September 19 in San Antonio history…

1880
The first issue of the San Antonio Daily Times is printed.

1932
Alfredo Codona and Vera Bruce marry in the Gunter Hotel today.  They are both aerialists with the Ringling Brothers – Barnum & Bailey Circus which is in town.  Special guests at the wedding are members of the Circus Fans of America, who are holding their annual convention in the Alamo City to coincide with the circus.  President of the club is Harry Hertzberg.  The Codonas love story would end tragically five years later.

1939
The first appointee if the police department’s new “petticoat squad” took up her duties today.  She is Miss Dorothy Streigler, 704 E. Euclid, one of ten women who will be hired to handle the filing of police records.

August 15 in San Antonio history…

1932
Despite a wire report saying that his decapitated body had been found in El Paso, kidnapped Deputy Sheriff Joe Johns of Carlsbad, New Mexico was found to be alive and well when he walked into the sheriff’s office here today.  His kidnappers, two men and an 18 year-old girl referred to as “Honey,”  abducted him yesterday and drove about 1,000 miles in 13 hours, zig-zagging through Wink, Kermit, Big Lake, Piote, San Angelo and finally San Antonio.  They dropped him off on the old Vance-Jackson road where a farmer, Mr. C. J. Webster brought him to town.  Johns said he would start back to New Mexico after sharing a visit and a meal with his nephew, Sam Johns, of 321 Barnett Place.  (The kidnappers were Raymond Hamilton, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.)

1947
Playland Park introduces the new “Rocket” rollercoaster.

1984
The San Pedro Drive-In, located at San Pedro Avenue and Bitters Road, closes.

August 2 in San Antonio history…

1932
Tax collector Maury Maverick sends a donation of $50 to be used for caring for members of the “veteran’s bonus army” now quartered in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.  The telegram follows:  “Herewith is $50 for bonus veterans, the gift of my aged mother, who only wishes she could send more.  I commend your manly attitude for right and justice.  The country applauds you.”

advertisement, San Antonio Light, 2 August 1968, p. 7A

1968
The Jolly Jack restaurant (right) holds its grand opening at 4318 Broadway, offering free soft drinks and free pirate hats.

1979
Joske’s holds the first day of a disco dancing contest to win an appearance in the upcoming Allan Carr film tentatively titled “Discoland.”  [Allan Carr was the producer of “Grease.” “Discoland” would be released in 1980 as “Can’t Stop the Music.”]

January 17 in San Antonio history…

1932
The new Central Catholic High School is dedicated.

1968
Work on lifting the tophouse of the Tower of the Americas was halted for about an hour today by a power failure in the downtown area.  The City Public Service Board said the failure was caused when a truck brushed against a power line at Crockett and Elm streets about 9:35 a.m.  A short in the high voltage line knocked out a transformer.

1986
The 17th Annual Great Country River Festival kicks off in Convention Center Banquet Hall #1 with George Chambers and the Country Gentlemen, Dottsy, Billy Joe Royal, Bobby Jenkins and his band and an unknown Randy Travis.

January 7 in San Antonio history…

1927
The first talking picture is shown as a press premiere at the Aztec Theater:  “Don Juan” starring John Barrymore (right)

1957
Commissioner Albert Pena Jr. termed a proposed plan to fingerprint all county employees a “fundamental invasion of privacy and a violation of civil liberties.”

1986
A wind chill as low as 10 below zero is predicted for tomorrow in San Antonio with snow or freezing rain possible in the Hill Country.

October 18 in San Antonio history…

1909
No less than 50,000 people packed Alamo Plaza today on the occasion of President Taft’s first public speech in this city. Other thousands lined the streets to get a glimpse of the distinguished visitor.

1932
At the instigation of Maury Maverick, the War Veteran’s Relief Camp is organized at Exposition Park where remnants of the Bonus Army are camping.  Maverick is designated the camp director and R. R. Rogers is Camp Commander.  The camp census lists forty-three adults and thirty-two children and is a place where veterans and transients can obtain a meal and a place to sleep.

2009
Early morning worshipers preparing for Mass at San Fernando Cathedral hear a man shouting obscenities in Main Plaza.  The agitated man runs through the plaza, picks up a rock and throws it at the head of the marble statue of St. Anthony de Padua (right), causing the head to detach from the body and fall to the ground.  The head is being kept inside the cathedral.  The agitated vandal is unknown.

August 2 in San Antonio history…

 

1932
All-female Westmoorland College will admit boys as day students in all departments when the fall season opens, the college president announced.

1968
The Jolly Jack restaurant holds its grand opening at 4318 Broadway, offering free soft drinks and free pirate hats. (right)

1968
The charge for the use of the photocopy machine at the new Main Library will be reduced from 25 cents to 10 cents.  According to the director, the reduced fee will be in effect on an experimental basis.  If volume increased, the 10-cent rate will remain permanent.
(The cost is now only 20 cents.  Still a bargain!)

 

June 6 in San Antonio history…

1932
Future astronaut, David Scott (right), is the first boy born to an officer stationed at Randolph AFB and is given Randolph as a middle name.

1944
Seventy-seven years ago today, the long-anticipated Allied invasion of the European continent begins.  Today is D-Day!  The invasion force of 156,000 Allied troops, along with 5,000 ships and landing craft and 11,000 planes fight the German defenders along the beaches of Normandy, France.

1987
The Bangles, with opening act Cutting Crew, play a show in Sunken Garden Theater.

June 3 in San Antonio history…

1932
Forty-four married women employed in the San Antonio schools lost their jobs today when the board of education agreed not to reappoint married women whose husbands are making $2000 or more annually.

1954
The Varsity drive-in theater, of which Jack C. Williams is manager, takes the wraps off its new “Texas style” screen— 40 feet high and 100 feet wide (right)—with the showing of the CinemaScope western, “The Command.”

1954
Color television arrived in San Antonio today but it will be some time before the average person will be able to afford and enjoy it in his home.  The first color TV programs were broadcast by WOAI – the “Today” show from 6 to 8 a.m. and “Home” from 9 to 10 a.m.  For the present time, no color programs in color will originate locally.  The programs were available for viewing in color at the Wolff & Marx department store on a handmade television with a 14-inch screen.

May 9 in San Antonio history…

1932
The USS Akron, mightiest of the dirigibles, passed over the Smith-Young Tower at dusk today. Harold O. Rosendahl, 1934 W. Magnolia, sent a message to his brother Charles E. Rosendahl, commanding the ship. (The Akron would be involved in an accident two days later in San Diego leading to the deaths of two Navy sailors.)

1940
Stinson Field & Cemetery, Harlandale, Olmos Terrace, Spanish Acres, West Woodlawn and Hot Wells are all incorporated into the city.

1976
CIA Director George Bush told a Trinity University audience yesterday he would withhold sensitive information from Congress if he were certain the information would be leaked to the public.