Thursday, April 30, 2009
April 30 in San Antonio History...
1934: The operator of a gun and saddle shop on S. Flores admited he had sold machineguns and other weapons to George “Baby Face” Nelson and John Dillinger.
1976: Republican presidental candidate Ronald Reagan charged today, in a speech in front of the Alamo, that bloodshed may be triggered in South Africa by a shift in foreign policy by the Ford administration.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
April 29 in San Antonio History...
1935: A tornado ripped stable roofs at Alamo Downs and dumped heavy rains over the city.
1937: M. A. Post, watchmaker, who has a contract to wind the clock in the Quadrangle tower at Fort Sam Houston, revealed the steel cable holding the weights had worn out after 30 years and had to be repaired.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
April 28 in San Antonio History...
1944: Women hired to replace drafted San Antonio garbage collectors were warned not to fraternize with married garbage truck drivers after a wife complained to Director L.E. LeLaurin.
1956: The San Antonio Missions were riding a five-game winning streak with an 11-10 victory over the Shreveport Sports yesterday.
Monday, April 27, 2009
April 27 in San Antonio History...
1946: The super-duper Battle of Flowers parade was declared worth waiting four years for, but the observer doubted the aching backs and feet would be rested in another year.
1967: A public hearing on a proposed $1.25-an-hour wage ordinance for the city was set by the City Council in a surprise action.
1979: Ira Attebury sprays crowd with shotgun and semiautomatic rifle fire from parked motorhome during Battle of Flowers parade. Two die, 55 are wounded. Attebury commits suicide as SWAT teams close in.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
April 26 in San Antonio History...
1924: The national balloon races, which began at Kelly Field three days before, came to an end as W. T. Van Orman’s “Goodyear III” came down north of Rochester, Minn., winning the race.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
April 25 in San Antonio History...
1924: Five of seven balloons trying for national records from Kelly Field were forced down over Oklahoma by electrical storms. The “Honeywell” and the “Goodyear III,”
however, were reported over Minnesota or Wisconsin.
1955: San Antonio school children got their first Salk polio vaccine shots today.
Friday, April 24, 2009
April 24 in San Antonio History...
1924: Seven balloons launched at Kelly Field, the hub of national balloon races, in winds of 25 to 100 miles an hour were reported over Oklahoma and Arkansas.
1944: Six crew members were hospitalized, but none killed, in the crash of a B-26 bomber near Leon Creek at Grissom Road.
1994: David Robinson scores 71 points against the L.A. Clippers to win the NBA scoring title that year.
A Fiesta "Goodread"

Interested in the early history of Fiesta San Jacinto?
Check this Fiesta history out from your library:
http://sapl.sat.lib.tx.us/record=b1493388
Or investigate this and other San Antonio history tales from Texana's Goodread's collection:
San Antonio on Parade: Six Historic Festivals
Fiesta and Pearl Brewery: 1958

In honor for Fiesta week, here's another example of the close relationship between Fiesta and beer: the 1958 Fiesta program's front and back covers.
Drink responsibly this Fiesta Week!!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Fiesta Posters from MySA.com
http://www.mysanantonio.com/slideshows/sacultura/Fiesta_Posters.html?c=y&page=1
Which one is your favorite?
April 23 in San Antonio History...
1915: A gigantic advertising campaign launched the new Camel cigarette brand in San Antonio.
1925: Governor Miriam “Ma” Ferguson and her ousted governor husband arrived in San Antonio to see the Fiesta parades.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
April 22 in San Antonio History...
1925: Mayor John Tobin and the city commission filed for reelection in the first unopposed election in San Antonio history.
1955: Councilman Henry B. Gonzales today announced he advocates a professional city manager to head the city’s administrative forces.
Fiesta and Pearl Brewery: 1955
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
April 21 in San Antonio History...
1934: F.F. Gosden and C.J. Corell, known to millions as “Amos and Andy” arrived arrived in San Antonio for a week of performances at the Majestic.
1935: Suspended County Clerk George Huntress went on trial on chrages of misconduct and incompetancy in office. The chrages grew out of a $10,000 shortage of office funds which employees said brass used to play the horses.
Fiesta and Pearl Brewery: 1954
Enjoy these blasts from the past, and please enjoy Fiesta 2009 responsibly!!


