American soldiers attached to the Ninth Cavalry, recently stationed at Fort Sam Houston, refused to obey the Jim Crow seating arrangements in the city’s streetcars. The incident came to the attention of congressman John Nance Garner, who pressed President Taft to remove the unit from San Antonio. Public officials and newspapers in the Alamo City, however, wanted to see the fort expanded, not shrunk. They covered up or dismissed the incident so as not to appear inhospitable to federal troops.

Cude, Elton. The Free and Wild Dukedom of Bexar. San Antonio, 1978.
San Antonio in the nineteenth century was not known for its devotion to “law and order.” This study of the underside of San Antonio society revels in murders, saloons, gambling and in the numerous "bad men" and gangs that frequented the city.

Dielmann, Henry B. “Dr. Ferdinand Herff, Pioneer, Physician and Surgeon.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 57 (Jan. 1954): 265-284.
Herff, a native of Germany, moved to San Antonio in 1850. At that time there were no hospitals or nurses in town. Herff had a lucrative practice where he proved a skillful surgeon ready to adopt the latest medical innovations until his death in 1912.

Drennon, Christine M. “Social Relations Spatially Fixed: Construction and Maintenance of School Districts in San Antonio, Texas.” Geographical Review 96 (Oct. 2006): 567-93.
Drennon examines the origins of San Antonio area school districts beginning with the formation of Alamo Heights in 1913. Initially, segregated housing enforced through covenant restrictions kept the schools racially and economically homogenous. School districts were formed between 1920 and 1950 to accomplish the same purpose. The new boundaries were deliberately drawn to allow wealthy neighborhoods to funnel their tax resources strictly to their own schools and set in place educational inequities that are still with us.

Everett, Donald E. San Antonio's Monte Vista: Architecture and Society in a Gilded Age, 1890-1930. San Antonio: 1999.
San Antonio’s earliest suburb lies between Trinity University and San Antonio College. Local developers appeared in the 1890's with the help of a streetcar line along San Pedro Ave. connecting the area to Alamo Plaza. Chapters examine the residences of the well-to-do street by street. A later chapter reports on the historic preservation efforts undertaken in the 1970's.

Foley, Neil. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture. Berkeley: Calif.: 1999.
A study of race relations and labor conditions in a 50 county region lying between San Antonio and Dallas. The development of large scale agriculture resulted in the rural proletarianization of small scale farmers. They were replaced by machinery and a largely Mexican workforce of sharecroppers and migrant workers. Racism undermined the ability of Anglo farmers, some of them Socialists, to resist these changes by uniting with similarly threatened black farmers. [Based on the author’s “The New South in the Southwest: Anglos, Blacks and Mexicans in Central Texas, 1880 – 1930.” Ph. D. dissertation, U. of Michigan, 1990.]

Fox, Anne A. and Marcie Renner, Robert J. Hard. (eds.) Archeology at the Alamodome: Investigations of a San Antonio Neighborhood in Transition. San Antonio, 1997.
In the early 1990's UTSA’s Center for Archeological Research undertook an extensive archeological excavation of a racially mixed neighborhood known as Denver Heights. A series of reports by different authors discuss the artifacts, physical structures and architecture. The community was first settled in the 1880's, but most of the material dates to the early twentieth century when the Alamo Iron Works took over the site. The area was soon to be demolished to make room for the Alamodome.

Gabaccia, Donna R. and Jeffrey M. Pilcher. “’Chili Queens’ and Checkered Tablecloths, Public Dining Cultures of Italians in New York City and Mexicans in San Antonio, Texas, 1870's – 1940's.” Radical History Review Issue 110 (Spring 2011) 109 – 26.
Mexican women running their outdoor restaurants in San Antonio’s plazas and New York’s Italian males with their food carts both came under attack for their plebeian fare. Both offered a form of “street food” (chili, pizza, spaghetti, tamales) common in their native societies. Both businesses offered exotic food items; San Antonio’s chili queens offered as well a “fantasy heritage” to draw the tourist trade. Italians would prove more successful in moving their businesses indoors while the chili queens largely disappeared.

Griswold del Castillo, Richard. La Familia: Chicano Families in the Urban Southwest, 1848 to the Present. Notre Dame, IN: 1984.
Griswold’s study of Chicano families is based on 4 cities: Los Angeles, Tucson, Santa Fe and San Antonio (by far the largest of the four at the outset). Unlike elsewhere, San Antonio’s Hispanic elite were marginalized as Anglo domination grew during the mid to latter part of the nineteenth century. The patriarchal family structure was in decline but still evident in San Antonio in the 1920's. The census and other data explore various facets of Hispanic family life including the role of women, racial intermarriage, infant mortality, illegitimacy and the role of godparents.

Hernández-Ehrisman, Laura. Inventing the Fiesta City: Heritage and Carnival in San Antonio. Albuquerque, NM: 2008.
A broad overview of the people, organizations and events associated with the cultural performance of Fiesta from 1891 to the present. In its early years the Battle of Flowers parade and the Order of the Alamo reflected Anglo dominance in the community and the ideological hold of the “Texas Modern.” Local boosters used the festivities to highlight the city’s Mexican past without acknowledging the presence of its large Mexican American population. The appearance of a Fiesta Commission, Rey Feo and Cornynation after World War II evidenced an effort at greater inclusion. Research draws on local newspapers, manuscript collections and oral histories.

Janert, Edwinna Kirkpatrick. “San Pedro Springs.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1968.
Irrigation ditches attached to the springs serviced the fields of Mission San Antonio de Valero. Janert relates the many public purposes of the surrounding park area from prehistoric times to the present. Spanish authorities designated the site a public space in 1729. The park catered to various forms of popular entertainment, which in the nineteenth century included cockfights, bullfights, picnics, rodeos and zoo. After restoration in the early twentieth century it sported a library and various sports facilities for swimming, tennis and even ice skating. (111 pages.)

Kallison, Frances B. “100 years of Jewry in San Antonio.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1977.
This survey of religious and civic leaders and institutions begins with the arrival of the first adventurers during the Spanish era to the early part of the twentieth century. After 1880 many Jews originated in Eastern Europe and were more “tradition oriented.” Jews were well integrated into the San Antonio community and enjoyed a prosperous existence while they carried on their traditions. Based on oral interviews, city directories, and organization records. (136 pp.)

Lomas, Clara. “Transborder Discourse: The Articulation of Gender in the Borderlands in the Early Twentieth Century.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 24 (2-3) (2003): 51-74.
The essay covers women’s issues as addressed in border area newspapers for San Antonio, Laredo, El Paso and Los Angeles, California during Mexican Revolution. Among the newspapers consulted was El Obrero, a San Antonio newspaper aligned with Mexican revolutionaries around 1910 and edited by Teresa Villarreal. She challenged Catholic doctrine that limited the role women were supposed to assume in the public sphere.

Longoria, Mario D. “Revolution, Visionary Plan, and Marketplace: A San Antonio Incident.” Aztlan 12 (Autumn 1981): 211 – 26.
Tensions swelled along the border after the outbreak of the Mexican revolution in 1910. Radical documents like the Plan de San Diego (reprinted in the Appendix) urged Mexicans on both sides of the border to initiate an uprising against Anglos to liberate the Southwest and perhaps rejoin it with Mexico. This provides the context to an incident in San Antonio on August 13, 1915. A crowd of about 1,000 listened to speakers in the marketplace denounce the U. S. government and its persecution of Mexican Americans. The police broke up the meeting and arrested 23 Mexicans, whom they charged with treason. Only a mysterious J. A. Hernandez was prosecuted by the government, but his sentence was later revoked.

Martinez, Ana Luisa. “Pablo Cruz and ‘El Regidor:’ The Emergence of a Bicultural Identify in San Antonio, 1888 – 1910.” Journal of the West 45 (Fall 2006): 21-28.
Mexican immigrant Cruz used his Spanish language San Antonio newspaper to promote Mexican identity among his readership while pledging fealty to the United States. He served as an intermediary with the Anglo power establishment through the local Callaghan machine linked to the Democratic Party. Cruz believed education and Americanization was the proper route for Mexican Americans, but he wanted them to preserve their language and customs. He also condemned school segregation and came to the aid of Mexican Americans whose civil rights were under attack. [See also Martinez, Ana Luis R. “El Regidor, A Late Nineteenth Century Approach to Mexican American Political Integration.” M. A. Thesis: St. Mary’s U., 1997. (74 pp.)]

