SAN ANTONIO, third largest city (1930) of Texas, U.S.A., and county seat of Bexar county; 8o m. S.S.W. of Austin, on the San Antonio river at the mouth of the San Pedro. It is on Federal highways 81, 90, 181, and 290; has a municipal airport and is an airmail station ; and is served by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas, the Missouri Pacific and the Southern Pacific railways (with two direct lines to the new deep-water port of Corpus Christi, 150 m. S.S.E.) and by motor bus lines in all directions. Pop. (1920) 161,379, of whom 14,341 were negroes and 36,346 foreign-born white (including Mexicans) ; in 193o it was 231,542 by the Federal census.
San Antonio is surrounded by rich agricultural regions and there are still largely undeveloped, producing oilfields. It is the financial and commercial centre of a wide area; headquarters of the principal customs district on the Mexican border; the seat of the largest military establishment of the United States Government; one of the most picturesque and historically in teresting of American cities; and a winter resort. The San Antonio, San Pedro and Acequia rivers together provide 3o m. of winding waterways within the city limits, spanned by hun dreds of bridges. The city is a square of 36 sq.m., laid out, according to the requirements of the original charter, with the cupola of the cathedral of San Fernando (originally built in 1734) exactly in the centre. Near the cathedral is the historic Alamo, the chapel of the Franciscan mission San Antonio de Valero (founded 1718), which since 1883 has been maintained by the State as a public monument and museum. Facing the Military Plaza, where executions took place under Spanish and Mexican rule, is the former Governor's Palace (1749), and south and west of the Plaza lies the picturesque Mexican quarter. The Veramendi Palace, where Col. B. R. Milam was killed (Dec. 5, 1835) by a sharpshooter, is near by. Above and around the quaint old buildings rise the tall hotels and business structures of the modern city. South of the city are four Franciscan missions : La Purisima Concepcion de Acuna (founded in eastern Texas in 1716, and moved here in 1731) ; San Jose de Aguayo (172o 31), one of the largest and most beautiful of the missions in America, with an exquisitely carved stone window ; San Juan de Capistrano (1731) ; and San Francisco de la Espada (founded in eastern Texas in 1690 and moved here in 1731). The city's drives are shaded by palms, liveoaks, and pecan trees. Its 57 public parks and plazas cover I,Ioo ac., and provide facilities for polo, golf, rifle practice, swimming, tennis, and other sports.
The water supply (purchased by the city from a private corpora tion in 1924 for $7,000,000) comes from 17 artesian wells, with a daily flow of over 50,000,000 gallons. In the southern suburbs are two artesian wells, with a daily flow of 800,000 gal. of hot sulphur water, used for the treatment of rheumatism and skin diseases. Near one of these wells is the South-western State Hospital for the Insane (1892). As a measure for the eradication of malaria, the city has built bat-houses, from which the bats fly out at dusk to devour mosquitoes, returning to their roosts at dawn. The establishment of the United States army at San Antonio includes Ft. Sam Houston on Government Hill, a cavalry post and headquarters of the Eighth Corps Area; three aviation fields and two flying schools ; a great motor-transport camp, an artillery camp, an arsenal, an artillery and rifle range, and four polo fields. About 12,000 troops are usually stationed here, and the Army expenditures amount to $18,000,000 annually. An International Fair, to which Mexico sends an exhibit, is held in March, at the permanent fair grounds where in 1898 Theodore Roosevelt organized his "Rough Riders." The anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto (April 21) is celebrated regularly by a fiesta ; and in February each year the Texas open golf tourney and a polo tourney are held. San Antonio has 49 public and 37 private schools, including the College of Our Lady of the Lake (1896) conducted by the Sisters of Divine Providence; 77 churches; and a number of charitable institutions. It is the see of Protestant Episcopal and Roman Catholic bishops. The city operates under a commission form of government, adopted in 1914. The assessed valuation of property for 1927 was $203, 898,630.
The area of the trade territory of San Antonio is greater than the combined area of several eastern States. Commerce of the customs district with Mexico was $62,524,850 in 1927, of which 91% represented exports. The city has some iso wholesale houses, and its manufacturing establishments had an output in 1927 valued at The principal manufactures are iron and steel, textiles, cigars, leather goods, clothing and soap. The oil fields in the vicinity have developed rapidly since the first one at Somerset (18 m. S.) was opened in 1919. Bank clearings were $662,868,419 in 1927.
San Antonio was important as the capital of Texas under Spanish and Mexican rule, and its history is closely bound up with that of the State (see TEXAS).