Monday, April 20, 2009
A Fiesta "Goodread"

Wondering about how all this Fiesta business got started in the first place?
Take a look at Laura Hernandez-Ehrisman's thorough look at the politics, racial tensions and class issues that molded our city's beloved festival into what it is today.
Check it out from your local SAPL branch:
http://sapl.sat.lib.tx.us/record=b1633793
Or follow this link to take a look at other Texana picks on Goodreads:
Inventing the Fiesta City: Heritage and Carnival in San Antonio
Fiesta Programs, Then and Now

April 20 in San Antonio History...
1917: Dry cleaning at home is all the rage in San Antonio. Any woman can do $5 worth of dry cleaning by simply dissolving 2 ounces of solvite in 2 gallons of gasoline, then immerseing the articles to be cleaned.
1926: Guerilla warfare between Sheriff Jim Stevens and a band of auto strippers reached a climax when avenging thieves invaded the courthouse basement and drove off in a sheriff investigator’s auto.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
April 19 in San Antonio History...
1946: A dictaphone was used for the first time in a local court to record the proceedings.
1957: San Antonio oilman Tom Slick was quoted from Katamandu, Nepal, as saying his exploring party had found three sets of mysterious tracks which he is convinced were made by the fabled “Abominable Snowman” of the Himalayas.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
April 18 in San Antonio History...
1934: Opera star Charles Hackett arrived at the Alamo City to sing at coronation ceremonies for the Fiesta queen at Municipal Auditorium.
1936: One of the largest anti-Communist demonstrations ever held in the history of San Antonio was held at Tech High School.
Friday, April 17, 2009
April 17 in San Antonio History...
1906: It was announced the courthouse was to be enlarged. The project was estimated to cost $100,000.
1926: A local girl, 17 year-old Josephine Strickler, was awarded the Carnegie Hero medal for saving a friend from drowning in the Guadalupe River four years ago. She also received a $1,500 college scholarship.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
April 16 in San Antonio History...
1917: Five full-grown beavers will be the newest addition to the San Antonio Zoo. Park Commissioner Ray Lambert is getting them from Yellowstone Park.
1927: The modern girl is going for more clothes. In San Antonio this year the average Easter outfit costs about $65, as follows: dress $25, shoes $10, hat $5, underwear $10, hose $3 and accessories $12.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
April 15 in San Antonio History...
1926: Mission Grove’s new oil field was assuming boom proportions with oil wells flourishing in back yards and lease specualtion on the increase.
1935: Sheriff Albert West banned cockfights in Bexar County and said all violators would be prosecuted.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
April 14 in San Antonio History...
1895: Contractors finished plastering the new Bexar County Courthouse.
1936: US Communist party leaders said they would fight the City Council’s decision to forbid a member of the party’s central committee to speak here.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Facebook beat us to the punch

