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.

September 23 in San Antonio history…

1950
The Fiesta Drive-In opens at 5545 W. Commerce Street. It closed Sept. 1, 1970.

1960
North Star Mall opens at the corner of San Pedro and Loop 410.

2002
KMOL-TV (Channel 4) returns to their pre-1975 call letters of WOAI-TV.

August 16 in San Antonio history..

1950
The Northside Rural High School District is formed.

1977
San Antonians mourn the death of singer Elvis Presley, who died at age 42 at his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee early this morning.

1999
North East School District opens their first new high school since 1976 – Ronald Reagan High School – off Huebner Road north of Loop 1604.

 

 

March 29 in San Antonio history…

1924
The city has indicated that they will not approve a request for the Ku Klux Klan to march in the electrical parade of the Fiesta San Jacinto.

1950
At the request of Joe Freeman, the court rescinded an order last Oct. 26 naming the coliseum the Joe Freeman Coliseum.

1962
McCreless Shopping City (right) holds its grand opening celebration.  The new mall contains the city’s second Montgomery Ward department store.

March 8 in San Antonio history…

1936
The Studer Photo Company acquires the property at 402 San Pedro (right) for their new headquarters.

1950
The Olmos Theater (right) opens showing “The Girl from Manhattan”, starring Dorothy Lamour and Charles Laughton.

1990
The Express-News reports that Dr. Amy Freeman Lee will be stepping down as chairwoman of the Incarnate Word College board of trustees in May at the end of the current academic year.  She will deliver her last commencement speech at this year’s graduation.

February 11 in San Antonio history…

1930
Hundreds of panicked small depositors cause a run on the City-Central Bank at the corner of Houston and Navarro Streets.  Hundreds of people clog Houston Street until closing time at 3 p.m., requiring a police squad.  The average amount paid out to each depositor is $31.

1950
Professional basketball comes to San Antonio for the first time with a matinee game and an evening doubleheader at Alamo Stadium gym.  The matinee game features the Harlem Globetrotters versus the New York Celtics.  The evening games are the New York Celtics against the Philadelphia Sphas and the Globetrotters against the Philadelphia Giants.

1976
The American Freedom Train (right) arrives in San Antonio for a four-day visit to celebrate the Bicentennial.

February 10 in San Antonio history…

1870
A resolution is passed by city council to donate 40 acres of ground to the military on the eastern  portion of the city, on the site of the government corral near the present site of the post.  By this  grant, San Antonio won the military from Austin.

1950
The Harlem Globetrotters add an afternoon game vs. the New York Celtics because of high demand for tomorrow night’s double-header in the Alamo Stadium gymnasium.  The Globetrotters are scheduled to play the Philadelphia Giants in the second game of the evening.  The Philadelphia SPHA and New York teams will battle in the first game.  The south side of the gym has been reserved for negro fans and the north side for whites.

1996
Bruce Willis, Tom Arnold, Luke Perry, Patrick Swayze, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jennifer Love Hewitt are a few of the celebrities seen on the Riverwalk for the grand opening of San Antonio’s new Planet Hollywood restaurant.

February 6 in San Antonio history

1918
The right of the board of education to require vaccination as a prerequisite for admission to the San Antonio public schools was sustained by the Fourth Court of Civil Appears in an opinion handed down today in the case of Ferd Staffel et. al. vs. the San Antonio Board of Education.

1950
An invitation to inspect the new Coliseum was issued to the public by E. W. Bickett, Coliseum manager. Bickett stated that the building will be open every day for public inspection, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, and that visitors would be welcome to inspect the grounds and facilities that will house the San Antonio Livestock Exposition and Autry-Colborn World’s Championship Rodeo, Feb. 17-26.

1974
George Gervin, the fourth leading scorer in the ABA with a 25.3 average, is now a San Antonio Spur—for at least 10 days. U.S. District Judge Adrian Spears ruled today that Gervin cannot play for any other team in the ABA during the next 10 days. Judge Spears stressed that he did not rule that Gervin had to play for S.A. His ruling meant only that if Gervin is to play in the ABA in the next 10 days, it had to be for the Spurs. Shortly after Spears made his decision about 4:30 p.m., the Spurs held a news conference which Gervin attended. They announced that the 6-7, 180-pound sharpshooter would wear jersey No. 44 and play for the Spurs tomorrow night in the Convention Center Arena against the Utah Stars.

January 30 in San Antonio history…

1950
Local supervisors have begun the recruiting of 450 field enumerators for the 1950 census taking.  Aiding Donald H. Hogan, district supervisor, in preliminary work is Mrs. Mary B. Huntress, assistant district supervisor.

1958
A plan for a “hemisfair” – a world’s fair for Latin American countries and the U.S. – was being considered today.  A chamber of commerce committee decided to probe the possibility of having such a fair in 1960.

1971
The mercury soars to a balmy 89 degrees in the Alamo City.  Still a record for the date and the warmest temperature ever for January.

January 19 in San Antonio history…

1950
The new H. L. Green store (right), built on the site of the old Grand Opera House at Crockett and Alamo Streets, holds its grand opening.  Artifacts from the Grand Opera House were given to the Witte Museum.

1958
San Antonio oilman-scientist Tom Slick said today it is “entirely possible” a Russian scientist’s claim he spotted two “Abominable Snowmen” is true.  Last year Slick led an expedition in which he photographed tracks believed to have been made by the elusive Himalayan creatures.

1988
The Hertzberg clock, a San Antonio landmark since 1878, was removed today from its corner at Houston and St. Mary’s streets and stored at the La Vernia Clock Works in La Vernia. It will be reinstalled when TriParty construction is completed around the location.