South Texas Destinations: The River Walk, San Antonio, Texas (Part 1)
The River Walk extends from Brackenridge Park to Mission San Francisco de la Espada. Only the middle section, which passes through downtown San Antonio, is really the tourist attraction. And that part of the River Walk almost didn't happen. In 1921, the San Antonio River flooded, with devastating results. 50 people died in the flood. And that was not the only time the river had flooded. There is a U-bend in the river right downtown and which was considered to be particularly dangerous. Following the 1921 flood, though, the city was considering just paving the bend of the river over into a sort of storm drain and being done with it.
This would, of course, have been a grave mistake. San Antonio takes in millions of dollars from tourists every year, and a not-insignificant portion of it comes from people visiting this particular section of the River Walk. And having part of the river paved over would pretty much have prevented the River Walk entirely, since a storm drain does not really say "tourism." Without the River Walk, the city would have missed out on that money. I think that this would have been a mistake from an ecological and public safety standpoint as well. If the bend had been paved over, all of those trees and habitat for animals would be gone, shoved underneath the streets of San Antonio. Additionally, if someone fell into the river just a little bit upstream, it would have been very difficult to rescue the person once he or she went into the storm drain. In past floods, the water became fairly high on street level. There are photographs of the flood in 1913, for example, show water at least knee-deep at street level. If another flood like that had hit after the river had been paved over, where would all of that water have gone? I am not a physicist by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a hard time believing that enough water to reach two feet above street level would stay put under the pavement. I suspect that the end result of paving over the San Antonio River, even if the paving was at street level, was that they would have had to fix flood damage and damaged pavement.
Instead, the city began work on actual flood control measures. In 1925, construction began on a dam upstream in Olmos Park, for example. The rainfall from farther north builds up behind the dam, rather than flowing into the river. Then, in 1929, flood gates were installed at the beginning and end of the U-bend and a channel was dug connecting the two ends. When the river threatens to flood, the flood gates are closed and the water simply flows through that channel and onward south towards the Gulf of Mexico.
The River Walk is the brainchild of architect Robert H. H. Hugman. He fought against the storm drain plan and instead offered a plan for turning the river into a region of restaurants and shops that he wanted to call "The Shops of Aragon and Romula." This name, of course, never "took." The city decided ot follow Hugman's plan, but construction was delayed by the Great Depression, In 1938, money became available from the Works Progress Administration. Construction continued until 1941 and soon afterwards, Hugman showed his belief in his project by moving his office down to the river level. Close to the intersection of Losoya and Commerce Streets, there is a building with a rounded corner. If you take the stairs down to the river level right there, you will see Hugman's name at the same level as the street and his office is just beneath that overhang. Five years later, in 1946, the first restaurant, Casa Rio, opened up on the other side of Commerce Street.
I will probably do another post on the River Walk detailing some of the other buildings that can be seen along the downtown section of the River Walk and perhaps two more, one on the Museum Reach section, which extends north of downtown, and another on the Mission Reach section, which goes southwards.
This would, of course, have been a grave mistake. San Antonio takes in millions of dollars from tourists every year, and a not-insignificant portion of it comes from people visiting this particular section of the River Walk. And having part of the river paved over would pretty much have prevented the River Walk entirely, since a storm drain does not really say "tourism." Without the River Walk, the city would have missed out on that money. I think that this would have been a mistake from an ecological and public safety standpoint as well. If the bend had been paved over, all of those trees and habitat for animals would be gone, shoved underneath the streets of San Antonio. Additionally, if someone fell into the river just a little bit upstream, it would have been very difficult to rescue the person once he or she went into the storm drain. In past floods, the water became fairly high on street level. There are photographs of the flood in 1913, for example, show water at least knee-deep at street level. If another flood like that had hit after the river had been paved over, where would all of that water have gone? I am not a physicist by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a hard time believing that enough water to reach two feet above street level would stay put under the pavement. I suspect that the end result of paving over the San Antonio River, even if the paving was at street level, was that they would have had to fix flood damage and damaged pavement.
Instead, the city began work on actual flood control measures. In 1925, construction began on a dam upstream in Olmos Park, for example. The rainfall from farther north builds up behind the dam, rather than flowing into the river. Then, in 1929, flood gates were installed at the beginning and end of the U-bend and a channel was dug connecting the two ends. When the river threatens to flood, the flood gates are closed and the water simply flows through that channel and onward south towards the Gulf of Mexico.
The River Walk is the brainchild of architect Robert H. H. Hugman. He fought against the storm drain plan and instead offered a plan for turning the river into a region of restaurants and shops that he wanted to call "The Shops of Aragon and Romula." This name, of course, never "took." The city decided ot follow Hugman's plan, but construction was delayed by the Great Depression, In 1938, money became available from the Works Progress Administration. Construction continued until 1941 and soon afterwards, Hugman showed his belief in his project by moving his office down to the river level. Close to the intersection of Losoya and Commerce Streets, there is a building with a rounded corner. If you take the stairs down to the river level right there, you will see Hugman's name at the same level as the street and his office is just beneath that overhang. Five years later, in 1946, the first restaurant, Casa Rio, opened up on the other side of Commerce Street.
I will probably do another post on the River Walk detailing some of the other buildings that can be seen along the downtown section of the River Walk and perhaps two more, one on the Museum Reach section, which extends north of downtown, and another on the Mission Reach section, which goes southwards.