September 12 in San Antonio history…

1884
The Lone Star Brewery is opened for business.

1912
The project to widen Commerce Street is begun. During the four year widening project on Commerce Street many buildings are either totally demolished or lose several yards of their original structure. The new five story Alamo National Bank building, is physically raised and moved back while work continues uninterrupted within it. With the movement of the bank building the entire project came to almost $1.5 Million. This is the equivalent to around $21 Million in today’s money.

1970
The first McDonald’s restaurant opens in San Antonio at 1330 S. Laredo St.

August 9 in San Antonio history…

1963
Mike Nesmith is the featured performer at a hootenanny held in La Villita Assembly Hall to raise money for the March of Dimes.  He will later find fame as one of The Monkees.

1970
Roddy Stinson, 29, editor of two magazines published by the Southern Baptist Brotherhood Commission in Memphis, Tennessee, has been named editor of the San Antonio magazine published monthly by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

1977
San Antonio River Authority Manager Fred Pfeiffer reports that modifications to strengthen Olmos Dam will reduce the flow of the San Antonio River and preclude construction of a downtown bypass channel to prevent future downtown flooding.

July 18 in San Antonio history…

1970
“The Great (Little) Train Robbery:” Passengers aboard Old No. 99 , Brackenridge Park’s miniature train, are robbed of their valuables by two soldiers from Ft. Sam Houston. Riders initially think it is a joke – until they see the guns are real. Both robbers are caught and sentenced to prison terms of 20 and 10 years, respectively.

1981
A cable breaks on one of the elevators servicing the Tower of the Americas, stranding 27 people about halfway up the 750-foot structure.  Passengers are rescued by firemen who reach them through large portholes in the tower shaft and the elevator’s emergency hatch.  They are escorted down through an interior stairwell.

2003
Jane Barbe, the voice of hundreds of automated telephone recordings, including Frost Bank time in San Antonio, dies in Roswell, Georgia at the age of 74.

April 9 in San Antonio history…

1970
First Mate, a San Antonio-based seafood restaurant chain (right), opens first location at Buena Vista and Zarzamora.

1976
President Gerald Ford visitsSan Antonio during his re-election campaign and bites into a tamale without removing the husk.   This is later humorously referred to as “The Great Tamale Incident.”

1978
George Gervin wins the NBA scoring title over David Thompson with a 63-point performance over the New Orleans Jazz.  “The Iceman” knew he had to score 58 points to win the title and, despite being double- and triple-teamed, managed to set a new franchise record.  He also set an NBA record for most points in a quarter with 33 in the second period.

 

January 23 in San Antonio history…

1918
In San Antonio’s sensational “Trial of the Century,” Miss Hedda Burgemeister is found not guilty of the murder of Otto Koehler by a jury in the Thirty-seventh district court.  The verdict was returned by the jury shortly after 12 o’clock and Miss Burgemeister was immediately surrounded by friends who showered their congratulations upon her.  Mr. Koehler, President and manager of the San Antonio Brewing Association (Pearl Brewery) was killed on Nov. 12, 1914 in the little cottage on Hunstock Avenue that he had given to Miss Burgemeister.

1940
A fall suffered while he was taking snow pictures sent Harvey Patteson, a commercial photographer, to Medical and Surgical Hospital for the treatment of a broken left leg.

1968
The tophouse of the Tower of the Americas is lifted into place (right).

January 15 in San Antonio history…

1940 
Clarinetist Artie Shaw makes a brief stop at Stinson Field on his way from Mexico City to his home in Los Angeles.  Reporters seeking an interview found him asleep in the airplane but were allowed to take a picture.  After the photo was taken, Shaw stirred briefly and asked, “Are they gone?”

1950
A fire that starts with a cigarette in a trashcan of the ladies’ restroom consumes much of the Olmos Dinner Club, causing over $300,000 in damages.

1973
Southcross Middle School is renamed for Armando Leal, Jr. who was killed in Vietnam on Sept. 4, 1967.  Leal was a graduate of Harlandale High School.

December 14 in San Antonio history…

1837
The Texas Legislature approved the incorporation of the city of San Antonio.  The city had previously been known as Presidio San Antonio de Béxar and the Villa of San Fernando de Béxar.

1889
San Antonio Football Club plays game on Government Hill. Eugene Schoch elected secretary and treasurer of the club. (The is the first recorded football game in San Antonio.)

1970
Two bandits, who had been hiding behind a stand of Christmas trees in Piggly Wiggly store No. 134, took $7,500 in checks and an undetermined amount of coins and currency, then tied the supermarket assistant manager to a shopping cart and escaped.

September 12 in San Antonio history…

1961
The Port Aransas waterfront was almost destroyed by Hurricane Carla’s winds and tides, says Constable T. R. Smith, reporting by radio.

1962
The San Antonio Light reports on President Kennedy’s speech in Rice Stadium in Houston today.  The speech has since come to be known as the “We Choose to Go to the Moon Speech”, although the Light makes no mention of the famous phrase.

1970
The first McDonald’s restaurant opens in San Antonio at 1330 S. Laredo St. (right).

July 21 in San Antonio history…

1918
Monsignore Arthur Drossaerts, formerly rector of the Catholic church at Baton Rouge, La., but at present located in New Orleans in an official capacity, has been named as bishop of San Antonio to succeed Rt. Rev. John W. Shaw, former bishop, who was elevated to the archbishopric of New Orleans a few months ago.

1955
The position of Assistant City Manager at an annual salary of $12,000 was created in a special ordinance passed by the San Antonio City Council.

1973
The San Antonio Police Department could begin hiring women police officers later this year if approval is given of a new agility test, now being drawn up by Police Chief Peters and City Personnel Director Clyde McCullough.

July 20 in San Antonio history…

1947
The mounted police are returning to the San Antonio Police Department. The first one will be assigned to patrol Brackenridge Park.

1953
Investigators from Oklahoma City are in San Antonio today to persuade local oilman Charles Urschel to testify against George “Machine Gun” Kelly in regard to Kelly’s kidnaping of Urschel twenty years ago.  Kelly is currently serving a life sentence in Leavenworth.

1970
Martha Alicia De La Rosa is the first person transported by MAST helicopter to Santa Rosa Hospital.