Italian American Community in San Antonio

The best-known Italian in San Antonio was the sculptor Pompeo Coppini, whose later career centered on the city. His bronze doors for the Scottish Rite Cathedral here were dedicated in 1926, and in 1937 he set up a studio at 115 Melrose Place for his Centennial commissions. He headed Trinity University's art department from 1943 to 1945, and in 1945 he and the sculptor Waldine Tauch founded the Classic Arts Fraternity, renamed the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in 1950. The San Antonio studio is now a museum of their work.

What the plaque says

Italian American Community in San Antonio Italian immigrants began arriving in San Antonio in the 1870s. By 1890 a number of families had established an Italian neighborhood northwest of downtown. In April of that year a small group gathered together in a fruit store at the corner of Commerce Street and Plaza de Armas to organize a benevolent association. They obtained a charter for the Christopher Columbus Italian Society on May 14, 1890. Meeting in a variety of locations, the society conducted a fund-raising campaign and in 1926 purchased property at the corner of Morales (now Piazza Italia) and Concho (now Columbus) Street. Part of the land was conveyed to the Catholic Diocese of San Antonio for the construction of San Francesco Di Paola Church, and the Christopher Columbus society hall was built next door the following year. Franklin Square was renamed Columbus Park in 1957, when the Christopher Columbus Italian Society dedicated a statue of the explorer during a special Columbus Day celebration. Descendants of the original Italian settlers continue to preserve their culture and heritage. They remain an integral part of the city's diverse population. (1992)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spanish Governor's Palace — 0.4 mi
  The last visible piece of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar: a presidio captain's house with a 1749 keystone, a century as shops and saloons, and a romantic 1930 restoration.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 0.5 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.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 0.5 mi
  The adobe and caliche-block home of José Antonio Navarro, a native-born signer of the 1836 declaration, and the last remnant of the Tejano neighborhood called Laredito.
• The Alamo — 0.8 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.

More markers nearby

• San Pedro Creek — steps away
• Emma Tenayuca — 0.3 mi
• Benjamin Rush Milam — 0.3 mi
• Central Christian Church — 0.4 mi