October 13 in San Antonio history…

1896
The big chandelier in the rotunda of the Menger Hotel was swung into position. The 700-pound article, containing 3,000 pieces of prismatic glass, cost $300.

1923
The circus is in town!  Ringling Bros. – Barnum & Bailey circus makes its annual visit to the Alamo City.

1972
Blues singer Etta James is arrested after a concert at Eastwood Country Club in possession of marijuana, narcotics paraphernalia and one gram of heroin.

September 28 in San Antonio history…

1896
City council revises the 1867 against carrying concealed weapons in the city.  From now on, the penalty will be a fine instead of imprisonment.

1971
While investigating a domestic disturbance call, Kendall County Sheriff Douglas Kuebel is fatally wounded by the gunman holding his wife and father-in-law hostage in the house and dies a few hours later.

2009
Neighbors awoke to barking dogs and the sound of police cars converging on the corner of La Manda Boulevard and Neer Avenue, near the Westfall Library branch,  on the North Side early this morning.  Responding to a 6 a.m. disturbance call, the officers disarmed and took into custody a neighborhood intruder – a 4-foot alligator.  They couldn’t get hold of a game warden at that hour, so they duct-taped the reptile’s jaw shut and put it in the back of a van used for transporting prisoners. No other prisoners were in the van at the time.

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.”

February 14 in San Antonio history…

1896
Lovers of that delicious dish, chili con carne, may be slightly nauseated to learn that vendors of this delicacy on the plaza get their water from the ditch that runs in front of San Fernando Cathedral.

1916
Second lieutenant and future President Dwight D. Eisenhower, stationed at Ft. Sam Houston,  proposes to Mamie Doud.  She accepts.

1965
The San Antonio Express begins an Old Photo contest (right) to commemorate their 100th anniversary.  The grand prize is $50.00 (nearly $450.00 in today’s money.)

December 23 in San Antonio history…

1820
Moses Austin arrives in San Antonio where he will meet with Mexican authorities to ask permission for 300 Anglo families to settle in Texas.

1894
The Hot Wells Hotel is consumed by fire.  Owner McLellan Shacklett, asleep in a nearby building, awakens and helps to rescue guests, including his own mother.  The hotel, constructed about a year ago at a cost of $17,000, is completely destroyed.

1896
Marshal Druse has again issued strict orders to the police to stop all shooting of fireworks on public streets tonight, tomorrow and the rest of the holidays.

November 28 in San Antonio history…

1730
Sixteen immigrant families from the Canary Islands arrive in San Antonio.

1896
The San Antonio baseball club is organized.

1943
Lt. James N. Poindexter, a graduate of Brackenridge High School and St. Mary’s University, recently shot down three German fighters in his Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. [Maj. Poindexter was killed when his plane crashed in England on January 3, 1945.]

July 26 in San Antonio history…

1896
The Ursuline Convent is now being thoroughly repainted in every part and all panels, walls, lintels and doors nicely grained. Such treatment of the entire building will do much to spark it up.

1975 
The San Antonio Wings of the World Football League play their home opener at Alamo Stadium against the Charlotte Hornets in front of 12,325 fans.  The Wings win, 27-10.  However, the WFL folds in October.

1981
The first jazz mass ever celebrated at a Catholic church in this area – and possibly in the entire Southwest – is held in San Fernando Cathedral.  Jim Cullum and the Happy Jazz Band provided their interpretations of hymns and spirituals to a 7:30 p.m. service conducted by Father Louis White.

April 14 in San Antonio history…

1896
It was revealed that a large amount of opposition to the new location of the ball park comes from delivery drivers who used to stop and watch the games at the old park.  The new park is too far for them.

1917
The San Antonio Light reports that General Pershing threw out the first pitch (to Mayor Clinton Brown) to begin the season yesterday at League Park. However the San Antonio Bronchos lost to the Beaumont Oilers, 7 to 4.

1942
This is the day that businessmen neglect their business, professional men neglect their secretaries and office boys beg off for grandmother’s funeral.  It’s major league baseball opening day.

March 28 in San Antonio history…

1896
If the bill now pending in the House is passed, a national sanitarium may be established in San Antonio.

1906
The San Antonio River, which has been at low ebb for several months, experienced a rise this morning following a heavy downpour of rain.

1999
Travis Park United Methodist Church begins feeding the homeless with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, pancakes and coffee.  It is called “Café Corazon.”

February 14 in San Antonio history…

1896
Lovers of that delicious dish, chili con carne, may be slightly nauseated to learn that vendors of this delicacy on the plaza get their water from the ditch that runs in front of San Fernando Cathedral.

1916
Second lieutenant and future President Dwight D. Eisenhower, stationed at Ft. Sam Houston,  proposes to Mamie Doud.  She accepts.

1982
The Irish now-supergroup U2 (right) makes their first appearance in San Antonio, playing at Cardi’s – a briefly renamed Randy’s Rodeo, promoting their current album “October.”  Tickets were $4. (Photo by Al Rendon)