A River Runs Through It

Restoration is an art in San Antonio. From the Alamo, where a transformative restoration is taking place, to the stately old homes and history of the King William District to the stone paths and bridges of the iconic River Walk, San Antonio’s rich history gives visitors endless opportunities to step into the city’s colorful past.

By Susan Yerkes

Two of the most magnificent restorations—the San Antonio Missions and the Mission Reach of the River Walk—are inextricably linked in history. Today, thanks to decades—even centuries— of preservation and restoration efforts, they preserve vital elements of the past, and bear witness to the restorative power of preservation.

The Spanish Missions

San Antonio was first named in 1691 when an expedition of Spanish soldiers and priests came upon a verdant settlement of the indigenous Payaya tribe, close to a clear, flowing river. The Spaniards called the natives the “Tejas” people— the Payaya word for “friends.” They christened the place and the river that ran through it San Antonio, since it was June 13, the feast day of St. Anthony in the Catholic Church. In 1718, Franciscan missionary priest Father Antonio Olivares dedicated the first mission church at San Pedro Springs, the source of a creek that ran into the river, where water and fish were abundant. (San Pedro Park, established around the springs by a land grant from the king of Spain, is the second oldest public park in the U.S. Only Boston Commons is older.)

The simple hut that was the first church of Mission San Antonio de Valero was moved twice in the following years. Finally, it was rebuilt with stone in today’s downtown, on the bend of the river close to the Spanish military presidio and the little settlement of the Villa San Antonio de Bexar. It was nicknamed “el Alamo” for the cottonwood trees that grew nearby.

The river was the key to settlement, providing water for an elaborate system of acequias— hand-dug irrigation channels for farmland. In 1720, a second mission—Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo—was established two miles downstream from the Alamo. In 1731, three more missions—Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepción de Acuna, San Francisco de la Espada and San Juan Capistrano—were added downstream nearby. A few priests at each mission worked with the indigenous people to build fortified compounds where they could all live, with workshops and farming supplies.

In “Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage,” historian Lewis Fisher writes that by 1745, more than 2,000 Indians had been baptized, and nearly 900 of them were living in the missions. They had more than 5,000 cattle, 3,000 sheep and goats and 257 horses, and farmed mainly corn, beans and cotton. But as Spanish settlers moved in, the Indians gradually left, and by 1824 all five missions were abandoned.

The Alamo served as a fort, first to Mexican soldiers in their war for independence from Spain, then famously in the Texas war for independence from Mexico. After the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, the property was abandoned again. It was used as a military garrison for a while, then leased by the Catholic Church to a grocery store. By the turn of the century, interest in preservation started growing. The state of Texas was convinced to buy the Alamo. After a century of preservation by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the state took over again, and the Alamo Trust is overseeing an ambitious restoration of the historic site. The four missions downstream remained active Catholic parishes, and gradually, with help from the Bexar County Historical Society, the Catholic archdiocese and the powerful San Antonio Conservation Society, restoration efforts on them have continued, ramping up greatly in recent years. In 1978, the U.S. Congress created The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, managed by the National Park Service. Millions of visitors started coming to see them, and funding for ambitious restoration was easier to find.

The next step was a campaign to designate all five missions as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2015, the prestigious international organization recognized San Antonio’s five missions and some additional areas as “the most complete and intact example of the Spanish crown’s efforts to colonize, evangelize and defend the northern frontier of New Spain during the period when Spain controlled the largest empire in the world.” The San Antonio Spanish Missions are the only World Heritage Site in Texas, and one of just 24 in the United States—including the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.

The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park operates a Visitors Center for the Missions National Historical Park at Mission San José. Currently, planning is well underway for a larger, more comprehensive World Heritage Center just north of Mission San José at the old Mission Marquee Drive-In Plaza, which also occupies a spot on the National Historical Register.

CLICK ON THIS

CAMINO SAN ANTONIO www.ArchSA.org/caminosanantonio

CITY OF SAN ANTONIO WORLD HERITAGE OFFICE www. SanAntonio.gov/worldheritage

LAS MISIONES www.LasMisiones.org

MISSION TRAILS www.SanAntonio.gov/Mission-Trails/ Home

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE www.NPS.gov/saan/planyourvisit/ guided-programs.htm

SAN ANTONIO RIVER AUTHORITY www.SARiverAuthority.org/be-riverproud/ecosystems

UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES www.WHC.Unesco.org/en/list/1466/

VISIT SAN ANTONIO www.VisitSanAntonio.com/worldheritage

The Catholic Church still owns the four mission churches and supports their parishes and building restorations through the nonprofit Las Misiones foundation. All are welcome to regular services in English and Spanish, held both indoors and outside. The Mariachi Masses at Missions San José and Concepción are musical, memorable and free—a delightful way to spend a Sunday morning, regardless of your religion.

This spring the Archdiocese opened the El Camino de San Antonio Missions Center behind Mission Concepción. It is a partnership linking the San Antonio Spanish Missions with the other World Heritage Camino—the Camino de Santiago Compostela, a 400-plus-mile pilgrimage trail to the world-famous cathedral of Compostela, Spain. This brand-new Padre Margil Pilgrimage Center will provide visitors with information and support for El Camino de San Antonio Missions: a 30-km pilgrimage, which will count as part of the “Ingles Route” of Spain’s El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Peregrinos, or pilgrims, will have the opportunity to have their Camino Pilgrim passports stamped and obtain their San Antonio Compostela for credit in Spain.

Mission Reach

From Mission Concepción, it is just a few blocks up Mitchell Street to San Antonio’s Confluence Park—a streamlined gem of an environmentally fascinating park at the confluence of the city’s two most historic waterways—the San Antonio River and San Pedro Creek.

The San Antonio River Authority and its non-profit River Foundation created Confluence Park. The

River Authority’s first focus is on flood control, but over the years it has added many projects, and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Walk is the most magnificent and visible one. Twenty years and more than $384 million dollars have gone into the San Antonio River Improvements Project that created today’s Mission Reach—about nine miles of infrastructure and ecosystem restoration on the San Antonio River south of downtown. In partnership with the U.S. Corps of Engineers and Bexar County, the River Authority transformed a part of the river that had basically become a neglected drainage ditch into an incredible place for canoeing and kayaking, hiking and biking, bird watching, fishing and much more. The riparian woodland restoration included planting more than 20,000 native trees and shrubs and 317 native plants and grasses. Monarch butterflies and hundreds of bird species, from Lazuli buntings to bald eagles, migrate through this part of Texas, and restoring their native habitat has increased their numbers and made the area a paradise for birders.

The Mission Trails hike and bike trails—part of the 82-mile Howard Peak Greenway Trails system, follow the Mission Reach banks, and the River Foundation’s historic and artistic Portals along the trails reconnect the river to the four Spanish missions that drew life from it centuries ago. A river has always run through San Antonio’s history. These days, it flows freely again.

About The Writer

Susan Yerkes is an award-winning journalist and travel writer based in San Antonio.