By the time the Texas revolutionaries took control of the Alamo in December 1835, the buildings were already over 100 years old. In 1691, a Spanish missionary expedition stopped under a spreading cottonwood tree in central Texas and surveyed the surrounding hills and a gently flowing San Antonio river. The military commander, Domingo Teran de los Rios, called the spot “the most beautiful part of New Spain.” Father Damien Massanet agreed, and since it was June 13, the feast day of Saint Anthony, he promptly named it “San Antonio de Padua.”

Once back in Mexico, they talked of building a mission at the San Antonio de Padua site, but it wasn’t until seven years later that the Franciscan Seminary in Mexico City decided to build missions like stepping stones across the isolated outposts and the colonized parts of New Spain – with an army contingent, of course. In 1699, construction began on the first mission, San Juan Bautista on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande at Laredo.

By the time civilization crept into San Antonio de Padua in 1718, 19 years later, a new mission named San Francisco Solano stood near the river. The mission was moved from below the Rio Grande to a new site and renamed San Antonio de Valero, after the viceroy of New Spain, the Marqués de Valero. The San Antonio de Béxar presidio, named in honor of the viceroy’s father, was built nearby. The area grew to become the capital of New Spain. Due to flooding of the San Antonio river, the mission was moved several times, finally settling in its present location. Twenty years later, the crumbling adobe walls were replaced with stone and the church was constructed. Directly across the river on the west bank, the city of San Antonio de Béxar flourished around the presidio.

By 1758, the San Antonio area boasted five missions, all of which are within nine miles from each other and still in use today. One, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, became the site of the Battle of Concepción (in October 1835), in which Stephen Austin, Jim Bowie, James Fannin, Juan Seguin and a detachment of 90 volunteers took on a force of at least 230 regulars of the Mexican army under General Martín Perfecto de Cós. The result was that the Centralist Mexican government was all but ousted from the San Antonio region.

When Mexico began its campaign for independence in 1821, Spanish troops from the city of San José y Santiago del Alamo de Parras moved into the then abandoned mission and stayed for many years. Since it was the common practice to identify the men by the full name of their town, and their town was named after a landmark cottonwood tree (alamo is Spanish for cottonwood) growing on a ranch near Parras, the Spanish soldiers became known as “los Hombres del Alamo.” The San Antonio de Valero mission became known as “El Alamo.” (Parras today is called Viesca and is located in Coahuila, Mexico.)

Whether or not this is the sole reason why the old fortress achieved such an informal name is still a matter of debate. Some claim the nickname really stemmed from the cottonwood trees that lined the river in front of the church. In any event, by the time the Texans got there, the old fortress had long been known as “the Alamo,” although its official Christian name is still San Antonio de Valero.

San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835, Ben Milam led Texan and Tejano volunteers against Mexican troops quartered in the city. After five days of house-to-house fighting, they forced General Marín Perfecto de Cós and his soldiers to surrender. The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo — already fortified prior to the battle by Cós’ men — and strengthened its defenses.

On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texans and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna’s army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did. As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo’s garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.

The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged from the predawn darkness and headed for the Alamo’s walls. Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several attacks. Regrouping, the Mexicans scaled the walls and rushed into the compound. Once inside, they turned captured cannon on the Long Barracks and church, blasting open the barricaded doors. The desperate struggle continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. By sunrise, the battle had ended and Santa Anna entered the Alamo compound to survey the scene of his victory.

Situated on the edge of San Antonio de Béxar, the Alamo was destined to be surrounded by the growing town. From 1847 until 1876 (excluding the years 1861-’65), the United States Army occupied the site as a quartermaster depot. Once the military moved to Government Hill—the post that would become Fort Sam Houston—commercial interests gained control of the property, establishing a general store on the grounds of the Alamo. Although the State of Texas purchased the church in 1883, the remaining original structure—the Long Barracks—was owned by Hugo & Schmeltzer and used as a hotel. In 1903, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) acquired the Long Barracks and shortly thereafter turned the deed over to the State of Texas. The state legislature, in turn, appointed the DRT custodians of the Alamo with instructions to maintain it as a memorial.

Since 1905, the Alamo has been a shrine to the Alamo heroes, but as a monument, it occupies only a small fraction of the original compound, a vast walled enclosure 462-feet wide by 162-feet long representing a space roughly 10 times the size of the remaining church. If you think that the church and Long Barracks are all that you can see at the Alamo, you’d be wrong, as there are a host of hidden historic reminders of the battle as well as the fight for Texas independence...if you know where to look.

The Alamo Plaza is a rough outline of the old mission and fort, and with a little investigation, you can find the plaque that signifies the place where the Low Barracks was located, the entrance to the compound and where James Bowie resided. Near the stairway to the Paseo del Rio, you can still see some of the original foundation. To the right of the Church is the Palisade — paving stones there mark where Crockett and his Tennessee volunteers fought and died. The north wall of the fort is to the far left of the Church and Long Barracks, and it is the place where Travis was killed. But that location is currently under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Postal Service.

Outside of the Alamo itself, the Plaza offers many historic locations associated with the battle. The site of the funeral pyres where Santa Anna cremated the defenders — a marble plaque has been placed there by the De Zavala Chapter of the Texas Landmark Association — is located on Commerce Street between Alamo and Bowie streets.

The bridge at Commerce and Losoya Streets, once a wooden bridge spanning the San Antonio River, is the spot where Colonel Juan Almonte (Santa Anna’s aide) met with Green B. Jameson (representing Bowie) on February 23, 1836, and demanded the Alamo’s surrender. Jameson’s refusal, along with a similar meeting later that day, marked the beginning of the siege.

When Mexico began its campaign for independence in 1821, Spanish troops from the city of San José y Santiago del Alamo de Parras moved into the then abandoned mission and stayed for many years.

Further down Commerce, on the northeast corner of Soledad Street, sits the Samuel Maverick home. As a long-time resident of Béxar, he acted as a guide for the attacking Texans during the Battle of Béxar (prior to the siege of the Alamo). Later, during the siege itself, he was chosen as a delegate to the Texas Constitutional Convention in early March and so he escaped death at the hands of Santa Anna’s men.

The Yturri House on the northeast corner of Commerce and Main streets was occupied by Santa Anna and his aide during the siege. It also became his headquarters after the battle where he interviewed survivors and commanded the fort.

San Fernando Church (which was mostly rebuilt in the late 1870s) stands at the southwest corner of Dolorosa and Main; the site where Santa Anna flew the “no quarter” flag, telling the Alamo defenders to surrender or die. In 1936, bodily remains were unearthed near the church and are claimed to be the ashes of Travis, Crockett and Bowie, but not all historians agree with this.

The Alamo is located at 300 Alamo Plaza in downtown San Antonio, Texas, and admission is free. Since the Daughters of the Republic of Texas receives no monetary help from the government they depend solely upon money earned in the Alamo Gift Museum, donations from individuals and private foundation grants to fund educational programs and general operation. The Alamo is open year-round except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Visiting hours are 9:00 am to 5:30 pm Monday through Saturday, and 10:00 am to 5:30 pm on Sunday.

The Battle of the Alamo was only one step toward the ultimate goal for its defenders, as the war was won six weeks later and many miles away at the Battle of San Jacinto. To a nation, however, the Alamo represented this ultimate goal; a stubborn fight for the freedom and independence of a common people. It represented the beginning of a state and the future for the American way. In the end, even though almost all who served within her walls were killed and the battle desperately lost, the Alamo has become a symbol for truth and victory and a source of deep pride for Texas as well as every American.