Plaza De Armas (Military Plaza)

San Antonio's first schoolhouse stood on this plaza in a family home. In 1803 José Francisco Ruiz was appointed the town's schoolmaster, and the school was set in a house on Military Plaza that his father, Juan Manuel Ruiz, had acquired and passed on to him. Blas María Herrera, later a courier in the Revolution, spent his first years in the Ruiz home at the plaza's southwest corner. Worn by time and crowded by business, the house was taken down in 1943 and carefully rebuilt on the grounds of the Witte Museum, where it is still used for teaching.

What the plaque says

Plaza De Armas (Military Plaza) One of oldest permanently settled locals in Texas, this area was first explored by Spaniards in 1691. The Presidio (Fort) of Bexar was relocated here in 172 and for many years, Plaza was enclosed on three sides by adobe fortifications. During Mexican rebellion of 1813, captured rebels were placed in Comandancie (now old Governer's Palace) and alter executed on Plaza. Many Lynchings also occurred at a great oak here. Military importance of Plaza declined in Republic of Texas Era (1836-45) but place came to be one of the liveliest spots in Texas. A busy market, it teemed with noisy vendors of vegatables, fresh eggs, chili peppers, and live chickens. Oxcarts and wagons stood bulging with hay, hides, and wood. Strolling guitarists,tourists, and girls selling songbirds mingled with pickpockets and other characters. Frequently cock fights were held. After the 1850s, the Plaza was dominated by a stone courthouse (nicknamed the "Bat Cave"). In the 1880s and later, leading merchants here were the "Chili Queens", who dispensed pungent Mexican food at open Air stands. The present City Hall was completed in 1892, and the old market was moved several blocks west. Although no longer a military or commercial center, ancient plaza remains the municipal heart of San Antonio. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Fernando Cathedral — steps away
  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.
• Spanish Governor's Palace — steps away
  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.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — steps away
  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.
• San Antonio River Walk — 0.4 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.

More markers nearby

• Zero Milestone, Old Spanish Trail — steps away
• Barbed Wire — steps away
• Bexar County under Nine Governments — steps away
• Moses Austin — steps away