November 27 in San Antonio history…

1946
The First National Bank of San Antonio inaugurates their new drive-up window service.  Joe Straus, President of the Straus-Frank Company, is the first customer to use the service to make a deposit at the bank.  “This is a real innovation,” he says.

1975
The city first begins displaying Christmas lights along the Riverwalk.

1991
Sister Mary Anne Holmes of the Ursuline Order announces at a somber news conference that the Ursuline School will close in May due to increasing debt and decreasing enrollment.  The sisters founded the school in 1851.

October 19 in San Antonio history…

1949
Bexar County’s brand new coliseum is “open for business” with a two-day performance of the Ringling Brothers – Barnum & Bailey Circus beginning today (right).

1975
Flamboyant fashion critic, Mr. Blackwell, famous for his annual “worst-dressed list,” is the celebrity guest at UTSA’s “Fashion Extravaganza” benefit.

1981
The Hertzberg Clock, which has stood at the corner of St. Mary’s and Houston streets for 71 years, is donated to the San Antonio Conservation Society, by Maxine Bordelon and Jennita Poston, daughters of Max and Nell Goodman, who purchased the clock in 1910 from Eli Hertzberg.

October 13 in San Antonio history…

1896
The big chandelier in the rotunda of the Menger Hotel was swung into position. The 700-pound article, containing 3,000 pieces of prismatic glass, cost $300.

1923
The circus is in town!  Ringling Bros. – Barnum & Bailey circus makes its annual visit to the Alamo City.

1972
Blues singer Etta James is arrested after a concert at Eastwood Country Club in possession of marijuana, narcotics paraphernalia and one gram of heroin.

October 8 in San Antonio history…

1929
“It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread!”
Richter’s Bakery begins advertising sliced Butter Krust bread along with the traditionally unsliced loaves.

1953
“The Robe” is the first film shown in CinemaScope in San Antonio.  To accommodate the CinemaScope image, approximately two and one half times as wide as a normal movie screen, the Majestic theater has been reconstructed with a new screen and new projection equipment.

1975
The Spurs travel to New Orleans to play a preseason double-header to inaugurate the new Superdome.  San Antonio plays Atlanta in the first game and the New Orleans Jazz play the Kansas City Kings in the second game.

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.

July 29 in San Antonio history…

1936
Church officials were preparing today to direct the removal of the altar of San Fernando Cathedral in the hope that excavation beneath the floor of the church might produce the bones of the Alamo heroes.

1975
The Audie Murphy Veterans hospital adds guards and beefs up security after the weekend disappearance of nurse Mary Margaret “Peggy” Moran from the hospital parking lot.

1976
An estimated 100,000 people turned out today for the grand opening of Windsor Park Mall, San Antonio’s largest enclosed regional shopping center.

July 25 in San Antonio history…

1935
Postmaster Dan Quill spurned pleas from a veterans organization that oak trees planted in front of the old post office by Teddy Roosevelt not be chopped down.

1975
The UT Board of Regents approves a budget of $78,077,683 for UTSA and the UT Health Science Center. The UTSA budget jumped to $27 million from $8 million due to the admission of the first undergraduates this fall.

1989
A B-52 bomber undergoing routine maintenance catches fire at Kelly Air Force Base.  The fire kills one and injures eleven others.   “I heard four to five explosions about 11 p.m. and saw flames leaping 15 to 20 feet in the air,” said Jim Fisher, a San Antonio schoolteacher who lives near the base.

June 3 in San Antonio history…

1937
City police are called to quell a riot when roustabouts drive away crews of trucks sent to seize the assets of the Stanley Graham Midget Circus to satisfy creditors.  The big top and circus paraphernalia are eventually taken and the roustabouts retreat to a provision railcar and steal all the food therein.  122 performers in the circus, all little people, are left stranded and penniless in San Antonio.

Photo courtesy of NASA Archives

1965
San Antonian Ed White becomes the first astronaut to “walk” in space when he opens the hatch of his Gemini 4 capsule and floats outside.

1975
The Rolling Stones perform at Convention Center Arena, the first of two consecutive sold-out shows.

May 19 in San Antonio history…

1899
Labor leader Eugene V. Debs speaks at Beethoven Hall.

1949
Studer’s Photo Company is purchased by a newly formed corporation to be known as Studer’s Incorporated, for a price reported to be around $250,000.  Studer’s has been run by Mrs. Ada Studer, the widow of founder Ben Studer, since his sudden death in April of 1948.

Photo courtesy of Feeding The Pig Antiques and Historical Photo Galleries.

1975
Nearly two months before the release of their second eponymous LP, Anglo-American band Fleetwood Mac, featuring new members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks (right), play a concert in Municipal Auditorium.

January 31 in San Antonio history…

1921
A unique feature of San Antonio’s newest drugstore, Sommers No. 1, at Losoya and Houston streets, is the narrow mezzanine that extends around the entire building and contains glass-front cases in which supplies are stored.

1949
The lowest temperature ever in San Antonio is recorded on this day.  The mercury plunges to a brutally cold 0 degrees Fahrenheit and the city shivers under a 4.7 inch snowfall.

1975
Hondo Crouch, the mayor and “Clown Prince of Luckenbach,” becomes mayor of the Paseo del Rio to kick off the third annual KKYX Great Country River Festival.