San Pedro (Springs) Park and San Antonio Spring


Literary San Antonio SAN PEDRO (SPRINGS) PARK AND SAN ANTONIO SPRING
Source of San Pedro Spring in San Pedro Park Photo credit: Hector Cardenas	While the San Antonio Spring provides the source of the historic San Antonio River, in a sense, the history of San Antonio begins at San Pedro (Springs) Park. As early as 9,000 years ago Native Americans gathered at the springs that have made the park a focal point. Animal bones of mastadons, giant tigers, wolves, and extinct horses have been found in the same area, in addition to stone projectile points and tools of the Paleo-Indians who hunted there.
Venerable live oak trees in San Pedro Park	On April 13, 1709, Fathers Olivares and Espinosa, on an expedition to Spanish Texas, named the site "Agua de San Pedro." In 1729 King Philip of Spain set aside the San Pedro Springs site as a "public place" in a land grant to the people of San Antonio, making it the second oldest public park in the nation after the Boston Common, which had been created in 1660. Early in its history (1718), the Alamo was located in the Park area but was later moved to its present location, and a military outpost was established at San Pedro Springs for the benefit of the Canary Island colonists. In February 1836, Santa Anna's army bivouacked in the park, during the seige of the Alamo.
Dry bed of San Pedro Creek south of San Pedro Park	CABEZA DE VACA: Because of the early activity in the San Pedro Springs vicinity, it is tempting to speculate that Cabeza de Vaca passed through what is now San Antonio and visited the source of the San Pedro Creek, which originates from the spring in San Pedro Park, although the stream is presently no more than a trickle.
San Antonio River near spring-fed source on grounds of University of the Incarnate Word	FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED : Being especially attracted to fresh flowing water in a typically dry climate, Frederick Olmsted naturally included in his narrative, A Journey Through Texas (1857), a description of the San Antonio and San Pedro Springs: The latter is a wooded spot of great beauty, but a mile or two from the town, and boasts a restaurant and beer-garden beyond its natural attractions. The San Antonio Spring may be classed as of the first water among the gems of the natural world. The whole river gushes up in one sparkling burst from the earth. It has all the beautiful accompaniments of a smaller spring, moss, pebbles, seclusion, sparkling sunbeams, and dense overhanging luxuriant foliage. The effect is overpowering. It is beyond your possible conceptions of a spring. You cannot believe your eyes, and almost shrink from sudden metamorphosis by invaded nymphdom. (156-57) Of course, what Olmsted was describing in such animated terms here were the spring-fed sources of San Pedro Creek and its more celebrated counterpart, the San Antonio River.
Rustic cabin near San Antonio Spring Historic plaque explaining early history of San Pedro Creek, as described by Lanier and others Gazebo in San Pedro Park moved there from Alamo Plaza to cover bear-pit described by Lanier Photo credit: Hector Cardenas Swimming pool in San Pedro Park after recent renovations (1999-2000)	SYDNEY LANIER: Like Frederick Olmsted, Sydney Lanier also commented eloquently on the spring-fed source of the San Antonio River: One may drive five miles to northward and see the romantic spot where the San Antonio River is forever being born, leaping forth from the mountain, complete, totus, even as Minerva from the head of Jove.(243) Besides the San Antonio River, the other stream that caught Sydney Lanier's interest, San Pedro Creek, is practically unknown today. It originates at the spring located in San Pedro Park, but once the small stream exits the park, it becomes little more than a drainage ditch which the city has lined with concrete. Of course, that was not the case during Lanier's visit, for he described the section of the creek near Military Plaza as the local peasant laundry: There squat the Mexican women on their haunches, by their flat stones, washing the family garments, in a position the very recollection of which gives one simultaneous stitches of sciatica, yet which they appear to maintain for hours without detriment. (240) Concerning the park area which developed around San Pedro Springs (San Pedro Park), Lanier included several interesting comments near the end of his lengthy essay on San Antonio. According to Lanier's description, it contained concentric artificial lakes, a race course, an aviary, and a menagerie of sorts boasting a "fine Mexican lion., . . . a bear-pit in which are an emerald-eyed blind cinnamon bear, a large black bear, a wolf and a coyote, and other attractions" (243). One of the ironies of time is that the bear pit which fascinated Lanier so much was covered over later by a gazebo that had been moved from Alamo Plaza downtown. More recent constructions and sports facilities have further detracted from this starting point of history in San Antonio, but a four-million dollar budget has been set aside to restore something of the park's former beauty. In 1873 it must have provided the ailing, homesick Georgia poet with a good deal of comfort, for he found it to be "a very green spot indeed in the waste prairies" (243).
Early post card of San Pedro Park corresponding to setting of O. Henry's "A Fog in San Tone"	O. HENRY : In the O. Henry short story, "A Fog in Santone," the consumptive central character, a young man from Memphis named Goodall, and a tubercular acquaintance named Hurd consume enough Kentucky whiskey "to floor a dozen cowboys" (Rolling Stones 104). The two men separate, the older invalid, Hurd of Toledo, having arranged for "a hack ride out to San Pedro Springs at eleven. . . . A fellow from Noo York, and me, and the Castillo sisters at Rhinegelder's Garden" (105). In this brief passage O. Henry made San Pedro Park at the end of the nineteenth century appear to be a place for tuberculosis sufferers to arrange rendevous with ladies of the night.