History of San Antonio Timeline

While the Mexican War of Independence broke out in 1810, the conflict did not reach San Antonio until January 11, 1811, when retired militia captain Juan Bautista de las Casas seized control of Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, arrested Governor Manuel María de Salcedo, and proclaimed himself provisional governor.

On April 1, 1813, a filibuster expedition consisting of over 800 Mexican revolutionaries and American volunteers captured the city from Salcedo and declared their independence from Spain during the re-escalated Texan theater of the war.

After Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, Anglo-American settlers entered the region from the United States via Empresarios such as Stephen F. Austin, invited after the depopulation and economic havoc wrought by Arredondo's punitive campaign.

Image source: History of San Antonio

When Antonio López de Santa Anna, elected President of Mexico in 1833, rescinded the Mexican Constitution of 1824, violence ensued in many provinces of Mexico, including Texas.

Image source: Antonio López de Santa Anna

In Texas, Anglo settlers joined many Hispanic Texans who called themselves Tejanos in demanding a return to the Constitution of 1824, setting the stage for revolution against Santa Anna's centralist government.

Image source: Texians

Under the leadership of Ben Milam, in the Battle of Bexar in December 1835, Texian forces captured San Antonio from forces commanded by General Martín Perfecto de Cos, Santa Anna's brother-in-law.

Image source: Siege of Béxar

In 1836, Anglo-Americans gained control of Texas in the fighting that gained independence for the Republic of Texas, transforming the political fate of San Antonio and the region.

Image source: Republic of Texas

The Battle of the Alamo took place from February 23 to March 6, 1836, when Santa Anna led a Mexican army back into Texas and marched on San Antonio. The defenders included Anglo and Hispanic Texans who fought side by side under the flag of Mexico with the numerals "1824" superimposed.

Image source: Battle of the Alamo

In 1845 the United States annexed Texas with its concurrence and included it as a state in the Union, integrating San Antonio into the expanding American nation.

Image source: Texas annexation

In 1842, San Antonio's Hispanic mayor was forced out of office at gunpoint by Anglo-American politicians, reflecting the shifting power dynamics in the city following the Texas Revolution.

United States troops along the Mexican border helped incite the Mexican War between the United States and Mexico, which concluded with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, restoring peace and economic connections to San Antonio.

Image source: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Further population reduction occurred in a cholera epidemic outbreak which killed hundreds of residents in 1849, dealing a severe blow to the young American city.

In 1850, San Antonio became the largest city in Texas with 8,235 people, taking the lead from Galveston.

When Frederick Law Olmsted visited San Antonio in 1856, he described the city as having a "jumble of races, costumes, languages, and buildings," giving it a quality of "odd and antiquated foreignness" only New Orleans could rival — mystique that still draws tourists today.

Image source: Frederick Law Olmsted

Peace and economic connections to the United States restored prosperity to the city, and by 1860, at the start of the Civil War, San Antonio had grown to a city of 15,000 people.

In 1876, a promoter fenced off Alamo Plaza with the new invention of barbed wire and had cowboys drive a herd of cattle into the wire, staging a famous public demonstration of the product.

Image source: Alamo Plaza Historic District

Bolstered by the construction of its first railroad in 1877, San Antonio entered a new era of commercial growth that would help it reemerge as the state's largest city.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the streets of Downtown, the old Spanish and Mexican city, were widened to accommodate street cars and modern traffic.

Image source: Downtown San Antonio

Bolstered by its first railroad and a horrible hurricane that struck Galveston, San Antonio reemerged as the state's largest city in 1900. It remained in the top spot until 1930, when Dallas and Houston overtook the Alamo City.

After regaining power in the state legislature, white Democrats passed a poll tax in 1901, disenfranchising Black and Hispanic voters who had supported the Republican and Populist parties since the Civil War.

Image source: Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era

In July 1955, the city's school superintendent announced plans to begin integration of all schools starting that fall. By 1955, all special schools were desegregated on a free-choice basis with no violence.

Image source: List of education facilities in San Antonio

San Antonio's national reputation was enhanced in 1960 when it became the first southern city to integrate its lunch counters, peacefully desegregating downtown businesses.

Image source: Timeline of the 1954-1968 civil rights movement

In 1965 the San Antonio City Council passed an ordinance integrating all public accommodations, cementing the city's early progress on civil rights among southern cities.

The acequia, an early irrigation channel dating to the Spanish colonial era, was restored in 1968 and that year was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Image source: San Pedro Springs Park

Henry Cisneros became the next Hispanic mayor of San Antonio in 1981, over a century after the last Hispanic mayor was forced out of office, marking a milestone in the city's political history.

Image source: Henry Cisneros

Like many southern cities, San Antonio has had steady population growth since the late twentieth century. Its population nearly doubled in 35 years, from just over 650,000 in the 1970 census to an estimated 1.2 million in 2005 through growth, immigration, and land annexation.

Since 2011, Alamo Trust Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, has been the official partner of the Texas General Land Office in managing the Alamo complex, which has become an integral part of the modern center city.