Martinez-Catsam, Ana Luisa. “Frontier of Dissent: El Regidor, the Regime of Porfirio Díaz, and the Transborder Community.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 112 (Apr. 2009): 388 – 408.
Pablo Cruz (1866 – 1910) was part of a transborder coalition of liberal journalists formed in the 1890's to oppose the Porfiriato. He charged that the Mexican President’s recurrent re-elections were accomplished with vote fraud and intimidation. Cruz came to the defense of Mexican journalists imprisoned for criticizing the regime. His San Antonio Spanish language newspaper defended activities along the border aimed at ousting the regime while the San Antonio Daily Express characterized the rebels as bandits. He used the paper to raise funds in defense of Tejanos prosecuted by American governments and to challenge school segregation.

Martinez-Catsam, Ana Luisa. “Our Local Board of Health Asserts that No Epidemic of Any Kind Exists in San Antonio: State vs. Local Expertise in the 1903 Yellow Fever Quarantine.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 124 (July 2020): 1 - 14.
Covers a dispute between San Antonio’s Board of Health and the state health officer on the existence of a yellow fever outbreak in the city. The alleged outbreak occurred during San Antonio’s annual International Fair. The state imposed a quarantine affecting train passenger service that local boosters feared would reduce attendance and undermine the city’s reputation as a haven for health seekers. Local physicians generally lined up with the local Board of Health, denying the existence of an outbreak.

Martinez, Ana Luisa R. “The Voice of the People: Pablo Cruz, ‘El Regidor,’ and Mexican American Identity in San Antonio, Texas, 1888 – 1910.” Ph. D. diss.: Texas Tech U., 2003.
Martinez follows Cruz’s journalistic career beginning with his establishment of the Spanish language weekly El Regidor in San Antonio in 1888. Cruz and his paper reflected a bicultural identity. On the one hand, his paper celebrated Mexican heritage and provided extensive coverage of events in the homeland; on the other, it promoted use of the English language, urged local political participation, and defended the rights of Mexican Americans while attacking lynching and segregated schools. Cruz and other middle class Hispanics enjoyed good relations with the Anglo community, suggesting that race relations in San Antonio were more complicated than an “us versus them” mindset.

Mason, Kenneth. African Americans and Race Relations in San Antonio, Texas, 1867-1937. New York: 1998.
Mason argues that the experience of Afro Americans in San Antonio’s more nearly resembled that of other western cities rather than the South. Blacks enjoyed more economic opportunity and an improved social standing – though still subject to Jim Crow and paternalistic white control. The Mexican American presence was particularly important in tempering the racial regime. [Based on the author’s 1994 Ph. D. dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin, "Paternal Continuity: African Americans and Race Relations in San Antonio, Texas, 1867-1937."]

Menger, Johnowene B. Crutcher. “M. Eleanor Brackenridge, 1837 – 1924, A Third Generation Advocate for Education.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1964.
Brackenridge worked with the Woman’s Club of San Antonio in a variety of programs to promote education for women such as kindergartens and instruction in home economics. She took an interest in children’s issues, such as juvenile delinquency and was very active in the suffrage movement. The sources include local newspapers, club minutes and oral histories. (166 pp.)

Miller, Char and Heywood Sanders. “Parks, Politics and Patronage,” in On the Border, An Environmental History of San Antonio. Ed. by Char Miller. 83 – 98. Pittsburgh, Penn.: 2001.
Historically, San Antonio’s elite have been indifferent to developing parks inside the city limits. The interests of private development have come before those of public space. The establishment of Commission government in 1914 elevated the profile of parks as they were the bailiwick of one of the city’s five commissioners. In the decades that followed far more was invested in developing parks mostly through bond proposals. But park placement was determined by electoral clout during the first half of the twentieth century; white and Afro-American neighborhoods sprouted parks while the Hispanic east side was largely neglected.

Nixon, Pat Ireland. A Century of Medicine in San Antonio. San Antonio 1936.
The time frame covered by the book really exceeds a century since it reviews the history of medicine and more particularly the medical profession and its practitioners from Spanish times to the New Deal. Prior to late nineteenth century San Antonio suffered a dearth of doctors but there was no shortage of medical quacks. The book covers epidemics, medicines and forms of treatment, medical facilities and the Board of Health. Nixon documents the appalling living conditions of the Hispanic population after 1910 and their consequently high mortality rate.

Pilcher, Jeffrey M. “’Who Chased Out the Chili Queens? Gender Race and Urban Reform in San Antonio, Texas, 1880 – 1943.” Food and Foodways 16 (July 2008): 173 – 200.
Women began serving chili in the city’s plazas about the time the railroad started bringing tourists to the area. The chili queens were portrayed as erotic and transgressive figures who offered exotic and unclean fare. Middle class reformers – Anglo and Mexican – made recurring efforts to regulate and eventually outlaw their outdoor restaurants in the interests of urban hygiene. Additionally, the better economic opportunities afforded by World War II induced Mexican women to work in some other business. Meanwhile, Anglo owned food processors began popularizing chili powder and other key ingredients.

Prassel, Frank Richard. “Leisure Time Activities in San Antonio, 1877 – 1917.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1961.
San Antonio played host to numerous saloons and gambling establishments. Forms of popular entertainment varied by the city’s different ethnic groups. Germans had their singing societies and Mexicans attended their bull fights and cock fights. As the city evolved from a frontier village to a urban metropolis newer forms of more standardized forms of popular entertainment emerged. Prassel also considers the role of secret societies and other fraternal or military or women’s associations as outlets for entertainment and relaxation. Research relies on personal interviews and newspaper accounts. (159 pp.)

Rivas-Rodriguez, Maggie. “Ignacio E. Lozano: The Mexican Exile Publisher Who Conquered San Antonio and Los Angeles.” American Journalism 21 (2004): 75 – 89.
Mexican immigrant Lozano (1886 – 1953) founded La Prensa in 1913, the city’s premier Spanish language newspaper. (He also established La Opinion in Los Angeles). The paper mostly catered to the city’s more newly arrived and relatively well-off Mexican American population displaced by the Mexican Revolution. He urged his readers to preserve their Mexican culture in preparation for the day when they would one day return to Mexico. La Prensa’s circulation extended into Mexico and across much of the Southwest. Lozano never became a U. S. citizen. La Prensa took a conservative approach to issues involving Mexico but not necessarily to political matters in the United States.

Shannon, Barker E. “Los Tejanos de San Antonio: Mexican Immigrant Family Acculturation, 1880 – 1929.” Ph. D. diss.: George Washington U., 1996.
An analysis of the adjustment of Mexican immigrants to American society that primarily draws on a statistical analysis of the 1880, 1900 and 1920 manuscript censuses. Oral histories and newspapers were also consulted. The data offer insights into occupational mobility, family and household structure, marriage patterns and women’s occupations. The immigrants resisted assimilation into the American mainstream, and they preserved much of their Mexican culture through their Catholicism and Spanish language. Nonetheless, the west side barrio Americanized in certain important respects especially when it came to work and consumer culture.

Smith, Marvin H. “A History of the San Antonio Scottish Rite Cathedral: Its Genesis, Erection and Financing,.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity U., 1959.
The Scottish rite organization established a local lodge in 1907. Membership grew considerably during World War I thanks to the military encampments. Construction was started on its new temple near the Alamo in 1921 and completed three years later. The structure cost $1.5 million to build and furnish and left the lodge heavily in debt. Membership and initiation fees fell during the 1920's. The thesis mostly focuses on various financial schemes to pay off the debt and the ensuing legal battles. During the 1940's membership rebounded and the debt was cleared by 1953. Based on organization records, interviews and legal documents. (112 pp.)

Spearman, Mindy. “In-Service Education and the Superintendency: Lloyd Wolfe in San Antonio, Texas, 1902-08.” Journal of Educational Administration and History 38 (April 2006): 59-72.
Wolfe, a controversial superintendent of the San Antonio ISD, was attacked for his “progressive” educational initiatives modeled on the work of John Dewey. He introduced teacher training sessions to promote child-centered learning connected to real world situations. Local politicians complained of the expense of his teacher training programs.

Trevino, Roberto O. “Facing Jim Crow: Catholic Sisters and the ‘Mexican Problem’ in Texas.” Western Historical Quarterly 34 (Summer 2003): 139 – 64.
White Texans looked down on Hispanics, whether native Texans or immigrants, in much the way they did African Americans around 1900. Women in religious orders, like the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence, provided desperately needed services to the Hispanic community, but often perpetuated the social subordination of Mexican Americans. Mexican nuns were denied education and often assigned menial, domestic tasks. Nuns were closely acquainted with the needs of immigrants and the poor, and between 1910 and 1950 began to confront prejudice and inequality in the schools, in social services and within their own ranks. The nuns stopped training Mexican American girls to be domestics and instead encouraged them to become social workers through the Worden School of Social Service at Our Lady of the Lake College.