Well, it seems we are not alone in our desire to gather these anecdotes and stories. We just discovered a Facebook group devoted to the very same thing.
"Classic San Antonio:1950-1999" is an online group forum started and maintained by John C. Harrison and Pete Elias.
From their site:
"Here is where people can share thoughts and memories of SA and the many facets
that make up this wonderful and diverse city. If the subject relates to SA,
feel free to share it here. Discussions may relate to a variety of subjects
such as Playland Park, HemisFair, Captain Gus, the Hertzberg Circus Museum,
Wonderland Mall, Joe "Godfather" Anthony, the BIG snow of '85 or the Spurs
first championship in '99. With that kind of history, it's nice to have a
home online where we can visit and reminisce. So, if you ever took a school
field trip to the Butter Krust bakery, celebrated a birthday at Kiddie Park
or been hardware shopping at Handy Dan then this is the group for you.Please
feel free to post as many SA-related photos and videos as possible here.
Personal photos are also welcomed. Let's try to make this group THE on-line
home for 20th Century SA history."
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=65016292019&start=20&hash=b530291b4c29ac188c5e50e13a75675d#/group.php?gid=65016292019
Follow the link above to scroll through the hundreds of old photos and videos group members have uploaded. If you grew up in San Antonio during the "Classic" era, you owe it to yourself to take this trip down memory lane. Albert Flores' Color the Weather and the old VIA bus ads were two blasts-from-the-past that tickled me today as I went through some of the videos.
Enjoy! But don't forget to return here to share your newly-stirred memories with us!
April 13 in San Antonio History...
1894: Don Pedrito, the Alazan Creek faith healer, prescribed violent tummy-rubbing for five minutes daily to reduce the abdomen of Commissioner Dwyer. The Commissioner said he would think it over.
1925: Multi-millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. breezed through San Antonio driving his own car.
April 12 in San Antonio History...
1936: Bob Coleman, manager of the San Antonio Missions, pronounced his charges ready for the Texas League Race, which starts next week.
1944: Several hundred Bexar County men over 26, told previously they were too old to be drafted, received noticed to report for induction.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
April 11 in San Antonio History...
1894: A mystical healer at Alazan creek who drew crowds exceeding 500 persons per day attempted unsuccessfully to cure the baldness of a Light reporter. He said the reporter was incapable of “complete and unequivocal concentration.”
1924: An auto polo match with drivers weilding mallets and speeding after a small, red ball was sponsored by Alzafar Shrine Temple at San Antonio Speedway.
Friday, April 10, 2009
April 10 in San Antonio History...
1934: San Antonio police, already jumpy over reports Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were headed South, were told by federal agents that John Dillinger may be lamming towards San Antonio too.
1944: For the first time since WWII began, the OPA placed a ceiling on ration-free cabrito and goat meat in San Antonio; 30 cents a pound for cabrito, 17 and 30 cents for mature goat cuts.
April 9 in San Antonio History...
1924: Program for the national balloon races to be held at Kelly Field was approved by the National Aeronautical Assn.
1955: A bold burglar broke into Police Headquarters, taking $46 and a sheet of three cent stamps.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
April 8 in San Antonio History...
1935: New riots broke out between strikers and non-strikers at the pecan-shelling factories on the West side.
1946: The Commisssioners Court unofficially endorsed the underground parking project proposed at Travis Park with an added suggestion another be built under Main Plaza.
April 7 in San Antonio History...
1924: Bible reading exercises, made mandatory by action of the School Board, started the day in all San Antonio schools.
1925: Fiesta planners announced an illuminated night pageant would be held this year.
Monday, April 6, 2009
April 6 in San Antonio History...
1905: President Theodore Roosevelt was greeted by top city and military officials when his special train arrived for the Rough Riders reunion.
1927: While visiting in San Antonio Walter B. Briggs, assistant librarian, Harvard College, expressed surprise at the amount of literacy in this region. He said he had no idea such a small community would have such large schools.
April 5 in San Antonio History...
1925: Police lassoed a pet alligator gone astray as it sunned itself on Broadway near Brackenridge Park.
1956: The Coliseum was desegregated on the order of the board of managers. An announcement declared there would be no discrimination “based on race, color, or creed of persons lawfully on the Coliseum premises.”
April 4 in San Antonio History...
1945: Mayor Gus Mauermann and the City Council protested German POWs at area air bases were getting better food than civilians and too much pay for working in military construction jobs.
1956: Six Randolph Air Force Base survivors gave details today of the crash of their B-29 off Austin Highway. The plane struck a radio tower yesterday and plowed into a field, killing one airman.
Friday, April 3, 2009
April 3 in San Antonio History...
1914: Park Commissioner S. R. Walker mailed a request to Congressman Slayden for bass and catfish to stock the pool at San Pedro Springs.
1935: A brake-testing campaign for San Antonio motorists was cancelled as the hightway department ordered patrolmen to stand by to aid in a state-wide search for gunman Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
April 2 in San Antonio History...
1924: San Antonian who went to the police station to protest the theft of a flask of whiskey was booked for violation of the Dean prohibition act.
1934: Alamo Downs’ first horses, a string of seven thoroughbreds belonging to W. J. Potter, arrived from New Orleans.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
April Fools, San Antonio!

The April 1, 1938 edition carried this alarming headline and image of a giant, smoking meteor in front of the damaged Tower Life building.
Then in 1956, the Tower Life building was again the target of an April Fools prank. This time a long, serious article accompanies the shocking image of a leaning Tower Life building, just like the famous tower of Pisa. The very last line of the article finally gives up the joke with the simple sentence, "It is, dear readers, April Fools."

