250th Anniversary of the Founding of San Antonio

The fair began as a merchant's idea. In 1959 local business leaders, inspired by Jerome K. Harris, began talking about a "Hemis-Fair" to celebrate the heritage San Antonio shared with Latin America, and Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez endorsed it. San Antonio Fair, Incorporated, was formed in 1962, with William R. Sinkin as president and builder H. B. Zachry as chairman. The Bureau of International Expositions in Paris granted official status on November 17, 1965, making it the first officially designated international exposition in the Southwest. The city spent $5.5 million of general revenue on the Tower of the Americas.

What the plaque says

250th Anniversary of the Founding of San Antonio Area was first explored and named by Spaniards in 1691. Colonial settlement began here May 1-5, 1718, with founding of Franciscan Missions San Antonio De Valero (later known as "The Alamo"). In Vicinity of the mission was the presidio San Antonio De Bexar, named for one of the great heroes of Spain, the Duc De Bexar, brother of the Viceroy of New Spain. The place was was renamed San Fernando De Bexar, 1731, when it became a municipality- the first in all of Texas. But the name "San Antonio" persisted. Today it is San Antonio in the county of Bexar. In its lifetime it has give allegiance to nine governments, and from 1772 to 1824 it served as the provincial and territorial capitol of Texas. Hemisfair '68- a World's fair held here April 6 to October 6, 1968, on the 250th anniversary of the birth of the city of San Antonio- had as its theme "the confluence of civilzations in the Americans". It orginated as a tribute to the diverse peoples who have occupied the western hemisphere from pre-columbian times: Indians who were the first known inhabitatns; proud spanish conquerors and devout padres; the pioneering american settlers; and the immigrants from many different lands. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• La Villita Historic Arts Village — steps away
  The little village across the river from the presidio, where Cos surrendered San Antonio in 1835, rebuilt by Depression-era youth crews as a working crafts village.
• San Antonio River Walk — steps away
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.
• The Alamo — steps away
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 0.4 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.

More markers nearby

• Pan American Round Table — steps away
• John Hermann Kampmann — steps away
• Menger Hotel — steps away
• Barbed Wire Demonstration — steps away