Wall, Barbra Mann. “Science and Ritual: The Hospital as Medical and Sacred Space, 1865-1920.” Nursing History Review 11 (2003): 51-68.
Women nurses in religious orders and institutions looked after the city’s burgeoning immigrant population between the Civil War and World War I. They ministered to their patients’ souls as well as bodies and thereby preserved Catholic culture. Among the religious orders chronicled in this study is San Antonio’s Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Walraven, Edward Lee. “Ambivalent Americans: Selected Spanish-language Newspapers’ Response to Anglo Domination in Texas, 1830 – 1910.” Ph. D. diss.: Texas A & M U., 1999.
Spanish language newspapers reflected the ambivalence of the Tejano/Mexicano population with their status as American citizens. While many newspapers were established for purely political reasons, those that survived were run by business minded editors who relied on advertising and printing jobs to stay in business. The papers pressed an accommodationist approach to defend the civil rights of la raza, but they also exhibited the same racist, stereotypical thinking about Afro-Americans as the Anglo press. Among the San Antonio editors and newspapers discussed are Francisco A. Chapa of El Imparcial de Texas and Pablo Cruz of El Regidor.

Webb, Jessica Michelle. “Prostitution and Power in Progressive Era Texas: Entrepreneurship and the Influence of Madams in Fort Worth and San Antonio, 1877 – 1920.” Ph. D. diss.: Texas Christian U., 2019. [200 pp.]
This study focuses on the mostly white women managing the elegant “parlor houses” that catered to an elite clientele. It outlines basic business practices, and the relations the madams maintained with their employees, civil authorities and each other. Many of the madams who owned the brothels managed to become influential and wealthy even if not wholly respectable. It makes extensive use of newspapers, city directories, census, Sanborn maps, deed books and other local records.

Claude Aniol & Associates. San Antonio and Your First National Bank Through the Years, 1866-1953. San Antonio: 1953.
Cotton trader George W. Brackenridge founded the city’s first national bank in 1866. Most of this booklet is devoted to a chronology of San Antonio history, preceded by a 2 page history of the bank. Illustrated, with color postcards of the bank circa 1953.

DiStefano, Onofre. “’Venimos a Luchar’: A Brief History of ‘La Prensa’s Founding.” Aztlan 16 (1-2) (1985): 95 – 118.
Ignacio E. Lozano was born and educated in Mexico and came to San Antonio in 1908 at the age of 22. He learned various aspects of the publishing trade by working on a couple of Spanish language newspapers. Lozano established La Prensa in 1913 and modeled it after the city’s major English language dailies (the Light and Express). He aimed to reach an audience across the Southwest. The paper was supposed to remain politically independent with a focus on news from Mexico, and sometimes entirely overlooking developments in San Antonio. This essay also critiques the layout and content of the paper’s early editions.

Dodd, Doris MacDonald. “The History of the Menger Hotel, From 1877 to 1968.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1968.
Drawing primarily from newspapers and guide books, Dodd juxtaposes the development of the hotel along with the development of the city. Much of the hotel’s hospitality went to local business and military groups. The study also covers the buildings many renovations. Appendix includes sample menus of prominent banquets. (136 pp.)

Fisher, Lewis F. C. H. Guenther & Son at 150 Years: The Legacy of a Texas Milling Pioneer. San Antonio: 2001.
A richly illustrated business history of the family and firm associated with the Pioneer Flour Mills located near the King William district. German immigrant and miller Carl Hilmar Guenther (1826 – 1902) arrived in San Antonio in 1859 after first setting up business in the Hill country. The family owned business has weathered a century and a half of economic change and remains one of the city’s larger industrial establishments.

Fisher, Lewis F. River Walk: The Epic Story of San Antonio’s River. San Antonio: 2006.
The San Antonio River has played a vital role in the community’s past – both good and bad. It has been the source of irrigation, floods and tourist dollars. Fisher especially looks at various technological innovations to control or exploit the river with dams, channels, businesses and beautified walkways.

Fox, Anne A. The Archeology and History of Alamo Plaza. San Antonio: 1976.
This report details excavations of the Plaza undertaken by UTSA’s Center for Archeological Research during the summer of 1975. Several maps and numerous illustrations of artifacts and the trenches dug to unearth them. A chapter is devoted to a history of the Plaza as it evolved from a mission, to a military post, and thence to a commercial center.

Gross, Kevin J. and Guillermo Mendez. "An Examination of Acequias, Wells, and Cisterns in San Antonio, Texas, Ca. 1850-1930," in Archeology at the Alamodome: Investigations of a San Antonio Neighborhood in Transition. Eds. Anne A. Fox, Marcie Renner and Robert J. Hard. San Antonio, 1997.
An excellent survey documenting the city's shift from the acequias and wells to sewer systems and indoor plumbing at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors note the many health hazards posed by open sewers and contaminated wells. Research is based on an extensive archeological dig in early 1990's conducted in a neighborhood that was destroyed to make way for the Alamodome.

Guerra, Mary Ann Noonan. The Gunter Hotel in San Antonio’s History. San Antonio: 1985.
This short booklet was prepared to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Hotel’s founding in 1909. It discusses the various structures that preceded it at the corner of St. Mary’s and Houston Streets dating back to the Frontier Inn (1837), the military headquarters (1851), Vance House (1872) and Mahncke Hotel (1886). Illustrated.

McGill, Allan Cleveland. “100 Years with a Newspaper, The San Antonio Express, 1865 – 1965.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1965.
A journalism student follows the major personalities involved with the Express, the business dealings and evolving technology, editorial styles and daily coverage. Based on the James P. Newcomb papers, oral interviews and the newspaper itself. (140 pp.)

Nelson, James L. “A Business History of the San Antonio Brewing Association (Pearl Brewing Company) 1886 – 1933.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity U., 1976.
The brewery industry in San Antonio boomed in the late nineteenth century due to the local German population. Profiles several local beer barons, most notably: Otto Koehler, Oscar Bergstrom, Otto Wahrmund and John J. Stevens. Extensive analysis of the manufacture, distribution, and promotion of beer in San Antonio, and the industry’s efforts to counter the prohibition movement. During the 1920's the company shifted to producing alternative products without much success. Based on business records of the Pearl Brewing Company and local unions. (271 pp.)

Norton, Charles G. (ed.) Men of Affairs of San Antonio. San Antonio: 1912.
An apparently commercial publication presenting biographical sketches of numerous leading business men of city – in no apparent order. About a page devoted to each, accompanied by a photo and cartoon.

Richter, Rudolf William. The Story of William Louis and Emma Solcher Richter and Richter’s Bakery. San Antonio: 1980.
A family album covering lives of William (1859-1940) and Emma (1864 – 1961) who ran a bakery in the city. William was active in city government (1897 – 1912). Illustrated.

Rogers, Will Chapel, III. “A History of the Military Plaza to 1937.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1968.
The plaza was first laid out to protect the early settlement. By the mid nineteenth century its military role was overtaken by its commercial one as it became the locale of the city market, the chili queens and various forms of popular entertainment, gambling, and public events, including hangings. The study ends when city health inspectors closed down many of the market’s commercial establishments in the name of sanitation. Mainly drawn from newspaper accounts. (105 pages.)

Shapiro, Harold A. “The Labor Movement in San Antonio, 1865 – 1915.” Southwest Social Science Quarterly 36 (Sept. 1955): 160 – 75.
Highlights some of the major strikes and labor organizing drives in the city. The Knights of Labor enjoyed a brief tenure as San Antonio’s premier labor organization in the mid-1880's with six assemblies (one representing the “colored” workers) before rapidly falling apart. Thereafter, it was mostly the skilled workers who organized. Forty unions in the city formed together to form the Trade Council in 1900. Many of their efforts focused on a reduction of hours. In these early years many strikes won broad support from the public, the city council and even the Business Men’s Club. Business began putting up more resistance after the National Association of Manufacturers helped organize a local Citizen’s Industrial Association to press for the open shop around 1903. Unionization thereafter was at a standstill in the city, and its organized labor force was already smaller than in Houston, Galveston or Fort Worth.

