San Antonio, 1846-1861

[摘要] The first fifteen years of Texas statehood were pivotal in the development of San Antonio. Contemporary chroniclers vividly show how the city grew between 1846 and 1861 from an ancient, crumbling Mexican village to a large, bustling commercial and military supply center. The United States Army caused many of the changes that occurred in the period. During the Mexican War, 1846-1848, San Antonio became the military headquarters for Texas and a main supply depot for the fighting forces in Mexico. After the war, members of the Corps of Topographical Engineers opened roads from the supply depot at San Antonio to forts along the Texas frontier. Military expenditures became the lifeblood of San Antonio's economy; the forts provided the area with unprecedented protection. The new roads brought increasing numbers of traders and travelers to San Antonio and facilitated the city's first adequate postal system. More and more newcomers settled in San Antonio to capitalize upon the expanding opportunities. Between 1846 and 1861 the city's population increased more than eight times, from approximately a thousand in 1846 to over eight thousand in 1861. A heterogeneous group, composed mostly of Anglo-Americans and European immigrants, the new residents soon outnumbered the older Mexican inhabitants and became the new directors of San Antonio's development. They guided the city through a period of cultural, social, and economic growth. The first years of Texas statehood saw the beginnings of projects and organizations that would expand and become the foundations of metropolitan San Antonio. Significant developments occurred in both religion and education. The Roman Catholic Church increased its ministrations, and the first Protestant churches, as well as the first stable public, private, and parochial schools, were founded. The number of firms or individuals grossing $500 or more each year more than doubled the decade of the 1850's, and the value of their products increased two and a half times. San Antonio's first newspapers--English, German, and Spanish--appeared. To provide rapid transportation between their city and a coastal port, San Antonians organized a navigation company and two railroad companies, one of which, the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad Company, built a track from Port Lavaca to Victoria. The municipal government consolidated its position and enlarged its functions. It obtained clear title to city land and defined its limits; it built new public buildings; it kept existing irrigation ditches and streets open and dedicated new streets; it established the first board of health and new cemeteries, as well as public schools and a public park; it aided the first fire companies and organized the first modern police force. This thesis attempts to designate and explore in some depth the highlights of San Antonio's growth during the period under survey.

[发布机构] Rice University