Category: San Antonio News

It’s been more than a year since a disturbing video clip showing a Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd sparked a national movement.

The days and weeks that followed Floyd’s death were filled with protests and marches. These demonstrations happened in communities across the country and across the globe

Here at home, the protests forced San Antonians to examine our own history of racism.

With time and an ultimate conviction of the police officer, the protest crowds thinned and eventually marches stopped. What remains are continued calls for an end to systemic racism and accountability from our law enforcement officers and policymakers.

But have the past 12 months brought about any change?

(Watch the full episode on demand in the video player above.)

SMART. IN-DEPTH. LOCAL: Click here for more episodes of KSAT Explains

A look back at how protests played out in San Antonio

It was the last weekend of May 2020 when San Antonio saw a massive protest similar to the ones happening across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s slaying. Thousands of marchers flooded downtown streets, holding signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace”.

After an afternoon of largely peaceful protests, and after many demonstrators had gone home, tension grew. Eventually, some flung rocks and fire extinguishers through storefront windows at Rivercenter Mall and a few scuffles broke out. Police fired tear gas and pepper and rubber bullets, according to SAPD Chief William McManus.

Watch the video below to hear KSAT reporters, photographers, producers and anchors describe how the protests played out a year ago:

KSAT Explains premiered just weeks after the protests in San Antonio. We dedicated our first episode to the conversations happening in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Click here to watch KSAT Explains: Unrest in America.

Push for police accountability

Like others across the country, Oji Martin decided to take action after the death of George Floyd. Martin founded Fix SAPD last summer with two petition drives to repeal two local government codes — Chapter 143 and Chapter 174.

Ultimately, Fix SAPD only amassed enough signatures to put the proposed repeal of Chapter 174 on the ballot, or Prop B. Chapter 174 is the state law that gives the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association the right to collectively bargain for a contract. Prop B ultimately fell short of 3,745 votes, or a margin of less than 3 percentage points, and the collective bargaining rights of police here remained.

View the map below to see where Prop B drew the most support, opposition.

Even though Prop B didn’t pass, the close final vote was seen as a step in the right direction to those in favor of police reform.

“I think the whole pursuit of Prop B showed that a lot of people in this city, even those who voted against Prop B, want to see change,” said Carey Latimore, Ph.D., an associate professor of history at Trinity University.

Martin wasn’t the only San Antonian to push for police reform. You may also recognize local activist Pharaoh Clark. Clark was on the steps of City Hall protesting last summer, when Mayor Ron Nirenberg vowed to create change and to start having difficult conversations.

San Antonio Mayor @Ron_Nirenberg to protesters: ‘We want an end to systemic prejudice. There are people who will make mistakes, people on my side who make mistakes. Hold me accountable because I’m the mayor of this God damn city and we’re going to make change together. #KSATnews pic.twitter.com/4YgBgvsY71

— RJ Marquez (@KSATRJ) June 4, 2020

“I think that he was very genuine when he looked at me and said that he wanted to help,” Clark said.

Clark views that moment as pivotal to the city. A moment when city leaders stopped playing a neutral role, and said they wanted police accountability and transparency as well.

The mayor started meeting with Clark and other community members who were ready to address police reform and racial inequities. That group became the San Antonio Coalition for Police Accountability.

“It’s a group of a bunch of different organizations and like-minded individuals,” Clark said. “We come together and meet with officials. We find out where the problems are, and we try to come up with the solutions.”

Some residents and activists, including Clark, called on the city to cut the San Antonio Police Department’s budget and move that funding to other departments. Instead, the department’s general fund budget increased more than $7 million. The city said the increase was largely due to a scheduled 5 percent pay increase for officers.

City Manager Erik Walsh did demand a review of the city’s policing model as part of the budget. Virtual community meetings labeled SAPD & Me started in 2021, as a way to encourage people to get involved in the conversation about police reform.

San Antonio was one of the only major Texas city without a policy on police body-worn camera footage until December 2020.

SAPD’s policy states that videos and 911 recordings must be released within 60 days of incidents in which officers shoot and kill someone, or use force that results in a person’s death, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions: videos related to domestic violence. The policy states those videos would only be released if Police Chief William McManus determined they serve a law enforcement purpose.

“I do think that we need to find a way that people have access to those body cams,” Carey said. “But we also have to recognize sometimes those things don’t tell us everything that we need to know.”

Since the start of 2021, San Antonio police have shot and killed six people. As of the end of May, SAPD had not released a single video clip from any of these confrontations.

Declaring racism a public health crisis

In August of 2020, the San Antonio City declared racism a public health crisis.

That declaration was both an acknowledgment that some people face greater health challenges because of their race or where they were born, and a call to action for the city to lessen those challenges and create greater health equity.

But in the last nine months, we’ve seen little action as a result of that declaration — a point of criticism for some San Antonio residents.

Glo Armmer, who writes contracts by day and poetry by night, is looking for more from the city’s declaration.

“I don’t know what we were expecting, but you want something substantial,” Armmer said.

San Antonio Metro Health says it is doing something. But first the department had to do some investigating to better understand local problems and how to fix them.

Assistant Director of Community Health and Safety Jennifer Herriot said that Metro Health made sure to look at the city’s problems from a racial, ethnic and income perspective.

