City’s past alive today, thanks to society
To live in San Antonio is to inhale history with each breath and to seamlessly coexist with the past. The seventh-largest city in the United States can often seem smaller because the gloss of high-tech and modernity hasn’t erased the plazas and missions, farmland and acequias, downtown structures and historic neighborhoods that contribute to the city’s multicultural charm.
A city’s heritage is a gift, a birthright, something to be protected, preserved. No organization has done more to preserve the heritage of San Antonio and its natural, cultural and constructed gifts than the San Antonio Conservation Society, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this month.
When formed in 1924, it became one of the first historic preservation organizations in the country. From the beginning, its mission was to preserve the places, curios and traditions unique to San Antonio. The Alamo City is unlike any other in the nation, with its own brands of art, architectural and cultural styles.
One of the society’s first goals was to preserve San Antonio’s five Spanish colonial missions: San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), Concepción, San José, San Juan and Espada.
That initial effort decades ago would lead to the 2015 designation of the missions as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The past shaped the present and future. The missions showcase our city’s origins, and they also underscore the immeasurable value of preserving our past.
The society was instrumental in funding the city’s first historical preservation officer, and it continues to be an advocate for the Woolworth Building, a key landmark in San Antonio’s civil rights history, as well as historic sites at the reimagined Hemisfair Park.
In any community there is a natural tension between preservation and development, between protecting traditions without letting them be restraints to progress. Through the society’s passionate, centurylong advocacy, progress has not been an excuse to raze historically significant buildings and homes, even when this creates consternation and controversy.
While one can agree or disagree with the society on any specific case, the importance of its voice and the significance of its advocacy cannot be denied. Whether through its preservation efforts, funding of preservation projects, bus tours to historic sites for schoolchildren, or its iconic Fiesta event, A Night In Old San Antonio, known as NIOSA, the Conservation Society of San Antonio has preserved the best of our past.
The Conservation Society of San Antonio will mark its centennial on Tuesday with a gala and a public lecture on Wednesday.
Because of the society’s work, San Antonio’s rich history continues to be shared through architecture, neighborhoods, art, land, culture and the people of our enchanted city. That is something to celebrate.
Group’s efforts can be seen all around town