Smith, Charles. “San Antonio Chamber of Commerce: A History of Its Organization for Community Development and Service, 1910 – 1960.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1965.
The Chamber evolved from a membership based organization to a professionally managed one by the 1960's. It played a significant role in nurturing two of the city’s major assets – its historic sites and its military installations. The Chamber also promoted various projects to foster economic growth. Smith consulted the records of the Chamber, newspapers and oral interviews. (133 pp.)

Smith, Horace R “History of Alamo Plaza from its Beginning to the Present.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1966.
Smith documents the changing appearance and function of the public space in front of the Alamo Mission. It first served as the courtyard of the original mission. After the mission was secularized the grounds were used by Spanish troops. It suffered many years of neglect after the battle. The area’s revival as a commercial center began with the opening of the Menger Hotel in 1859 and later appearance of the streetcar. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas eventually laid claim to much of the space to better preserve the Alamo shrine. The study utilizes newspapers, directories and city records. (90 pages)

Smith, Marvin H. “A History of the San Antonio Scottish Rite Cathedral: Its Genesis, Erection and Financing...” M. A. Thesis, Trinity U., 1959.
The Scottish rite organization established a local lodge in 1907. Membership grew considerably during World War I thanks to the military encampments. Construction was started on its new temple near the Alamo in 1921 and completed three years later. The structure cost $1.5 million to build and furnish and left the lodge heavily in debt. Membership and initiation fees fell during the 1920's. The thesis mostly focuses on various financial schemes to pay off the debt and the ensuing legal battles. During the 1940's membership rebounded and the debt was cleared by 1953. Based on organization records, interviews and legal documents. (112 pp.)

Sibley, M. George W. Brackenridge: Maverick Philanthropist. Austin, 1973.
Brackenridge (1832 - 1920) was a San Antonio entrepreneur, banker and philanthropist in the cause of education. He arrived in San Antonio at the close of the Civil War after prospering in the cotton trade. He organized the San Antonio National Bank in 1866 and the San Antonio Water Works company in 1883. He donated a portion of his estate for the park bearing his name, and was a major benefactor to the University of Texas where he was a regent.

Swaney, Eugene L. “The Cattle Industry in San Antonio, Texas, 1718 – 1961.” M. A. Thesis: St. Mary’s U., 1961.
This extensive survey covers the introduction of cattle under the Spanish, local ranches and dairies, the nineteenth century trail drives, the impact of the railroad, the opening of the Union stockyards in 1889, and, in the twentieth century, the establishment of the Stock Show and rodeo and the consolidation of the cattle industry. Numerous profiles of prominent cattlemen and cowboys. Sources mostly published records and accounts. (287 pp.)

Aguirre, Nancy Alexandra. “Porfirismo During the Mexican Revolution: Exile and the Politics of Representation, 1910-1920.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Texas at El Paso, 2012. [313 pp.]
The Porfiristas who began arriving in San Antonio during the Mexican Revolution were mostly members of the Mexican elite that supported the regimes of Porfirio Diaz and later Victoriano Huerta. From San Antonio they attempted an ultimately unsuccessful military or political counter-revolution. As their temporary exile became more permanent, they assumed a leadership role within San Antonio’s Mexican American community, using La Prensa as their mouthpiece. Uses memoirs, newspaper accounts and oral histories to better understand the Porfiristas world view as well as their adjustment to an Anglo dominated society.

Anders, Evans. Boss Rule in South Texas: The Progressive Era. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.
This work analyzes the career and exploits of James B. Wells, Jr., and, in so doing, the author also provides accounts of the rise of other notable South Texas politicians such as John Nance Garner and Edward M. House, among others.

Booth, John A. and David R. Johnson. "Power and Progress in San Antonio Politics, 1836-1970," in The Politics of San Antonio. Eds. David R. Johnson, John A. Booth and Richard J. Harris. 3 – 27. Lincoln, Neb: 1983.
The essay concentrates on the role of the city’s political and economic elites in shaping the city's growth. San Antonio's leaders evidenced less cohesion, vision and initiative than city leaders elsewhere, such as Dallas and Houston. The authors broad survey covers "Boss" Bryan Callaghan II's political machine of the late nineteenth century, the implementation of commission government in the progressive era, and the later shift to the city manager form of government with the appearance of the Good Government League.

Brown, Phebe Y. “Reflections of Revolution: Press Reaction in San Antonio to the Mexican Revolution of 1910 – 1917.” M. A. Thesis, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1979.
Judging by the amount of space their newspapers devoted to the topic, San Antonio residents took an avid interest in the Mexican Revolution. The papers generally refrained from offering editorial comment or meddling in Mexican affairs, but instead followed the neutral stance adopted by the U. S. State Department. San Antonio was feeling the effects of the Revolution by the influx of refugees and the efforts of Mexican partisans to raise money and to funnel weapons to either side. The four newspapers surveyed for this thesis included the city’s two largest dailies (the Daily Express and the Light), the Spanish language La Prensa, and The Southern Messenger published by the Roman Catholic Church. (97 pp.)

Cumberland, Charles C. “Mexican Revolutionary Movements from Texas, 1906 – 1912.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 52 (Jan. 1949): 301 – 24.
San Antonio was a hotbed of activity among those wishing to bring down the long standing regime of Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. Among them was Francisco I. Madero, who dared to oppose Diaz in Mexico and was imprisoned there before he fled to the United States. He would return and topple the Diaz regime, but in his place other revolutionists and members of the Old Guard used San Antonio as a base of operations.

Edelen, Mary Beaty. “Bryan Callaghan, II: His Early Political Career.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1971.
San Antonio’s preeminent political boss (1852 – 1912) was responsible for many civic improvements in such areas as education and health during his 9 terms as mayor between 1885 and 1912. He was fluent in Spanish, French and German to better relate to the city’s polyglot population. The Mexican-American community embraced him as he was Hispanic on his mother’s side. Prohibition was a hot issue in the city and the mayor emphatically “wet.” Edelen utilizes city council proceedings and local newspapers. (145 pp.)

González, Gabriela. “Jovita Idar: The Ideological Origins of a Transnational Advocate for La Raza.” In Texas Women: Their Histories, Their Lives. Ed. by Elizabeth Hayes Turner, et. al. pp. 225-248. Athens, GA, 2015.
Jovita Idar (1885-1946) was raised in a well-to-do Laredo family where she worked on her father’s newspaper, La Crónica. The paper was a strong advocate of the rights of the México-Texano community with its condemnation of lynching and segregation. Her Methodist upbringing instilled in Idar a strong commitment to the social gospel along with an appreciation for the value of education. She moved to San Antonio in 1921 where she was active in the Trinidad Methodist church and coeditor of Heraldo Cristiano. In 2023 the United States Mint issued a quarter bearing her likeness in recognition of her efforts on behalf of women’s rights.

Harris, Charles H. III and Louis R. Sadler. “The 1911 Reyes Conspiracy: The Texas Side.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 83 (April: 1980): 325-48.
Harris documents the actions, and inaction, of the Texas Government, especially the Texas Rangers, as Mexican General Bernardo Reyes plotted from San Antonio to overthrow the newly established Madero regime in Mexico. Governor Oscar B. Colquitt, Webb County Sheriff Amador Sánchez and San Antonio Druggist Francisco A. Chapa assisted Reyes. The Federal government later arrested Reyes and prosecuted Chapa and Sánchez for violating the nation’s neutrality regulations, but that action amounted to a slap on the wrist.

Johnson, David Nathan. Exiles and Intrigue: Francisco I. Madero and the Mexican Revolutionary Junta in San Antonio, 1910-1911. San Antonio: 2001.
This is a reprint of a master’s thesis done at Trinity University in 1975. Johnson follows Madero’s activities in the city as he rallied support to overthrow the Díaz regime in Mexico. Here he prepared the “Plan of San Luis Potosí” (calling for new elections), organized resistance and raised arms. Madero arrived in the city in October of 1910 and returned to Mexico in February of 1911, where he was elected President later that year.

Johnson, David R. In the Loop: A Political and Economic History of San Antonio. San Antonio: 2020.
Surveys the economic and political development of San Antonio from the beginning of European settlement. Why did the city not have the amenities and resources of most other cities of its size? It concludes that the city’s political and economic elites evidenced a dearth of booster spirit found in Dallas, Houston and elsewhere. An excellent survey noting the major players, policies and politics that have shaped the city over three centuries.

