Efforts to preserve the San Antonio de Valero
site began during the 1880’s and the site was purchased from the Catholic
Church in 1883 by the State of
Texas. It was then conveyed to the City of
San Antonio
to utilize as a museum. Occasional tours were then made at the
Alamo, but,
there were no efforts to restore the structure.
In 1905, the convento was purchased by Clara
Driscoll for the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Later, the Texas
legislature approved the purchase of the convento and named the Daughters
custodians of both it and the church. A controversy then ensued within the
group as to the restoration of the properties, which was called by some,
the 2nd Battle of the Alamo. The debate grew so heated that it
wound up in the court system and the State of
Texas, stepped back in to
take control of the property.
When the controversy was finally settled, the
Daughters of the Republic of
Texas acquired the entire city block behind
the surviving mission structures and demolished later buildings to
establish a memorial park. Over the years, they worked towards creating a
plaza with the chapel as its centerpiece. In 1935, they convinced the city
of
San Antonio
not to place a fire station in a building near the
Alamo. It later became
the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library.
During the Great Depression, money from the
Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the National Youth Administration
was used to construct a wall around the
Alamo, to build a museum, and to
raze several old buildings that were left on the
Alamo property. The
remaining one-story walls of the convento remained roofless until
refurbished as the Long Barracks Museum in the late 1960’s. The
Alamo was
designated a National Historic Landmark in December, 1960 and was added to
the National Register of Historic Places when they were founded in 1966.
The Alamo Plaza Historic District was also added to the National Register
in 1977. Today, the
Alamo is one of the finest examples of Spanish
missions in North America.
Serving as a museum today, the
Alamo welcomes
more than four million visitors each year, making it one of the most
popular historic sites in the United States.
The
Alamo
at night. One can almost imagine those long ago Texian soldiers
hunkered down behind
these walls listening signs of
attack from the Mexican Army. Kathy Weiser, February, 2011.
