December 14 in San Antonio history…

1950
Services for Dr. Max Reiter, founder and conductor of the San Antonio Symphony, will be held tomorrow at Temple Beth-El. Reiter arrived in San Antonio in 1939, just a year after he fled his native Italy as a political refugee.  He died yesterday at the age of 45.

1996
J. Michael Heyman, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, speaks at the Alameda Theater.  He leads a delegation exploring options for a long-term presence in the “cultural zone” that long-term leaders envision for downtown between the Alameda Theater and El Mercado.

2002
Judson scores on a 76-yard pass with two seconds left to defeat Midland in the state championship game, 33-32.

March 25 in San Antonio history…

1889
Mrs. Andrea Castanon de Villanueva, alias Candelaria, petitions for a pension as being the last survivor of the Fall of the Alamo.

1896
An old grant, it has been discovered, gives the Alamo property nine more feet on the south side of the structure than it now occupies.

1968
Frontier Enterprises advertises for Service Hostesses for the new restaurant atop the Tower of the Americas, offering “personally fashioned dresses” and “a permanent, secure position accompanied by other usual benefits such as group hospitalization, life insurance and vacations with pay.”

December 16 in San Antonio history…

1889
The city council decides to extend Crockett Street across the river to St. Mary’s Street.

1938
Robert H. H. Hugman is named the official architect of the River Beautification Project  W. H. Lilly is named engineer.

1987
KABB 29 goes on the air quietly as San Antonio’s second independent television station and the only one in a year since KRRT took on the new Fox network. In 1995, after spending over seven years as an independent, KABB picked up the Fox affiliation from KRRT, which became affiliated with UPN.  The official debut is December 20.

December 14 in San Antonio history…

1837
The Texas Legislature approved the incorporation of the city of San Antonio.  The city had previously been known as Presidio San Antonio de Béxar and the Villa of San Fernando de Béxar.

1889
San Antonio Football Club plays game on Government Hill. Eugene Schoch elected secretary and treasurer of the club. (The is the first recorded football game in San Antonio.)

1970
Two bandits, who had been hiding behind a stand of Christmas trees in Piggly Wiggly store No. 134, took $7,500 in checks and an undetermined amount of coins and currency, then tied the supermarket assistant manager to a shopping cart and escaped.

September 16 in San Antonio history…

1888
St. Peter Claver Catholic Church is founded at Nolan and Live Oak streets.  This is the first African-American Catholic Church in San Antonio. The church was built by Irish-born Margaret Mary Healy Murphy, the widow of John Bernard Murphy, who was the mayor of Corpus Christi from 1889 to 1884.

1889
The cornerstone is laid for City Hall in Military Plaza (Plaza de Armas.)

1986
The Japanese ambassador to the United States is given a tour of the Alamo by the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.  “I didn’t expect it to be downtown in the city.”  He remarked that he expected the old mission to be out in the brush and mesquite like the Brackettville replica used in the movie “The Alamo.”  He was also surprised at the 94 degree heat.

April 21 in San Antonio history…

1867
The first San Antonio Baseball Club is organized. J. S. Lockwood, president; Russell Norton, secretary.

1889
Juan N. Seguin, in a letter to General Bee of this city, positively asserts that the charred bones and ashes of the Alamo defenders, burned by Santa Anna’s orders, were collected in an urn and deposited in a grave which the Seguin had dug inside of the cathedral of San Fernando, in front of the altar close to the railing. (from the April 21, 1889 San Antonio Light newspaper)

1936
Three local chapters of the Daughters of the Confederacy were protesting today the removal of the monument in Travis Park.  The monument is to be removed in favor of a $100,000 memorial.

March 27 in San Antonio history…

1889
The paving of Alamo Plaza with mesquite blocks is begun.

1948
The Mission Drive-In (right) opens, showing “The Pirates of Monterey” with Maria Montez.

1965
The Express-News prints this article about the Peter, Paul and Mary concert at Trinity University the day before yesterday (March 25):
“Peter, Paul and Mary showed up 45 minutes late for their Trinity U. performance Thursday night. They were in Montgomery, Ala., involved in civil rights doings, and landed at International Airport at 8:20 p.m. The show was set for 8 p.m. But that would have been fine with everybody if the trio, instead of sticking to song (for which they were excruciatingly well paid), hadn’t ad-libbed through a lot of emotional stuff about Alabama. The big crowd didn’t dig it at all…”

March 25 in San Antonio history…

1889
Mrs. Andrea Castanon de Villanueva, alias Candelaria, petitions for a pension as being the last survivor of the Fall of the Alamo.

1920
The Boston Red Sox blank the New York Giants, 3-0, in a preseason game here.  San Antonians Ross Youngs and Frank Snyder are both on the field for the Giants in this game.

1939 
Two months after she was forbidden to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington D. C. because of her race, contralto Marian Anderson performs a concert in Municipal Auditorium.   Fifteen days later, on Easter Sunday, she performs a concert at the base of the Lincoln Memorial at the request of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.  The concert is broadcast across the country.

October 27 in San Antonio history…

1889
Demand continues for horned frogs at No. 31 Soledad where payment of $1.20 a dozen is made.  Also wanted are 2,000 rattlesnake skins.

1938
Sears, Roebuck & Co. moves from the Transit Tower location to their new downtown headquarters at Romana Plaza. In 1995, this location would become the San Antonio Central Library.

1960
The San Antonio Light publishes a photograph (right) of the $2000.00 saddle made by the Ben Varga Saddlery Company for the occasion of the London premiere of the new John Wayne movie “The Alamo.”

October 21 in San Antonio history…

1889
It is today decided to build the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum in Bexar County.  (It would open as the Southwestern Insane Asylum in 1892 and is now known as the San Antonio State Hospital.)

1899
Since the street car men set the ball rolling, strikes have become quite fashionable in San Antonio. Track laborers have gone on strike for $1.25 a day, a raise of ten cents for ten hours of work.

1933
The University of Texas football team, coached by Clyde Littlefield, takes on favored Centenary University at Eagle Field here in San Antonio. They play to a scoreless tie.