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.”

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

1955
Local television station WOAI Channel 4 begins broadcasting in color from its studios today.  WOAI is the sixteenth station in the world to be equipped to telecast live local color programs.  The station has invested $500,000 in new equipment and construction to facilitate color broadcasting.  The WOAI-TV color system is compatible with black and white so that all viewers without color televisions will be able to view the broadcasts in monochrome.

October 9 in San Antonio history…

1955
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus performs under the big top in San Antonio for the last time.  All future performances will be in existing coliseums and stadiums.

1962
Hanger 14, a wooden aircraft hangar constructed at Brooks Field in 1917, catches fire and burns to the ground.  Six fire units, three from Brooks and three from San Antonio, fought the blaze on the structure.  There were several explosions when high-pressure oxygen tanks and blank 20-mm ejection seat shells were set off by the fire.

1986
The 5,400-square-foot mural by Roland Rodriguez, painted on the façade of the Hemisfair Arena, entitled “Victory and Triumph,” is dedicated.  Unfortunately, the mural is destroyed when the Arena is razed in 1995.

September 29 in San Antonio history…

1890
Ground is broken for the erection of the West End Female college at 10 o’clock this morning. (It would open in 1894 as San Antonio Female College.)

1955
San Antonio’s largest building, the Transit Tower, is sold to the Citizen’s Republic Insurance Company for $1 million.

1967
President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks in the La Villita Assembly Hall for the state dinner of the National Legislative Conference.

September 2 in San Antonio history…

1955
The San Antonio Independent School District integrates previously all-white schools with absolutely no racial flareups.

1975
Classes begin for the first time at the brand new 1604 campus of UTSA.

2006
Lake Travis quarterback Garrett Gilbert throws for 348 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Texas City in the Alamodome.

August 29 in San Antonio history…

1940
City commissioners adopt a resolution renaming Riverside Theater for the late Edwin P. Arneson.

1955
The first black students in San Antonio’s history to be accepted for classes in public high schools with white students have been enrolled in Edgewood High School.

1990
A hearing on the Edwards Aquifer is held in the Convention Center regarding a catfish farm, slated to go into operation in September, that will use 11,000 acre-feet of water per year.

August 17 in San Antonio history…

1928
The Uptown Theater at West Ashby and Fredericksburg Road holds its grand opening.  The new theater is owned and operated by the Victor Theater Company, which has been operating in San Antonio nearly a year.  One of the features of the new theater is the offering of a family ticket, which will admit a whole family at nominal cost.

1955
More than 30 youngsters who share Davy Crockett’s August 17 birthday date gathered to whoop it up at a Chamber of Commerce-sponsored party in Brackenridge Park today.  Sporting coonskin caps and Davy Crockett t-shirts, they gathered around TV star Johnny Lane who led them in singing “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” and “Home on the Range.”

1956
The Edwards Aquifer reaches its lowest recorded level at 612.5 feet.

July 13 in San Antonio history…

1880
The San Antonio Daily Herald newspaper ceases publication.

1895
Staacke Brothers warned San Antonians to “beware of quacks” and buy nothing but Studebaker wagons for fine transportation.

1955
San Antonio Independent School District votes to integrate beginning in the fall.

June 11 in San Antonio history…

1918
The City Council is considering purchase of several lots for the creation of Romana Plaza at the junction of Soledad, Romana, Camden, Main and San Pedro. The triangular plaza would also include property of the Main Avenue fire station.

1955
San Antonio Junior Colleges desegregate. Hubert F. Lindsey & Lonnie Deadrick become the  first African-Americans to enroll at San Antonio College. E. C. Obenshain becomes the first Anglo to enroll at St. Philip’s College.

2009
The statue of St. Anthony de Padua is moved from its location in front of the courthouse to a new location in Main Plaza near San Fernando Cathedral.  The statue was a gift from the Order of the Alhambra in 1955.  A statue of Lady Justice will replace St. Anthony on the courthouse grounds.

June 10 in San Antonio history…

1955
Television station KCOR Channel 41 (now KWEX) takes to the airwaves as the country’s first Spanish language TV station.

1958
San Jose Mission State Park has been given a federal grant of $45,000 for reconstruction of its outdoor theater.  $3,000 of the grant will be available right away in preparation of the 3-week “Drama of the Alamo,” beginning June 21.  The rest of the $42,000 will be made available on July 1.

1976
Last night, Saul Palacios, security guard at the Tower of the Americas, prevented a woman from being the third person to commit suicide by jumping from the top of the tower.  The first was in March 1970 and the second in August 1974.

June 8 in San Antonio history…

San Antonio Express advertisement

1955
Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, stars of the new Disney movie “Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier” are in San Antonio for the movie’s world premiere at the Majestic Theater tonight (right).

1955
A $17,000,000 project to overhaul and upgrade San Antonio schools for the next five years begins today.  Projects include the construction of a new gymnasium for Brackenridge High School and the construction of an auditorium at Lanier High School.

1999
British rock band Def Leppard plays in the parking lot for the grand opening of the new Walmart store at I-10 and DeZavala Road.