Archaeological Monitoring for the Tri-Party Improvements Project, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas
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Volume 1992 Article 4 1992 Archaeological Monitoring for the Tri-Party Improvements Project, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas I. Waynne Cox Center for Archaeological Research Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita Part of the American Material Culture Commons, Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Other American Studies Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, and the United States History Commons Tell us how this article helped you. Cite this Record Cox, I. Waynne (1992) "Archaeological Monitoring for the Tri-Party Improvements Project, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas," Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: Vol. 1992, Article 4. https://doi.org/10.21112/ita.1992.1.4 ISSN: 2475-9333 Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol1992/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Regional Heritage Research at SFA ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State by an authorized editor of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Monitoring for the Tri-Party Improvements Project, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License This article is available in Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol1992/iss1/4 ARCHAEOLOGICAL MONITORING FOR THE rRI-PARTY'IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, SAN ANTONIO, BEXAR COUNTY, TEXAS I. WaynneCox Center for Archaeological Research The University of Texas at ,San Antonio Archaeological Survey Report, No. 204 1992 Federal Building on Alamo Plaza, 1900-1901. Courtesy of the Daughters of the Republic Research Library, The . Alamo.· ARCHAEOLOGICAL MONITORING FOR THE TRI-PARTY IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, SAN ANTONIO, BEXAR COUNTY, TEXAS I. Waynne Cox Texas Antiquities Permit No. 657 Center for Archaeological Research The University of Texas at San Antonio® Archaeological Survey Report, No. 204 1992 The following information is provided in accordance with the General Rules of Practi.ce and Procedure, Chapter 41.11 (Investigative Reports), Texas Antiquities Committee: 1. Type of investigation: archival research and archaeological monitoring; 2. Project name: San Antonio Downtown Tri-Party Transportation Improvements project; 3. County: Bexar; 4. Principal investigator: Jack D. Eaton; coprincipal investigator: Anne A. Fox; 5. Name and location of sponsoring agency: San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority; 6. Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 657; 7. Published by the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78249-0658, 1992. A list of publications offered by the Center for Archaeological Research can be obtained by sending $1.00 to the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78249-0658. ABSTRACT In 1987, the Center for Archaeological Research entered into a contract with the San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority to provide consultant services for the downtown San Antonio Tri-Party Improvements proj ecL Preliminary research was provided prior to initiation of construction, and monitoring was conducted during the three years of modifications to the downtown area. The archaeological resources exposed during the project were researched and documented, and recommendations were made throughout the construction period. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................... LIST OF FIGURES . .. III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................. iv INTRODUCTION ................................................... 1 PHYSIOGRAPHY .................................................... 1 HISTORY OF THE AREA .............................................. 1 Early Exploration of Texas ............................................ 1 First Reports of San Antonio ........................................... 1 The Founding of San Antonio . ........... 3 Establishment of the Villa de San Fernando de Bexar ................. ........... 4 Early Development of the Villa . 5 San Antonio in the 19th Century ..................... 6 The Republic of Texas, 1836-1846 ........................................ 9 Statehood ................................................ ...... 9 Antebellum San Antonio ............................................. 9 The Civil War Period . 10 The Reconstruction Period ........................................... 10 The Golden Age of San Antonio . 12 The 20th Century ................................................. 14 POTENTIAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES WITHIN THE PROJECT AREA . 17 Alamo Plaza Historic District ......................................... 21 La Villita Historic District ........................................... 21 Main and Military Plazas Historic District ...... 21 Texas Revolution Fortifications . 21 The Acequia System ............................................... 21 San Pedro Acequia . 21 Alamo Acequia . 21 Navarro Acequia ............................................... 26 Concepcion Acequia ............................................ 26 METHODOLOGY AND MONITORING .................................... 26 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................ 35 REFERENCES CITED ............................................... 35 11 LIST OF FIGURES 1. Tri-Party Improvements Area .... .2 2. Villa de San Fernando de Bejar, ca. 1767 .7 3. Commerce Street, ca. 1861 . 11 4. Commerce Street, ca. 1900 ...... .. 15 5. Houston Street, ca 1900 ......... 16 6. The Widening of Commerce Street in 1912 18 7. Lt. Foulis at Fort Sam Houston, 1910 ... 19 8. Historic Districts within the Tri-Party Improvements Area 20 9. Texas Revolution Fortifications 22 10. San Pedro Acequia at Houston Street . 23 11. San Pedro Acequia at Dolorosa Street 24 12. Alamo Acequia at Houston Street ... 25 13. Alamo Acequia at Crockett Street and Navarro Acequia . 27 14. Alamo Acequia at the Alamo . 28 15. Concepcion Acequia ..... 29 16. Sanborn 1896 Insurance Maps. 30 17. Thnnel on Alamo Plaza ..... 32 18. Federal Building on Alamo Plaza, 1900-1901 33 19. Sanborn 1896 Insurance Maps ........ 34 20. San Pedro Acequia on Main Plaza, ca. 1880 . 36 ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to a few of themany people and agencies that made this project possible. The staff of Gilbane, Garcia & Wright was extremely aware of the necessity of full cooperation and coordination throughtout the project. Likewise, the prime contractor, Clearwater Construction, was diligent in alerting the CAR of potential problems and tolerant of our requirements when they appreared. As always the county archivist, John Ogden Leal, Homer San Miguel, city right-of-way office, and the staff of the library of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the San Antonio Public Library rendered invaluable assistance in making their research materials available. A special thanks is due to Martha Utterback, library of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and Diane Bruce, Institute of Texan Cultures, for their diligent work in obtaining photographs for this report. Pat Osborne, city historic preservation officer, again contributed valuable pointers and assisted the archaelogist in insuring that valuable information was not overlooked. IV INTRODUCTION earliest occupation of Central Texas and served as the principal attraction for the founding of San In the latter part of 1987, the Center for Antonio. Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio (CAR-UTSA) entered into a contract with the San Antonio Metropolitan Transit HISTORY OF THE AREA Authority (VIA) to provide consultation services for the downtown Tri-Party Improvements project. The Tri-Party project was ajoint venture of the City EARLY EXPLORATION OF TEXAS of San Antonio, VIA, and the Downtown Owner's Association to beautify and revitalize the downtown Although the area we now know as Texas was area. Some 70 blocks of 13 downtown streets were considered a portion of New Spain since the targeted to be remodeled, redesigned, and conquest of Mexico in 1540, Spanish interest in the revamped, major bus routes streamlined; benches, area was extremely limited. The explorations into water fountains, and trees installed; and new brick the area by the ill-fated Cabeza de Vaca in 1520, of pavers placed throughout the area (Fig. 1). Since Coronado in 1540, Moscoso in 1541, and Onate in much of this work would entail major excavation of 1598, did little to excite interest in the area when the oldest portion of the city, it was recognized that they failed to find the rumored riches of gold or it would be critical to identify in advance silver (Steen 1948:1-9). Their observations gave no particularly sensitive areas and closely monitor all reason for immediate settlement, but Spain operations to insure that irreplaceable historic sites maintained its claim to all the land north to the Red would not be destroyed. Monitoring began with the River. The claim was severely challenged when initiation of the construction phase June 27, 1988, word reached the viceroy that the French planned and continued until the completion of the project in to settle within the area. The appearance, in 1684, early 1991.