July 28 in San Antonio history…

1941
Earl “Fatha” Hines performs at the Library Auditorium (now the Carver Center) on Hackberry Street.

1969
KENS Channel 5 airs “The Harlem Cultural Festival,” an hour-long special featuring the 5th Dimension, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, The Chambers Brothers, and the Edwin Hawkins Singers (right).

1988
Rolling Oaks Mall opens at Nacogdoches and Loop 1604.  Phase One, with 570,000 square feet of leasable area, features Dillards, Sears, Circus World, County Seat, Deck the Walls, Everything’s a Dollar, Foot Action, Hasting’s Records, Naturalizer, Radio Shack, The Accessory Store, Unique Creations, Waldenbooks, Woolworth Express, Zales and six Santikos theaters. The mall also contains 14 restaurants and a 400-seat dining area. Designed to grow with the community, Rolling Oaks plans to add four major department stores and one junior department store by the year 1990 — increasing the mall’s leasable space to 1.2 million square feet.

June 5 in San Antonio history…

1923
The San Antonio Bears (now Missions) baseball team introduces uniforms that, for the first time, include numbers.

1969
The University of Texas at San Antonio is established on this date.

1981
300 teenage boys and girls from around South Texas participate in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps camp at Camp Bullis where they get experience with weaponry such as the M-16, the M-60 machine gun and the M203 grenade launcher.

April 11 in San Antonio history…

1957
The “Brackenridge Eagle” miniature train begins operation in Brackenridge Park.  This is a “soft opening.”  35,000 passengers will ride the train before the grand opening is held on June 14.

1969
Gus Mutscher, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, said today that he sees a four-year, state-supported college, a dental school and a nursing school “headed in the direction of San Antonio.”

1977
A $11,097,995 contract was awarded to Browning Construction company for Phase II construction on the campus of UTSA today.  Included will be a 60,075 addition to the Arts building, a classroom and office building facing east on the west side of the campus plaza and a sculpture and ceramics studio to be located on the west side of campus.

March 23 in San Antonio history…

1857
The weekly San Antonio Herald, which began publication on April 3, 1855, changes to a daily edition with this issue.  The Herald was one of the first papers to suggest Sam Houston for governor, but it lost much of its popularity with subscribers and advertisers when it espoused the cause of John Ireland against Gustav Schleicher in a Democratic race for Congress. In 1880 the Herald was absorbed by the San Antonio Daily Times.

1968
James M. Gaines, chief executive officer of HemisFair ’68, announces that the Bolshoi Ballet has been signed for seven performances during the fair in the Theater for the Performing Acrts, June 18-23.  This will be the first performance for the company in the Southwestern United States.

1969
Las Palmas branch library (right) is dedicated.

March 17 in San Antonio history…

1899
In making excavation for the brick  foundation of the new Westminster Presbyterian church on Garden St, Contractor Finney struck the old underground passage supposed to have existed between the first mission and the Alamo. The ditch was 20 feet deep and Mr. Finley was compelled to go to the bottom of it to start his foundations. This Passage has been discovered twice previously: three years ago at the corner of Alamo and Garden st. and again on E. Commerce at the intersection of St. Joseph’s street.

1939
San Antonio welcomes Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt who speaks at Municipal Auditorium, telling the story of  a “typical day at the White House.”

1969
The city first dyes the San Antonio River green for St. Patrick’s Day.

February 21 in San Antonio history…

1917
Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing was formally appointed commander of the Southern Department with headquarters at Ft. Sam Houston.  He succeeds Gen. Frederick Funston who died two days ago at the St. Anthony hotel.

1969
A railroad engineer slammed on the brakes of his 100-car freight train today, derailing two of the cars — to save the life of  Melicio Cruz, a 98-year-old San Antonio man.  Patrolman James Engel, said it appeared Cruz, who had wandered away from his family that afternoon, was making his way across the tracks on Lombrano, when he grew weak and could not go on.

1980
UTSA announces the creation of their intercollegiate athletic program.

November 13 in San Antonio history…

1903
Staacke Brothers advertises that no mechanical ability is required to operate a motorcar – ‘We will teach you to drive like an expert in a few minutes.”

1963
A massive explosion at Medina Air Base shatters windows throughout San Antonio and is felt as far as Castroville, 17 miles away (right).

1969
The San Antonio Express reports that America’s first reusable space shuttle craft will be launched in 1976.  Leroy M. Day, head of NASA’s space shuttle task group says, “The initial fleet will be on the order of five vehicles, nine months to a year apart in availability.”

October 1 in San Antonio history…

1969
The Century South theater holds its grand opening.

1971
Demolition begins on the Jefferson Hotel (right) at the corner of E. Houston and Jefferson streets. The property will become a surface parking lot which will be leased to Allright Parking, Inc.  The Jefferson Hotel was constructed in 1879 as the Bexar Hotel, which was considered one of the finest in the city at the turn of the century.  All but the street level of the hotel has been condemned since 1946.  The demolition will force five businesses to find new locations:  Parisian Ladies’ Shop, Kay’s Fine Linens, Allen Shoes, the Jefferson Café and Russell Stover Candies. (photo from the UTSA Photo Archives)

2011
The Wolfson Building at Main and Commerce burns for a second time (January 24, 1904) and is completely destroyed.   Flames also damage the first seven floors of the adjacent Riverview Towers.

September 26 in San Antonio history…

1935
The R.O.T.C. uniforms for Jefferson and Brackenridge high schools will no longer display a swastika because it is now the symbol of a foreign government.  The new logo will be the Alamo façade inside a double Lone Star (right).

1969
“The Brady Bunch” premieres on KSAT-12 at 7:00 p.m.

2000
Three weeks after the all-time high temperature of 111 degrees is reached in San Antonio, the low plunges to 48, missing by one degree the all-time low temperature for the date of 47 degrees set in 1975.

August 6 in San Antonio history….

1945
A Japanese Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero fighter plane goes on display at the corner of Travis and N. Navarro streets for public inspection. The small admission fee benefits the Marine Corps League.

1969
Archbishop Lucey is succeeded by Bishop Francis Furey.

1993
Ground is broken for the new Central Library building at 600 Soledad Street.