SAN ANTONIO (Day 2 - part 2)

Construction of the Bexar County Courthouse was begun in 1892 in the Romanesque style by architect J. Riley Gordon and competed in 1896. After four expansions, it is now the largest historic county courthouse in Texas.

The Lady Justice Fountain was originally located in a courtyard when the courthouse opened, but was moved to a nearby park in 1927. It was damaged and then disappeared for 30 years. The fountain was restored but Lady Justice had to be recreated. She stands here since 2008.

The common grackle is a type of blackbird.

The Founders Monument, unveiled in 2019, was first sculpted by Armando Hinojosa and then cast in metal. The five figures represent the cultures of the founding communities of San Antonio:

1&2) A couple who migrated from the Canary Islands; in 1731, 56 people from the Canary Islands (a Spanish territory off the coast of Morocco) made the long and arduous voyage across the ocean to help found the original civilian settlement, outside the bounds of mission and military life. They had been promised land (located between the presido and the river), the title of hidalgo (equivalent to a nobleman), and all the privileges that went with that rank.

3) A Native American man; the early Spanish explorers collectively referred to the various American Indian tribes in the area as the Coahuiltecans.

4) A Spanish friar, from the Mission San Antonio de Valero 5) A Spanish soldier stationed at the Presidio

Wait! Nobody said nuthin' about a goat!

We then wandered along the city's famous river walk. It was so much more impressive than I ever could have imagined! It was a twisting passage of canals, bridges, staircases, beautiful buildings, festive restaurants, parks, massive trees and plenty of ducks. It apparently extended for several miles in either direction, but we remained mostly in the central loop.

Click for a larger version of the map

The San Antonio River has its headwaters as a grouping of springs about four miles north of here. These are fed by a massive (4,350 square miles) underground lake, the Edwards Aquifer, that is millions of years old. The river flows through the town and then down another 240 miles southeast, where it merges with the Guadalupe River and treks another 10 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.

12,000 years ago, it was believed to be nearly 200 feet wide. Once the Spanish arrived, they began building a system of irrigation ditches to divert the water to the missions and farmlands. This system covered some 50 miles and lasted for over 150 years. But in 1890, wells were drilled into the aquifer. This drastically reduced the river's flow (often down to a murky trickle) and shifted dependence to the wells.

In 1921, a tropical storm delivered torrential rains which caused the San Antonio River to rise and flood the downtown with up to 12 feet of water. It was decided then that the river needed to be tamed. An upstream dam, bridges, a bypass channel and storm sewers were implemented. To further assist with the flood control efforts, architect Robert Hugman and former mayor Jack White began designing a 2.5-mile-long River Walk at the big bend in the river. An upstream floodgate, a small downstream dam and a channel gate helped complete the plan. It was not a popular idea at first. People claimed it would be too dangerous. But eventually support grew, especially when the plan received substantial funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939. This led to the construction of 17,000 feet of walkways, twenty or so bridges and extensive planting of more cypress trees.

In 1968, the river (and walk) was extended to the new convention center in celebration of the World's Fair being held in the city. Another expansion in 1988 created a lagoon at the new Rivercenter Mall.

Portal San Fernando is a small park that leads down to the river. It is filled with various quotes.

(right photo) The Torch of Friendship (La Antorcha de la Amistad) was a gift from Mexico in 2002. The abstract sculpture was created by Sebastian (or Enrique Carbajal Gonzalez).

(left photo) Robert Hugman, Father of the River Walk

We picked a place to eat that offered a couple vegetarian options for me. Ducks freely roamed the patio in search for dropped crumbs. The place was super crowded so we ended up waiting quite a while for our food. But that worked out ok since we had a VERY large margarita we were enjoying. The manager even gave us free queso for our chips! When our meal finally did arrive, it was HUGE... and we were already pretty stuffed.

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