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 19 in San Antonio history…

1840
The Council House Fight takes place in the building across San Fernando Cathedral. The meeting took place under a truce with the purpose of negotiating peace after two years of war between the Comanche Indians and the Republic of Texas. The Comanches sought to obtain recognition of the boundaries of the Comancheria, their homeland. The Texans wanted the release of Texan and Mexican captives held by the Comanches. The event ended with 12 Comanche leaders shot to death in the Council House, 23 shot in the streets of San Antonio, and 30 taken captive. The incident ended the chance for peace and led to years of hostility and war.

1910
Edward Rand purchases the de la Garza homestead for $200,000 for the future home of Rand Building (Wolff & Marx.)

1941
Construction of a portion of the Harry Wurzbach Memorial highway leading to Camp Bullis, a project involving the expenditure of more than $400.000, was approved today by the WPA. This link will begin at West avenue and extend northwest to the south line of Camp Bullis, a distance of seven and one-half miles. The entire Memorial highway will extend 17 miles, linking the camp with Fort Sam Houston and costing a total of more than $1,000,000.
(This road is known today as Northwest Military Highway.)

March 12 in San Antonio history…

1910
Much attention is given to the operation of automobiles in the new ordinance.  No greater speed than 15 miles per hour within the city limits is permitted.

1960
The San Antonio Youth Council of the NAACP sends out letters to six local businesses requesting that they desegregate their lunch counters.  Harry V. Burns, state youth director for the NAACP, says the plan is to work out a desegregation plan that everyone could observe at once, thus putting no one in the position of being first.  Burns indicated that unless Negroes are seated and served generally, they will plan at this Thursday’s meeting a series of sitdown campaigns in the manner of those conducted recently in other southern cities.

2015
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush terminates the 110-year custodianship of the Alamo by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

February 13 in San Antonio history…

1910
Work is progressing on an aeroplane shed at Fort Sam Houston to house the new Wright aeroplane.

1913
On this day in 1913, Ignacio E. Lozano founded La Prensa, a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in San Antonio to address the needs of Mexicans residing temporarily in the United States who wished to follow events in Mexico, which was engulfed in the Mexican Revolution.

1930
The City-Central Bank and Trust Company places this full-page advertisement to combat “false rumors” as to the stability of the bank.  The ad lists an affirmation from the Texas Commissioner of Banking, James Shaw, a financial statement and a list of prominent investors.

February 3 in San Antonio history…

1910
The Wright aeroplane which was received in this city by the Wells-Fargo Express company yesterday was transferred to the government railroad spur that terminates on Grayson street at the Post, under the personal supervision of Mr. Heyck, the agent for the express company, this morning.

1922
The Ku Klux Klan, hooded, clad in white, visits Travis Park Methodist Church, and makes a $100 donation.

1989
A new 90-foot tall, $650,000 Ferris wheel debuts at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo carnival.  “It’s brand new,” says ride technician Kenny Hebert of Thibodeaux, La.  “The only other time this ride as been together is when they assembled it at the factory, piece by piece.”

March 19 in San Antonio history…

1910
Edward Rand purchases the de la Garza homestead for $200,000 for the future home of Rand Building (Wolff & Marx.)

1932
Thomas Jefferson High School (right) is dedicated.

1968
More than one million general admission gate tickets for HemisFair have arrived in San Antonio.  About 5 1/2 million tickets have been printed and will be shipped here when a dent has been made in the first shipment.

February 22 in San Antonio history…

1910
Louis Paulhan, “King of the Air,” flew his aeroplane over the city today.  He attained an altitude of 2,500 feet flying from Kirby to San Antonio and return, a distance of 18 miles in 21 minutes.
[This was the first airplane flight in Texas.  Benjamin Foulois made the second, and the first military flight, on March 2, 1910]

1937
The Ripley’s Believe It or Not appearing in the San Antonio Light features a dog owned by Mr. C. F. Schultz of St. Paul, Minnesota (right).  A picture of the dog is drawn by his son, Sparky.  Charles “Sparky” Schultz.  The dog is named Spike, and will be the model for Snoopy in the future “Peanuts” comic strip.

1946
Tex Ritter appears in a stage show at the Texas Theater.

October 15 in San Antonio history…

1910
The Hertzberg Clock is removed from 329 Commerce Street and moved to its new home on Houston Street. The clock works are removed and the old clock is transported through the streets by wagon. One bystander says, “Well, I guess I will have to buy me a watch now. As long as that clock was in place, I didn’t need one. It was watch enough for the whole neighborhood.”

1938
The Alamo Museum, built with Texas Centennial funds, is dedicated. Ceremonies are held in the new State Park surrounding the Alamo chapel.

1951
“I Love Lucy” premieres at 7:00 p.m. on WOAI-TV (right).

 

March 19 in San Antonio history…

1840
The Council House Fight takes place in the building across San Fernando Cathedral. The meeting took place under a truce with the purpose of negotiating peace after two years of war between the Comanche Indians and the Republic of Texas. The Comanches sought to obtain recognition of the boundaries of the Comancheria, their homeland. The Texans wanted the release of Texan and Mexican captives held by the Comanches. The event ended with 12 Comanche leaders shot to death in the Council House, 23 shot in the streets of San Antonio, and 30 taken captive. The incident ended the chance for peace and led to years of hostility and war.

1910
Edward Rand purchases the de la Garza homestead for $200,000 for the future home of Rand Building (Wolff & Marx.)

1952
The National Broadcasting Company announced today that orders have been placed with the Telephone Company for the completion of a microwave relay circuit to bring live television network shows direct to San Antonio on or around July 1st. That means that WOAI television viewers will be able to see and hear the Republican and Democratic National Conventions right from Chicago this July.

March 2 in San Antonio history..

1836
Texas declares independence from Mexico at Washington-On-The-Brazos.

1910
The first flight in a military airplane occurred at Fort Sam Houston by Lt. Benjamin Foulois, flying Army Aeroplane #1. (second from right)

1983
Canadian rock trio Rush, with the Dutch opening act Golden Earring, draw a crowd of 13,281 to the show in Hemisfair Arena. (RIP Neil Peart)