Lester, Stacy R. “Bryan Callaghan versus the Reformers: 1905 – 1912.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1976.
Callaghan was a classic political boss whose strength lay in the immigrant vote, but whose regime was honest. In his last years in office San Antonio’s longstanding mayor met with opposition from the city’s business and professional elite who were interested in removing partisanship from elections and government. Following his death in 1912 the reformers finally succeeded in getting the city to adopt the commission form of government. Relies mainly on local newspapers and government documents. (81 pp.)

Longoria, Mario D. “Revolution, Visionary Plan, and Marketplace: A San Antonio Incident.” Aztlan 12 (Autumn 1981): 211 – 26.
Tensions swelled along the border after the outbreak of the Mexican revolution in 1910. Radical documents like the Plan de San Diego (reprinted in the Appendix) urged Mexicans on both sides of the border initiate an uprising against Anglos to liberate the Southwest and perhaps rejoin it with Mexico. This provides the context to an incident in San Antonio on August 13, 1915. A crowd of about 1,000 listened to speakers in the marketplace denounce the U. S. government and its persecution of Mexican Americans. The police broke up the meeting and arrested 23 Mexicans, whom they charged with treason. Only a mysterious J. A. Hernandez was prosecuted by the government, but his sentence was later revoked.

Massey, Katherine Love. “The Commission Government Campaign in San Antonio, Texas, 1910 – 1914. A Study in Municipal Progressivism.” M. A. Thesis: U. of Texas at El Paso, 1981.
The introduction of commission government allowed the city’s economic elites to take power from the remnants of a Hispanic based political machine associated with Bryan Callaghan II. Businessmen claimed the city needed more improvements (paved streets, sewers) and denounced Mayor Callaghan as a tight fisted autocrat. The new government framework invested power in five commissioners elected city wide and promised a streamlined, efficient administration run by businessmen. Support for the reform was greatest among those in the construction industry, wealthy suburbanites and newcomers to the city. The proposal was narrowly voted down in 1910, but enacted overwhelmingly in 1913 after Callaghan’s death. Several tables display the city’s financial expenditures, the election results and the proponents and opponents of the measure. (127 pp.)

Miller, Char and Heywood Sanders. “Parks, Politics and Patronage,” in On the Border, An Environmental History of San Antonio. Ed. Char Miller. 83 – 98. Pittsburgh, Penn.: 2001.
Historically, San Antonio’s elite have been indifferent to developing parks inside the city limits. The interests of private development have come before those of public space. The establishment of Commission government in 1914 elevated the profile of parks as they were the bailiwick of one of the city’s five commissioners. In the decades that followed far more was invested in developing parks mostly through bond proposals. But park placement was determined by electoral clout during the first half of the twentieth century; white and Afro-American neighborhoods sprouted parks while the Hispanic east side was largely neglected.

Miller, Margaret. “A Survey of the Civil Government of San Antonio, Texas, 1731 – 1948.” M. A. Thesis, St. Mary’s University, 1948.
There is no historical analysis here, only outlines of the structure of the government under different regimes based on government documents. It begins with a description of the local political establishment under Spanish rule. Little changed locally when Mexico achieved its independence. The governor appointed a “political chief” to run the city. Miller devotes a mere 8 pages to the aldermanic form of government in place between 1837 and 1915, mostly listing the city’s major offices and their duties. Most of the analysis is given over to an outline of the commission form of government established in 1915. Includes several diagrams outlining the structure of government under the commission format. (91 pp.)

Niemeyer, Vic. “Frustrated Invasion: The Revolutionary Attempt of General Bernardo Reyes from San Antonio in 1911.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 67 (Oct. 1963): 213 – 25.
A former Mexican governor and general sought to organize an invasion force from San Antonio to oust newly elected Mexican President Francisco Madero. Under indictment by the United States government for violating its neutrality laws, Reyes entered Mexico in December of 1911. His call for an uprising was ignored and he was later arrested. (A letter from Hobart Huson, published in the January 1964 issue of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly (pp. 435-36) describes his encounters with Reyes while a student at the Main Avenue High School, where the student body was divided over the Mexican Revolution.)

Orozco, Cynthia E. “The Origins of the League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement in Texas With an Analysis of Women’s Political Participation in a Gendered Context, 1910 – 1929.” Ph. D. dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1992.
Orozco traces the origins of the Chicano movement in San Antonio and South Texas through middle class organizations such as the Order of the Sons of America in the 1910's and 1920's. As Mexican Americans crossed the border in larger numbers and stirred up heightened racial awareness among Euro Americans, the OSA and later LULAC pioneered the role of civil rights organizations. Women also played a major role in shaping the Chicano movement on a variety of gender related issues.

Paschal, George Hugh. “The Public Service Aspects of the Medical Career of Dr. Frank Paschal in San Antonio, 1893 – 1924.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1956.
After arriving in the city in 1894, Paschal devoted much of his professional career to fighting tuberculosis. Locally, he served as President of the San Antonio Board of Health and as city physician. He frequently quarreled with the mayor and city council in his efforts to improve sanitation and avert a smallpox epidemic. (169 pp.)

Phillips, Edward Hake. “Teddy Roosevelt in Texas, 1905.” West Texas Historical Association Yearbook 56 (1980): 58 – 67.
Roosevelt arrived in San Antonio by train on April 7th of 1905 to participate in a reunion with his beloved Rough Riders the next day. The president was treated to a parade and spoke in Alamo Plaza. He visited with the veterans at their former campgrounds and later took part in a banquet at the Menger Hotel before leaving the same evening.

Turner, Martha Anne. Clara Driscoll, an American Tradition. Austin, Texas: 1979.
Driscoll (1881-1945), the daughter of a well-to-do rancher, was a playwright and very active in Democratic Party politics and philanthropy. From her home in Corpus Christi she managed a family business empire that encompassed cattle, oil, land and banks. She earned enduring fame for purchasing the Alamo in 1903 to insure its historic preservation.

Woolford, Sam. “Carry Nation in Texas.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 63 (April: 1960): 554-566.
The famed prohibitionist arrived in San Antonio on Jan. 9, 1908. This account is based on the coverage of the reporters who apparently followed her around town. During her two day stay, she visited local saloons and vainly sought out Mayor Bryan Callaghan to arrange for a temperance lecture.

Ables, L. Robert. “The Second Battle for the Alamo.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 70 (Jan. 1967): 372 – 413.
Adina De Zavala and Clara Driscoll carried on a long running dispute between 1905 and 1909 over the preservation of the convent or barracks adjoining the Alamo. Driscoll maintained that the building was built after the battle and wished to have it demolished. De Zavala correctly insisted the building was original to the mission and was the site of much of the fighting in 1836. She even barricaded herself into the barracks for three days in February of 1908 to foil any attempt to level the structure. Maps and illustrations.

Almaráz, Félix, D. Jr. “The Return of the Franciscans to Texas, 1891 – 1931.” Catholic Southwest 7 (1996): 91 – 114.
The Franciscan order, which founded the missions at the dawn of San Antonio’s history, departed when the missions were fully secularized in 1824. Beginning in the 1890's figures in and outside the Catholic Church hierarchy conducted on and off again negotiations for the Franciscans to return. San Antonio’s bishops were initially cool to the idea, but Archbishop Arthur J. Drossaerts finally consented to building the religious order a Friary next door to Mission San Jose in 1931. The return of the Franciscans coincided with a concerted effort to restore the missions.

Anonymous. “The Vanished Texas of Theodore Gentilz.” American Heritage 25 (Oct. 1974): 18 – 27.
The article reproduces several paintings by the San Antonio artist as taken from Dorothy Steinbomer Kendall’s and Carmen Perry’s Theodore Gentilz: Artist of the Old Southwest. A few paragraphs offer a thumbnail sketch of the artist who moved to the city in the 1840's and continued painting until his death in 1906. He had been classically trained in his native France. Although San Antonio was rapidly becoming more “Americanized,” Gentilz chose people and places that reflected its Mexican and Indian past.

Badillo, David A. “Between Alienation and Ethnicity: The Evolution of Mexican American Catholicism in San Antonio, 1910 – 1940.” Journal of American Ethnic History 16 (4) (1997): 62 – 83.
With the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, the Catholic Church faced the challenge of meeting the spiritual needs of an onrush of immigrants. San Antonio also received a number of clergymen fleeing Mexico during the occasional anticlerical campaigns mounted by the Mexican government. The administration of the Church was in the hands of non-Mexican prelates – like Archbishop Arthur J. Drossaerts (1918-40) – who had some trouble relating to the Mexican laity and their cultural and religious traditions. The Church managed ultimately to unite both groups with a version of Catholicism that drew from both religious traditions.

