October 24 in San Antonio history…

1909
Bexar County commissioners soon may be joyriding in an automobile. A. E. Staacke Automobile Co. has been awarded a contract to supply the county with a 1910 model seven-passenger, 40-horsepower Knox touring car for $3,350.

1960
The epic John Wayne movie The Alamo has its world premiere at the Woodlawn Theater on Fredricksburg Road in San Antonio.

2013
After decades of delivering books to underserved areas, the San Antonio Public Library’s Bookmobile makes its last run along San Antonio’s streets.

October 22 in San Antonio history…

1911
Cal P. Rogers lands his “Vin Fiz Flyer,” a Wright Model B airplane, at Ft. Sam Houston.  Rogers left Brooklyn, New York on Sept. 17 and is attempting to become the first person to fly across the country.  (He eventually made it in December after 75 stops and 16 crashes.)

1960
John Wayne appears at Handy-Andy in Wonderland Mall to cut an Alamo-shaped cake commemorating the San Antonio premiere of his movie, “The Alamo.”

1962
The headline of the San Antonio Express newspaper hints at a “new Cuban crisis,” but the fact that Soviet nuclear missiles are stationed in Cuba has been kept from the American public since their discovery six days ago.

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 13 in San Antonio history…

1947
For a full hour, three times daily and uninterrupted except for 15 minutes of cowboy music, the commercial use of television is being demonstrated on the fourth floor of Joske’s – the first display of television in the state of Texas.  Some of the spectators have made inquiries about the cost of the television machines and if they are for sale.  They can be purchased for about $350 ($4,609.28 in 2022 dollars!) and stored in the attic until television is here to stay.

1960
The Dallas Cowboys play their first game in the state of Texas right here in San Antonio – an exhibition game in Alamo Stadium against the newly relocated (from Chicago) St. Louis Cardinals.  The Cardinals, featuring Texas Aggies John David Crow &  Bobby Joe Conrad, win, 20-13.

1997
Northside School District opens three new elementary schools – Monroe May , Virginia Myers and Henry Steubing – thanks to a $98 million bond package approved by voters in 1995.

August 4 in San Antonio history…

1891
The City Council passes the “Bawdy House Ordinance,” legalizing and licensing houses of prostitution.

1960
Ground is broken on the new outer loop north of the city (Loop 1604).

1982
FCC Administrative Law Judge Joseph Stirmer awards Alamo Broadcasting Co. permission to build a new television station to broadcast on UHF Channel 29.

1983
An overnight two-alarm blaze suspected to have been caused by an arsonist, causes $10,000 damage to this historic Yturri house located at 327 S. Presa.  The house dates from 1817. 

May 11 in San Antonio history…

1960
In Corporation Court today, Eugene “Mike” Nolte, Republican party leader, is found not guilty of slapping Rev. Earl J. Gordon during a May 3 protest in front of Joske’s segregated Camelia Room restaurant.   Nolte stated that he slapped Gordon while breaking through the protest line which was preventing him from entering the dining room.  Rev. Gordon, who had been charged with disturbing the peace, was also found not guilty.

1966
“Tower of the Americas”, the name suggested by Rosa Gonzalez of Corpus Christi, is chosen as the official name of the 622-foot tall HemisFair tower. Ms. Gonzalez won a three-day expenses-paid stay at the Menger Hotel for herself and her immediate family, a $100 savings bond and a season pass to HemisFair. The names chosen as runners-up were: Hemispire, Hemistower, Astroshaft, Astrospire, Astrotower, Stratospire, Spire of the Americas and Tower of Peace.

1979
Contributions to the Express-News sniper fund, to benefit needy victims of the Battle of Flowers shooting, have reached $12,675.  The fund is co-sponsored by KONO/KITY radio and KENS 5 TV.

April 30 in San Antonio history…

1884
The City Brewery (Pearl) holds its grand opening.

1960
A number of African-Americans boycott Joske’s to protest the segregation of the store’s restaurants, the Chuck Wagon and Camelia Room.

1966
The contract to build a 650-foot tower at the HemisFair site was awarded today to D.J. Rheiner Construction Company.  Architectural details for the unnamed tower will be released within 60 days.

April 28 in San Antonio history…

1928
The City-Central Bank and Trust Company is formed with the merger of three San Antonio banks, The City National Bank, The Guaranty State Bank and The Central Trust Company.  Despite being one of the largest banks in San Antonio, they will not survive the Great Depression.

1960
Joske’s closes the Chuckwagon and Camelia Room restaurants when African-American customers ask for service there.

1961
For 30 minutes today, beginning at 3 p.m., San Antonio is “under attack.”   At that time, according to Martin M. Eser, co-ordinator, city and county civil defense mechanisms swing into action. And theoretically, not actually, the entire population of San Antonio is evacuated. Eser said: “City and county governmental functions, again in theory, were to be transferred to Leon Springs and Cascade Caverns.  Eser said city officials did not go these alternate headquarters, but civil defense units set up communications at these points. San Antonio’s dry run for disaster is part of the massive nation-wide exercise called “Operation Alert — 1961.”

March 16 in San Antonio history…

1956
City Council promised a delegation of 12 Negroes that action would be taken on the repeal of the “Juneteenth ordinance” from last year designating all but two city swimming pools for whites only. The repeal will come before April 14, the day that San Pedro Pool is scheduled to open.  San Pedro is one of the nine segregated pools.  The repeal ordinance drafted by City Attorney Cadena is also expected to remove any segregation in city buildings during public functions, but will not affect the Alamo Heights swimming pool, which is on city-owned property leased by that municipality.

1960
Six downtown stores and a city-wide drugstore integrate lunch counters and cafeterias. The stores were: Woolworth’s, Kress, Neisner’s, Grant’s, Green’s, McCrory’s Variety Store and Sommer’s Drug Stores.

1982
Tommy Tutone, with their new song “867-5309/Jenny” just breaking into the Billboard Top 40, plays Rock Saloon.

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.