Adina Emilia de Zavala

Before the Alamo fight, De Zavala trained and worked as a teacher. She attended Ursuline Academy in Galveston, graduated in 1881 from Sam Houston Normal Institute at Huntsville and later studied at a music school in Missouri. She taught at Terrell from 1884 to 1886 and then in San Antonio. Her dispute with Clara Driscoll's faction of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas reached the state courts, which in 1909 recognized the Driscoll group. She later wrote History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions (1917) and contributed to the 1952 Handbook of Texas.

What the plaque says

Adina Emilia de Zavala Teacher, historian and preservationist Adina Emilia De Zavala was born in Harris County, Texas, on November 28, 1861. She was the daughter of Augustine and Julia Tyrrell De Zavala, and the granddaughter of Lorenzo De Zavala, first Vice-President of the Republic of Texas. Adina spent her early years in Galveston, before moving with her family to a ranch near San Antonio circa 1873. Miss Adina was a founding member of "De Zavala's Daughters," one of the earliest preservation groups in the state of Texas. Among de Zavala's most renowned contributions to the preservation of Texas history was hre role in saving the Alamo Long Barracks from demolition. De Zavala not only secured funding from philanthropist Clara Driscoll for the purchase of the structure, but she also barricaded herself inside the military quarters in February of 1907 when she feared the building was to be razed. Besides her dedication to saving portions of the Alamo compound, De Zavala initiated a public effort that culminated in protecting several of Texas' most revered historic structures and sites, including the legendary missions and Spanish Governors' Palace in Bexar County, and Mission San Francisco de los Tejas in east Texas. In 1938, De Zavala organized the Texas Historical and Landmarks Association. The civic group installed thirty-eight markers at historic sites thorughout Texas. Two months after her death in 1955, the Texas Legislature honored Adina De Zavala for her "life of devotion to Texas history, folklore, and general civic and patriotic work," as well as her commitment to "immortalizing Texas history for the ages." (2008)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Alamo — 1.5 mi
  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.
• La Villita Historic Arts Village — 1.5 mi
  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 — 1.5 mi
  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.
• King William Historic District — 1.8 mi
  Mission farmland turned German merchants' quarter on the San Antonio River, renamed in World War I, then saved by a neighbor who restored fourteen houses, starting with his own.

More markers nearby

• Noted Texas Soldier Col. Edward Miles — steps away
• Hamilton P. Bee — 0.2 mi
• John Salmon "Rip" Ford — 0.2 mi
• Confederate Cemetery — 0.3 mi