Little Village lights up San Antonio: Congress closing social site is rich with history

Parks & Recreation, Sept, 2005 by Maya Avrasin

Just west of the Convention Center lies a cobblestone town that dates back to the 18th century. Located on the south bank of the San Antonio River, La Villita (or little village) was the city's first neighborhood. Initially used by squatters who used the area to farm outside of the Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), it became an ally in the Mexican revolt against Spain, and later in the Texas Revolution. After the Texas Revolution, La Villita was inhabited by European immigrants from Germany and France who became San Antonio's business leaders, bankers, educators and craftsmen.

By 1850, San Antonio had 3,488 residents, and was dominated by three cultures--Mexicans, Americans and Germans. Noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, during his 1857 visit to San Antonio, remarked that "the triple nationalities break out into the most amusing display." The cultural mix that occurred at this time is best illustrated by the variety of architectural styles reflected in La Villita's buildings. The architecture portrays the evolution of buildings from palisado to Victorian Houses.

The character of the La Villita neighborhood changed again in the early 20th century. Longtime residents lived side by side with new businesses and institutions, in 1895, the city's first Episcopal church for African-Americans, St. Philip's, was organized and located in the old German Methodist Episcopal Church building on Villita Street. New businesses occupied the now-historic buildings with many of the houses turning into rental facilities. The neighborhood soon fell into a depression. But a regentrification led by then-mayor Maury Maverick changed the atmosphere of the little village, and it soon transformed into the present-day thriving artists' colony.

O'Neil Ford, who served as consulting architect for the La Villita restoration, recounted his first impression of the area in a 1976 interview, "When I first saw it, it was like 1926, and it was just the worst slum you ever saw. You wouldn't believe there'd be a slum in the middle of town like that--there were 26 families living in there and they had as many wrecked cars as you ever saw in your life, just piles of them."

Maverick, strongly committed to the concept of pan-American unity, authored the La Villita ordinance that was adopted by the city council on Oct. 12, 1939, which stipulated that the town be restored to its origins. The streets, houses and plazas of La Villita were all renamed to commemorate the pan-American spirit.

Juarez Plaza and Calle Hidalgo celebrated Mexican heroes Benito Juarez and Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla; the San Martin House honored Jose de San Martin, who fought for independence in Argentina, Chile and Peru; and the Caxias House recalled Brazil's famous 19th century soldier and statesman, Luis Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias.

Dedicated in May 1941, La Villita eventually became a historic district in 1969, and entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. La Villita is managed by San Antonio's Department of Parks and Recreation, and its shops and boutiques continue the arts and crafts tradition envisioned by Maverick in the 1930s. The atmosphere that O'Neil Ford sought to create "of cool shady places, of profuse banks of blossoming native trees and shrubs" has finally been achieved.

Fun Fact

The oldest cathedral sanctuary in the U.S. is located in San Antonio--it's the San Fernando Cathedral.