Burkholder, Mary V. Down the Acequia Madre: In the King William Historic District. San Antonio. 1976
Short descriptions of the houses in the neighborhood. The oldest were built by German families not long after the Civil War. Wealthy businessmen built large Victorian homes with architectural flourishes and the latest amenities. The area lies just south of downtown and its major thoroughfares include: S. Alamo, Cedar, Pereida, Adams, Wickes, East Guenther, and Crofton. Illustrated. [A revised version of the author’s earlier (1973) booklet, The King William Area: A History and Guide to the Houses.)

Carroll, H. Bailey. “Texas Collection.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 68 (April, 1965): 500-502.
Hobart Huson, in a short letter to the editor, describes a stage production in San Antonio starring the aging Sarah Bernhardt around 1910. The play was performed entirely in French.

Collingwood, G. C. “The City of the Alamo: How the Romance of San Antonio’s Past Blends with its Present Marvelous Development.” Sunset Magazine (April 1906): 532-52.
This description of the city for potential visitors and residents highlights some of its more prominent sites and the local economy. The Southern Pacific prepared the magazine to promote tourism along its railroad line. Illustrated.

Cottraux, Suzanne Seifert. “Missed Identity: Collective Memory, Adina De Zavala and the Tejana Heroine Who Wasn’t.” M.A. thesis: U. of Texas at Arlington, 2013. [132 pp.]
Adina De Zavala (1861-1955), a pioneer in field of historic preservation, focused her attention on numerous sites dating back to San Antonio’s Spanish and Colonial past, most especially the missions as well as the so-called Spanish Governor’s Palace. Yet, it is wrong to portray her as a Tejana activist. As an unmarried school teacher with Hispanic ancestry, she could not expect to be accorded much influence given the racist, sexist and elitist social conventions of her time. De Zavala used her status as a historian and historic preservationist to forge a different identity for herself that allowed her to evade the rampant prejudice of her peers.

Cox, Isaac Joslin. William Belcher Seeley: Founder and First Principal of San Antonio Academy. San Antonio: 1948.
Seeley (1858 – 1934) moved to San Antonio partly to regain his health. He established the Academy in 1886 on East Houston Street. The book emphasizes Seeley’s educational methods and ideals. Cox was a colleague and he includes a 40 page appendix of historical documents.

De Zavala, Adina. History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions in and Around San Antonio. San Antonio: 1917.
A booklet probably intended for tourists by the woman credited with saving the Alamo, or at least its barracks. It includes a brief history of the each mission and San Fernando Cathedral with documents and poems and legends. The status of restoration work on the Alamo is also discussed.

Ehrisman, Laura Elizabeth. Inventing the Fiesta City: Heritage and Carnival in San Antonio. Albuquerque, NM: 2008.
A History of the week-long celebration during April originally scheduled in 1891 to commemorate the battle of San Jacinto. The event expanded from a one day “Battle of Flowers” parade to a 10 day extravaganza featuring a couple of hundred of events. In its early years the introduction of Fiesta royalty expressed the mindset of the Texas Modern that upheld a social order dominated by Anglos. The addition of various activities and celebrities – Cornyation, Rey Feo, the Queen of Soul – reflects the social changes brought on during the twentieth century leading to a more inclusive and raucous festive occasion. [Based on the author’s “Inventing the Fiesta City: Heritage and Performance in San Antonio’s Public Culture.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Texas at Austin, 2003.]

Fisher, Lewis F. Christ Episcopal Church: the First Seventy-Five Years, 1911-1986. San Antonio: 1986.
A local journalist offers this extensive historical treatment of the largest Episcopal Church in West Texas. The church became more socially aware and active over time through the impact of wars, depressions, urban decay and its relations with the national body. It is located a few blocks north of San Antonio College. Based partially on oral interviews. Illustrated.

Fisher, Lewis F. Saving San Antonio: The Precarious Preservation of a Heritage. Lubbock, 1996.
The greater part of this book is devoted to chronicling the San Antonio Conservation Society. The organization was not formed until 1924, but the book’s early chapters discuss the city’s cavalier attitude to most historic structures before that date (the Alamo excepted). Later chapters cover the restoration of the miss+ions, the Riverwalk, the moving of the Fairmount Hotel and NIOSA. The women associated with the organization were more interested in aesthetic issues than the historical significance of a given site. They wielded considerable clout in political circles.

Fisher, Lewis F. “Preservation of San Antonio’s Built Environment,” in On the Border, An Environmental History of San Antonio. Ed. by Char Miller. 199 – 221. Pittsburgh, Penn.: 2001.
Historic preservation in the Alamo City dates back to the state’s purchase of the Alamo chapel in 1883. Various groups and disparate preservation initiatives in the years that followed were “long on inspiration and short on research.” The city began to beautify the river, especially the bend in the river known today as the Riverwalk, as early as 1913. The formation of the San Antonio Conservation Society in 1924, mostly by members of the artistic community, brought some coordination to the effort. Fisher outlines the contributions of Adina De Zavala, Clara Driscoll, Robert Hugman and the Works Progress Administration to restore the missions, La Villita, and the King William District.

Friedmann, Jonathan L. “Anna Hertzberg and the Tuesday Musical Club of San Antonio.” Western States Jewish History 45 (Spring 2013): 245 – 50.
The former Anna Goodman (1862 – 1937) arrived in San Antonio from New York City in 1882 after marrying local jeweler Eli Hertzberg. A classical pianist, she found the local musical scene seriously lacking. She formed the all women’s Tuesday Musical Club in 1901 to stimulate classical music. The organization was dominated by amateur musicians. It played a key role in the construction of the Sunken Garden Theater in Brackenridge Park in 1930, and its club building is nearby. Hertzberg was also a founder and president of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra. She was also active in many other charitable and educational endeavors through her participation in the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs, where she served as president from 1911-13.

Gibbs, Dora “Saving of the Alamo.” Sunset Magazine (April 1906): 603-04.
This short article offers a near contemporaneous account of Adina De Zavala’s efforts to preserve some of the city’s historic sites. During this time De Zavala was battling with Clara Driscoll to preserve the barracks at the Alamo.

Haney, Peter Claire. “Carpa y Teatro, Sol y Sombra: Show Business and Public Culture in San Antonio’s Mexican Colony, 1900 – 1940.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Texas at Austin, 2004. [513 pp.]
Haney examines the commercial musical comedy scene (vaudeville) in the Mexican American community during the first half of the twentieth century. Working class Mexican Americans attended these performances in a tent (carpa) while members of the middle and upper class patronized the theater (teatro). The surviving scripts, recordings and photographs document how the theater helped shape a Mexican-American identity and community. Draws on oral interviews with twenty performers and support personnel.

Hanus, Charles Eugene. “That All May Learn: A History of Curriculum in the San Antonio Public Schools to 1925.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Texas at Austin, 1997.
A review of the courses of study offered in the San Antonio Independent School District between 1892 and 1920. During this time the curriculum expanded to embrace foreign languages, vocational education and various electives. The scope and sequence evolved in response to social, economic, political and intellectual developments at the local and national levels. School board politics, Mexican immigration, and World War I left an imprint on the program of study, as did superintendents Lloyd Wolfe, Charles Lukin and Dr. Jeremiah Rhodes.

Ives, Walther John. “The History of Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, San Antonio Texas, 1857 – 1949.” M. A. Thesis, University of Texas, 1952.
The church is located at E. Nueva and South Presa, not far from Hemisfair Park. It was established by German immigrants and much of service was conducted in German.

Kitchens, Joel D. “Making Historical Memory: Women’s Leadership in the Preservation of San Antonio’s Missions.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 121 (Oct. 2017): 170-96.
Profiles three women who played major roles in historic preservation during the first half of the twentieth century. Adina De Zavala had a more accurate understanding of the grounds of Mission De Valero (the Alamo) and sought to protect the site from the more romantic setting promoted by Clara Driscoll and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The remaining four missions became the special cause of the San Antonio Conservation Society and its early president, Rena Maverick Green. After Mission San Jose became a state historic site, its site manager, Ethel Wilson Harris, introduced a variety of policies that annoyed local parishioners and compromised its historical integrity.

