San Antonio

San Antonio

(Severin)

Biographies Alf. L. Scott and T. J. Westerberg

San Antonio can not be counted among the Texas Swedish communities because not very many Swedes have lived here. No Swedish religious activities were organized. The reason is therefore hard to understand. Swedish people have moved around and resided in many other less favorable areas of Texas, where they were forced to break ground, build roads, and establish villages. They live a restricted life, far from the old Swedish society, while Texas’ biggest city, San Antonio, only several hours drive from those Swedish districts with barely fifteen percent of its rich land under cultivation was overlooked. Some Swedes live in San Antonio, and in the future you may observe one of Texas’ biggest Swedish communities here. San Antonio, also named “Alamo City”, is the oldest city in Texas and counts its beginning from the establishment of the mission, San Antonio de Valero in 1718. This mission went through many changes of fate. The building is on the right bank of the river, San Pedro, about three-fourths of a mile from present San Fernando Cathedral. Spain had made several attempts to colonize Texas but without any great results. The first success was in 1729, when a company of the Spanish government under orders left the Canary Islands to travel to Texas. They arrived at Vera Cruz the following year, and on March 9, 1731, sixteen families of the same group arrived and settled in the place which is now called “Main Plaza”. About one hundred years later, in 1821, when Mexico cast off the Spanish yoke, San Antonio became the capital city in the Mexican province of Texas. In the war between Texas and Mexico for freedom from the Mexican oppression, eight battles were fought in and around San Antonio. Here we find the notable monastery ruins and fort, the Alamo, made unforgettable through the blood-bath on March 6,1836. Colonel Travis with only 150 volunteer soldiers, defended the fort against a numerically superior force of 1500 Mexicans, and they dearly sold their lives to the last man.

Near the Alamo we can see the “mission” over two hundred years old, built by the Spanish for missionary work among the Indians. Only ruins are left standing but their memory is interesting.

Rich in historical memories and with a glorious climate, San Antonio is a southern Mecca for tourists. San Antonio is America’s military metropolis; here the government has built the nation’s biggest military training camps.

(1) Fort Sam Houston, division headquarters for the United States regular army, was laid out on “Government Hill” in the beginning of the 1870’s; work on the fort began in 1877. It has since, with every year, expanded at a cost of $5,000,000. The fort has an area of 640 acres and under normal conditions from three to five thousand soldiers.

(2) Camp Travis is one of the National Guard camps and has an area of one thousand eight hundred acres with training grounds including at least four thousand acres. It was built to meet the nations’ demands during war-time and has cost six million dollar. It houses a garrison of over fifty thousand men.

(3) Camp Stanley, which originally was the army‘s reserve training camp, has an area of seventeen thousand acres near Leon Springs, and a further sixteen thousand acres have been added. This huge field is now used for exercises and maneuvers.

(4) Kelly Field is the name of two flying schools with training fields. Kelly Field No.1 is the flying divisions central quarters with warehouses, workshops and barracks. The cost was one and a half million dollars and has, during normal conditions, from twelve to fifteen thousand men stationed here. Kelly Field No. 2 is perhaps the biggest flying school in the Army; built at a cost of two million dollars. It has a training field of one thousand seven hundred twenty six acres with the possibility to expand it with a second thousand acres. Usually there are from three to four thousand pilots training here.

(5) Brooks Field, also a flying school, is situated southeast of the city and includes nine hundred acres and represents a cost of one and a half million dollars. It has from one thousand to fifteen hundred pilots in training.

(6) Camp John Wise, a balloon school, is also located here, and is surely one of the most interesting army training camps around San Antonio. It borders the city along the north and was located here by the government in the fall of 1917, with only one balloon. The school now has four of these observation balloons and there are one hundred acres in the training camp. The atmospheric conditions here are especially advantageous, therefore Camp John Wise surpasses all similar training camps in the number of training hours. Balloons which are fastened to a big motor vehicle by a strong cable, are maneuvered by this vehicle from one place to another at high speed. From one thousand to fifteen hundred men are in training here; their role during the war is mainly to direct and guide artillery fire.

Right in the midst of the heart of the the city is the Flora Street Arsenal for the southern department of the United States Army.

Throughout the city a beautiful park system spreads in all directions. The big and natural beauty of Brackenridge Park is a natural forest, where cool shade from century old trees invite a pleasant resting place for strangers as well as those who live in the city.

Extracted from: Swedes In Texas In Words and Pictures,

English Translation, 1838 - 1918