September 12 in San Antonio history…

1884
The Lone Star Brewery is opened for business.

1912
The project to widen Commerce Street is begun. During the four year widening project on Commerce Street many buildings are either totally demolished or lose several yards of their original structure. The new five story Alamo National Bank building, is physically raised and moved back while work continues uninterrupted within it. With the movement of the bank building the entire project came to almost $1.5 Million. This is the equivalent to around $21 Million in today’s money.

1970
The first McDonald’s restaurant opens in San Antonio at 1330 S. Laredo St.

July 9 in San Antonio history…

1912
San Antonio today paid its last respects to the late Mayor Bryan Callaghan. Thousands visited the Callaghan home on Crockett St., where the body lay in state, and viewed the features of the man who for nearly a score of years held the highest executive office in the Alamo City.

1943
A new employee at the San Antonio National Bank, 213 W. Commerce, stepped on the burglar alarm button, causing 10 police cars to dash to the bank.

1976
Plans for a $16.1 million expansion at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio were approved today by the UT System regents. Officials said the construction will add 179,012 square feet, and is expected to be completed in about 30 months.

May 5 in San Antonio history…

1731
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña is established.

1884
The Maverick Bank building, at the corner of Alamo Plaza and Houston Street, is begun.

1912
Little is left now of the collection of rock and adobe hovels which formerly encumbered the block bounded by Soledad, Veramendi, Houston and Main. They have been torn down to make room for the new Wolff & Marx.

March 18 in San Antonio history…

1912
The explosion of a locomotive boiler at the roundhouse of the Southern Pacific Railway kills 26 and injures 40.

1977
A millionaire Los Angeles woman leaves her brother-in-law, a member of a wealthy pioneer Hill Country family, almost $3 million – but only if he buries her next to her husband in her expensive Italian sports car with the seat “reclined at a comfortable angle.”

1995
Tejano superstar Selena plays her last San Antonio concert at Tejano Wave on Perrin-Beitel road.

December 10 in San Antonio history…

1912
The city’s first F.W. Woolworth & Co. store opens at the corner of  Houston & Alamo streets (right).

1971
Savoy Brown, Atomic Rooster and Chicken Shack play a concert in Municipal Auditorium.

1974
On the 25th anniversary of the station, WOAI-TV changes their call letters to KMOL.

October 30 in San Antonio history…

1912
A tragic fire at St. John’s Orphans Home (right), on the corner of San Saba and W. Houston Street, kills six nuns and three orphans.

1938
Radio station KTSA broadcasts “Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre” featuring a radio drama of H. G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” from 7 to 8 p.m.  Despite announcements before, during and after the program, some frightened radio listeners believe it is a real invasion of aliens from Mars.

1975
Montgomery Ward opens their third San Antonio location – a brand new 194,000 sq. ft. store in Windsor Park Mall.  Metro manager J. V. Johnson announces plans for expanding the Wonderland and McCreeless stores in the near future also.

October 10 in San Antonio history…

1912
Butter Krust bread is first placed on the market by Richter’s Steam Bakery. (right)

1973
The Spurs play their very first regular season ABA game against the San Diego Conquistadors.  San Diego erupts for 48 points in the final quarter, storming back from a deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to claim a 121-106 victory over the Spurs. San Antonio blows a 77-73 lead coming into the final quarter.

1991
City Council authorizes city staff to proceed with preliminary planning to move the council chambers out of City Hall and into the historic Main Plaza Building. The move, according to the most inexpensive option outlined by the staff, will cost $1.5 million.

June 28 in San Antonio history…

1912
Within a few days it will be possible to tell the time by looking at the clock in the tower of the city hall. The machinery has been repaired and work was begun today painting the four faces.

1925
Fort Sam Houston and San Antonio officials turn out to welcome Col. Billy Mitchell as new air officer for the VIII Corps area.

1977
Construction workers began lifting the roof of the Convention Center Arena in order to add 6,000 extra seats.  The 2,260-ton roof will take three days to be raised 33 feet.  The construction work should be completed in the fall of 1978.

January 6 in San Antonio history…

1912
The purchase of an automobile delivery car by Washer Bros. marks another step in the elimination of the horsedrawn vehicle as a means of bundle delivery in San Antonio.

1979
The 52-year-old Municipal Auditorium is gutted by fire. The cause of the blaze is attributed to a discarded cigarette.

1993
A team of 20 archaeologists digging in the now-drained San Antonio River believe they may have found up to 20 missing Alamo cannons.

October 31 in San Antonio history…

1913
Beethoven Hall. South Alamo street, San Antonio’s largest auditorium, was partially destroyed by a fire that broke out at 10:45 p.m. this evening. The building, valued at $40,000, suffered damages of $25,000, it was estimated today. The origin of the blaze has not yet been fully determined. Delay in sounding the alarm permitted the fire  to gain great headway, as members of the Beethoven Maennerchor in the club room did not heed cries of “fire,” believing practical jokers were intent on making them victims of a Hallowe’en prank.

1938
George Johnson, station manager, of KTSA reports in the San Antonio Light that received a call from an official at Fort Sam Houston who asked “what in the hell are you doing?” during last night’s broadcast of “War of the Worlds.”

1993
An artic cold front brings a record low temperature of 27 degrees to San Antonio and breaks a number of records. It is the earliest day in San Antonio history that the temperature has dropped into the 20’s.