Lampe, Philip E. “Catholic Education in San Antonio: The French Connection.” Catholic Southwest 19 (2008): 66 – 79.
French born bishops Jean-Marie Odin (1800 - 1870) and Claude Marie Dubuis (1817- 1895) returned to their homeland to recruit priests and nuns to serve the ethnically diverse body of Roman Catholics in Texas. The results of their efforts were several important religious and educational institutions. St. Mary’s University (1852) was known locally as “the French school,” where classes were taught in English, French, German and Spanish. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word opened Santa Rosa Infirmary (1869) an orphanage (1875) and finally a college (1907). Our Lady of the Lake (1896) and The Oblate Seminary (1903) likewise had their origins in French based religious orders.

Linenthal, Edward Tabor. “’A Reservoir of Spiritual Power:’ Patriotic Faith at the Alamo in the Twentieth Century.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 91 (Apr. 1988): 509-531.
The essay considers the “symbolic interpretation” of the Alamo from the time the Daughters of the Republic of Texas assumed management in 1905. Veneration of the site takes on religious aspects and raises questions as to who is authorized to speak to its symbolic meaning. Over time commemorations at the Alamo have evolved from “archaic notions of heroic sacrifice” to rituals of reconciliation.

Luna Lucero, Brian. “Invention and Contention: Identity, Place and Memory of the Spanish Past in the American Southwest, 1848-1940.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of New Mexico, 2013.
Studies how local city boosters in San Antonio and Tucson, Arizona as well as Albuquerque, New Mexico have commemorated an exotic Spanish Colonial past to enhance their tourist appeal. In San Antonio, the study focuses on the interpretation of the inaptly named Spanish Governors Palace, the Alamo, the Canary Islander Bicentennial of 1931, and the performance of Los Pastores. The stories about the past that these places and events gave rise to shaped local identity as well as power relations within their communities.

Maguire, Jack. A Century of Fiesta in San Antonio. Austin, Texas: 1990.
This richly illustrated coffee table book commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Fiesta tradition. Chapters are devoted mostly to the individuals, organizations and events associated with the week long festival such as the Order of the Alamo, the Texas Cavaliers and NIOSA.

Margolies, Daniel S. “Voz de Pueblo Chicano: Sustainability, Teaching and Intangible Cultural Transfer in Conjunto Music” Journal of American Culture 34 (Mar. 2011): 36 – 48.
Conjunto music combines the accordion with the 12 string Mexican bass (bajo sexton). While it mostly addresses the contemporary music scene in San Antonio, this article touches on the early history of this musical genre as it emerged in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley early in the twentieth century. Mexican musicians absorbed the musical instruments and styles (polka) of recent European immigrants. It represents a variety of Tejano music and preserves cultural identity.

Martinez-Catsam, Ana Luisa. “Los Precios Mas Baratos: The Role of Spanish Language Newspaper Advertisements and the Biculturalization of Tejanos in San Antonio and Laredo, Texas.” New Mexico Historical Review 86 (Winter 2011): 83 – 105.
Study uses advertising in Spanish language newspapers (including San Antonio’s El Rigador) in two cities in 1910 to document the process by which their Hispanic citizens were exposed to mainstream American culture. Ads by white merchants connected Mexican American readers to Anglo American culture while those placed by Mexican American merchants kept Mexican cultural traditions alive, giving rise to a process of biculturalization. Mexican immigrants and their progeny lived a very different lifestyle than the stereotypical middle-class pattern portrayed in the press.

Matovina, Timothy. “Priests, Prelates, and Pastoral Ministry among Ethnic Mexicans: San Antonio, 1840 – 1940.” American Catholic Studies 124 (Summer 2013): 1 – 20.
After being transferred to the diocese of New Orleans in 1839, the French religious order of Vincentians furnished San Fernando parish with its priests. A Spanish based religious order, the Claretians, began ministering to the mostly Mexican American congregation in 1902. The priests complained that their parishioners were woefully ignorant of Catholic doctrine, though otherwise devout. The clergy, many of them foreign born, tended to neglect the Mexican religious traditions embraced by their laity, such as the rituals associated with Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was the parishioners who took responsibility for maintaining the religious traditions of their homeland. Essay draws extensively from the records of the Archdiocese’s archives.

Matovina, Timothy M. “Sacred Place and Collective Memory: San Fernando Cathedral, San Antonio, Texas,” U. S. Catholic Historian 13 (Winter 1997): 33 – 50.
Based on interviews with laity at the Church, the study seeks to understand this sacred site’s role in fostering a collective memory binding a religious community. It covers the eighteenth century to the present. As the size and influence of the Tejano population shrank, the church became the repository for Mexican culture. It lost some of its Mexican character when the church was elevated to a cathedral in 1874, but parishioners carry on many public rituals to preserve its Mexican heritage. The congregation’s biggest religious festival is still Our Lady of Guadalupe, as it was in colonial times.

Mayer, Vicki. “From Segmented to Fragmented: Latino Media in San Antonio, Texas.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 78 (Summer 2001): 291-306.
The development of Mexican American mass media outlets in San Antonio began with the publication of La Prensa in 1913. This was followed by Spanish language radio broadcasts during the 1930's, when Latino entrepreneurs purchased air time on some local radio frequencies. Record labels cooperated with radio and television to promote conjunto music. In the 1960's local media outlets aligned with national and international business conglomerates to produce a more standardized fare for an international Mexican audience.

Moore, Frances Brown. “A History of the Cultural Development of San Antonio.” M. A. Thesis, Colorado State College of Education, 1938.
A broad social history that examines education in private and public schools and local societies, hotels, landmarks, etc.

Moore, Harriet Brown. Saint Mark’s Church, Travis Park, San Antonio, Texas: A Parish with Personality. San Antonio: 1944.
Located near Travis Park, the Episcopal Church was constructed during the Civil War. Separate chapters consider the various personnel, organizations and activities of the church up to 1942. (The story after that date is taken up by Olive Nesbitt Brewster’s St. Mark’s Church 1943-1973.)

Neal, Basil Young. “George W. Brackenridge: Citizen and Philanthropist.” M. A. Thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 1939.
This biography of the San Antonio banker and businessman focuses on his efforts on behalf of education. One chapter reviews his work with the San Antonio schools where he was the first president of the board of trustees when the school system was separated from municipal control in 1899. He made numerous generous contributions to the city’s public schools. Brackenridge was a Republican who believed in providing educational access for African American children in a segregated system. Another chapter examines Brackenridge’s role on the University of Texas Board of Regents, where he stepped down in 1919. (125 pp.)

Nixon, Harry W. “The Development of Dramatic and Cultural Criticism in the San Antonio Light from 1900 to 1949.” M. A. Thesis, St. Mary’s U., 1949.
Nixon surveys the newspaper’s coverage and commentary on the city’s cultural events during January through March at ten year intervals. Prior to its acquisition by the Hearst Corporation in 1924, the reporters assigned to cover cultural events did not exhibit much artistic sensibility. The quantity and especially the quality of cultural criticism in the Light greatly improved over time. Numerous lengthy quotes reveal the paper’s reaction to various productions and performers. As motion pictures reduced the demand for drama and vaudeville by the 1930's, there was a compensating rise in interest in symphonies, operas and other musical venues. The thesis also describes the changing layout of the paper itself over the decades. (106 pp.)

Palmer, Mary Bonaventure. “Bishop John William Shaw and the Diocese of San Antonio, 1910 – 1918.” M. A. thesis: Catholic U. of America, 1960.
Bishop Shaw (1863-1934) played an important role in building institutions within his vast diocese of 85 counties. He established two local seminaries to train priests, and an orphanage to replace one destroyed in a tragic fire in 1912. During his tenure the restoration of the Missions -- by then in ruins – was begun. The anti-clerical element of the Mexican Revolution displaced a number of Mexican bishops, clergy and nuns who relocated to the San Antonio diocese and represented a significant burden, in addition to the many refugees.

Paschal, Olive Adelaide Hill. “The First One Hundred Years of the First Presbyterian Church, San Antonio, Texas.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1979.
The first protestant church established in Texas, appeared immediately after annexation. Paschal profiles the numerous individuals who served as ministers and their efforts in fields of education and social services. The thesis mainly documents the physical and institutional development of the church. Draws primarily from church records and newspapers. (109 pp.)

Raphael, Mark S. “John William Shaw: First American born Archbishop of New Orleans (1918-1934).” Ph. D. diss.: Catholic U. of America, 2010. [288 pp.]
Bishop Shaw (1863 – 1934) was the fourth bishop for the San Antonio diocese based at the Cathedral of San Fernando from 1910 to 1918. The surge of Catholics into San Antonio in the wake of the Mexican Revolution constituted the most pressing challenge of his tenure. The church sponsored numerous ethnic parishes staffed by foreign born priests, but Shaw promoted Americanization in his diocese by recruiting native born priests (like himself) and urging use of the English language. His Southern upbringing inclined Shaw to harbor paternalistic and racist attitudes toward his Mexican American parishioners as well as African Americans.

Ruiz-Requena, Paul Sebastian. “La Prensa Y Gran Pueblo Mexicano: A Study of Spanish-Language Newspapers in South Texas, 1850 – 1930.” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Texas at Arlington, 2023. [263 pp.]
Explores the role of newspapers across South Texas, with particular attention to San Antonio’s La Prensa, established by Ignacio Lozano in 1913. La Prensa catered mainly to the city’s newly arrived “los ricos” displaced by the Mexican Revolution. Lozano’s paper and Laredo’s La Crónica played important roles in mobilizing Mexican Americans in South Texas to combat the violence, discrimination and segregation they encountered in South Texas as Anglos exercised ever greater control. They illustrate the role newspapers played in creating the “imagined community” of México de Afuera.

Spearman. Melinda Jo. “’The Peripatetic Normal School:’ Teacher Institutes in Five Southwestern Cities (1880 – 1920).” Ph. D. diss.: U. of Texas at Austin, 2006.
Teacher institutes offered inexpensive but often mandatory professional development around 1900. Chapter 3 contrasts San Antonio’s in-service program with that of four other Southwestern cities. Superintendent Lloyd E. Wolfe (1902 – 1908) introduced a School of Methods held during the summer with racially segregated, month long workshops. Nationally known educators offered “sound pedagogical suggestions” on a variety of topics. Mayor Bryan Callaghan Jr. denounced the cost of the program and the “newfangled methods of instruction” and helped shut the program down in 1908.

Spearman, Mindy. “In-service Education and the Superintendency of Lloyd Wolfe in San Antonio, Texas, 1902-1908.” Journal of Educational Administration and History 38 (Apr. 2006): 59 – 72.
During Wolfe’s tenure as superintendent of San Antonio schools, only 8% of its teachers had earned their teaching certificate through college coursework. Wolfe introduced a variety of in-service training exercises to further their professional development. He sought to promote a child centered education that involved “real world problem solving.” Mayor Bryan Callaghan Jr. objected to these expensive workshops and “frills” and eventually forced Wolfe out of office. He was replaced by Charles Lufkin (1908-1915) who scaled back on many of Wolfe’s progressive initiatives.

Steinbomer, Dorothy and Carmen Perry. Paintings of Nineteenth Century San Antonio, Texas by Theodore Gentilz. Austin: 1974.
Gentilz was a Parisian trained painter who first arrived in Texas in the 1840's to survey the town of Castroville. He settled in San Antonio in 1852 and later taught painting at Saint Mary’s College before his death in 1906. The artist commonly portrayed aspects of everyday life: street scenes, the local population, and Mexican customs. He was also interested in illustrating notable historic events and landmarks. The book reprints numerous Gentilz sketches and paintings (many in color). The introduction offers extensive background and insights to into each of the paintings.

Tichicha, Richard. “Ernst Raba: San Antonio Artist and Photographer, 1874 – 1951.” M. A. Thesis, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1979.
Raba immigrated to San Antonio from Germany in 1891. He was a locally prominent photographer, responsible for many of San Antonio’s most famous or historic reproductions in the form of portraits or commercial images. This short, personal biography, draws on interviews with members of Raba’s family, and is enhanced with numerous illustrations. (170 pp.)

Trevino, Roberto O. “Facing Jim Crow: Catholic Sisters and the ‘Mexican Problem’ in Texas.” Western Historical Quarterly 34 (Summer 2003): 139 – 64.
White Texans looked down on Hispanics – whether native Texans or immigrants – in much the way they did African Americans around 1900. Women in religious orders, like the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence, provided desperately needed services to the Hispanic community, but often perpetuated the social subordination of Mexican Americans. Mexican nuns were denied education and often assigned menial, domestic tasks. Nuns were closely acquainted with the needs of immigrants and the poor, and between 1910 and 1950 began to confront prejudice and inequality in the schools, in social services and within their own ranks. The nuns stopped training Mexican American girls to be domestics and instead encouraged them to become social workers through the Worden School of Social Service at Our Lady of the Lake College.

Ackerman, Julia. “U. S. Airpower, 1911.” Air Power History 37 (Spring 1990): 32-33.
The short article describes a single photograph of Fort Sam Houston that displayed American air power in its infancy: two Wright brothers’ biplanes and a Curtiss D.

Batz, Richard Charles. “The Development of Fort Sam Houston and its Impact on San Antonio.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity University, 1972.
Although the military has a prominent place in San Antonio history, the first permanent post for the U. S. army was not established until 1876. The appearance of the railroad was vital to the establishment of a major military post. The city donated the 40 acres that now comprise the Fort’s Quadrangle. Later troubles with Mexico led the government to expand its Texas facilities. By 1890 the military was contributing about one million dollars a year to the city economy. Batz takes the outpost’s story to about the mid-1950's. The work draws largely on Army records. An extensive body of statistics can be found in the Appendix. (133 pp.)

Giglio, Donald F. “A Historical Retrospection of Fort Sam Houston: Some Feelings and Factors in Its Development Up to 1918.” Texana 7 (1) (1969): 38 – 55.
Giglio touches on some of the highlights of the Fort’s history after a brief overview of the local military posts that preceded it. The city arranged for donations of land totaling 93 acres in the first half of the 1870's to induce the military to stay. The famous Quadrangle was completed in 1879, but the structure was only designated Fort Sam Houston in 1890. During this time the facility supplied numerous frontier forts. In 1886 Apache Chief Geronimo was incarcerated at the fort. Early experiments in military aviation also took place at the site, which also helped launch General John Joseph Pershing’s “Punitive Expedition” into Mexico in 1916. By World War I the area around the fort encompassed additional military bases (Camps Wilson and Travis) of about 3,340 acres.

Handy, Mary Olivia. History of Fort Sam Houston. San Antonio: 1951.
The quartermaster post served as the headquarters for Federal forces in Texas during the frontier days. By the eve of World War II the Fort was the largest military base in the United States and housed The Eighth Corps and the Eighth Service Command. The base was home to the “Rough Riders” and generals John J. Pershing and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The author was the daughter of the commander of the post.

Isbell, Frances Wyatt. “Military Aeronautics in San Antonio, 1910 – 1918.” M. A. Thesis, Trinity U., 1962.
Covers the early days of flying at Fort Sam Houston and the role of the army air corps in patrolling the border and doing scouting missions for Pershing’s Punitive Expedition into Mexico in 1916. It follows the acquisition and construction of Kelly field and its wartime operations. Kelly was the nation’s largest aviation training camp during the war. Isbell also describes Fort Sam Houston’s Dodd field, Camp John Wise and Brooks Field. She credits public spirited businessmen with bringing military aviation to San Antonio. Uses minutes of the Chamber of Commerce, government (mostly military) documents, and local newspapers. (168 pp)

Miller, Roger G. “Kept Alive by the Postman: The Wright Brothers and First Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois at Fort Sam Houston in 1910.” Air Power History 49 (Dec. 2002): 32-45.
Lt. Foulois operated the army’s first airplane, acquired from the Wright brothers. He learned to fly by keeping up a correspondence with the Wrights. His first flight at Fort Sam Houston was on March 2, 1910. The article follows the correspondence which is filled with technical commentary on the workings of the aircraft, advice on flying and words of encouragement.

Orchard, Elizabeth. “The History of the Development of Fort Sam Houston.” M. A. Thesis. University of Texas, 1937.
Orchard details the post’s creation after the Civil War and its subsequent growth and development up to 1935.

Pool, William C. “The Origin of Military Aviation in Texas, 1910 – 1913.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 58 (Jan. 1955): 342 – 71.
Not long after the U. S. Army established an Aeronautical Division 1907 it settled on Fort Sam Houston as the site to begin pilot training. The climate allowed for flying year round and the base had ample land area. Starting in March of 1910, Benjamin D. Foulois trained a small number of pilots on the new Wright brother and Curtiss biplanes. Despite frustrations and setbacks and numerous crashes, several innovations in aircraft design emerged from these experiments, such as seat belts and landing gear. The army, however, saw little future in military aircraft. After George E. M. Kelly’s fatal crash in May of 1911 the army moved its air operations to College Park, Maryland.