“We’re not that surprised by what we found, and that is that we really need to be continuing to focus our work on the west, south and east sides of town,” Herriot said.

It’s not just the data. Metro Health has also been taking a closer look at itself — scrutinizing its workforce when it comes to training and diversity, trying to make sure the people crafting solutions to race-related health disparities are representative of the communities they’re trying to serve.

“In our advisory board that we have in our programs, we are going to bring representation from the marginalized communities,” said Carlos Rodriguez, Manager for Metro Health’s Office of Health Equity. “Not only from stakeholders that work with the communities, but also people that belong to those communities.”

The problem areas Metro Health wants to address range from lack of nutrition to domestic violence, which the health agency found happens at a higher rate in marginalized communities. The team at Metro Health has developed a set of 14 strategies for targeting five areas of health-related challenges. Herriot and Rodriguez tell us the finishing touches are being put on those plans, but they’re not ready to be released.

Even without seeing the plans, we know money is key to making it happen. Rodriguez said Metro Health is accounting for that, and metrics to show whether change is actually happening.

Watch episode 15 of KSAT Explains below. Why San Antonio has declared racism a public health crisis:

Start of “racial reckoning”

The summer of 2020 was a moment that many people referred to as the start of a racial reckoning across the country. But where will this reckoning lead and what will be the long-term impact?

There is hope that real change is on the horizon and that this will be a major milestone in future history books.

“Change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s sometimes a slow, evolving process and I think that there is a process of change in which the pieces are being put into place,” said Latimore.

Derek Chauvin’s conviction may have been a sign of those wheels in motion.

“We’ve been hoping that we would be heard and so it did my heart good to see that finally somebody was being held accountable,” said Armmer.

In the process, last year’s protests brought different communities and people from all different backgrounds together.

“We might be able to identify with somebody through an experience, maybe we were profiled,” said Latimore. “That experience can link us on an emotional level.”

The past year has also had an effect on how we discuss race in our country. These conversations can be uncomfortable but connect all of us.

“There’s a sense of unfortunate gratitude and it bringing us here today. Being able to have these conversations that we’ve had and just to see where America is, and how people really feel when it comes to talks of humanity,” said San Antonio activist Valerie Reiffert.

“I think we have a history of racism in our nation. It doesn’t mean that has to be our future,” said Latimore. “But we have a history in which race has had an impact on people’s ability to build wealth, had an impact on people’s ability to live to experience the American dream.”

Watch the video below for more on how last summer’s protests affected the way the media, including KSAT, discuss race and policing in newsrooms, and how the COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on existing inequities — from education to transportation — in San Antonio and across the country.

Hey everyone, Mary Claire here. You don’t know me from TV but if you follow KSAT online then you’ve likely read some of my articles. I often write about things to do in and around San Antonio.

One of my favorite things about our South-Central Texas location is that it is prime for festivals and unique events. From the Fredericksburg Peach Festival and the Poteet Strawberry fest to San Antonio’s Fiesta and a unique celebration of sausage and beer (Wurstfest, anyone?), there’s something within driving distance happening nearly every weekend.

On top of the revolving door of local events, there are also many gems — hidden and otherwise — in our Hill Country community. Have you ever visited Bracken Cave, home to the world’s largest bat colony? It’s just minutes outside of San Antonio. Or Jacob’s Well in Wimberley? Or maybe you’ve considered living out your childhood dreams by renting out a Texas treehouse?

But to get in on the fun, you have to know when and where it is. That’s why we’re launching a free Things To Do Newsletter from KSAT.com. >>Sign up here<<

Starting this month, I will pop into subscribers’ email inbox every few weeks with a specially curated list of upcoming events and things to do for the month. Don’t worry if you’re looking to avoid crowds, many events featured in the newsletter are geared towards people looking to stay socially distant. Many are family-friendly and free!

I’ll send a list at the beginning of the month on what’s happening in our area (and sometimes statewide because, let’s face it, Texas has a lot going on.) I’ll also send an update around the middle of the month that will focus on a different, seasonal topic: from pet-friendly patios to where to see Christmas lights.

What you can expect to get from KSAT’s Things To Do Newsletter

Learn about events happening around San Antonio and the surrounding areasSee what’s been trending on KSAT.comGet details on major entertainment announcementsSeasonal listicles highlighting the best of the best around our community

I’m inviting you to subscribe as we launch this free newsletter, but you don’t always need to wait for my email to hit your inbox. If you’re looking for things to do around town right now, we have an entire section on the KSAT website dedicated to that – check it out here.

Thank you for joining me. If you’ve got suggestions on improvements to the newsletter or upcoming events you think people want to know about, send them my way at mpatton@ksat.com.

>>Sign up for the free Things To Do Newsletter from KSAT 12 here<<

Son’s Island is a little piece of Texas paradise located just 30 minutes outside San Antonio in Seguin.

Visitors to Son’s Island can rent cabanas for the day or for the evening and there are also options for overnight “glamping” tents.

Cabana rental prices vary but swimming, fishing, beach volleyball, boat docking, a water slide, cornhole and barbecuing are all included in the rental price.

Kayaks, paddleboards and giant floats are all available to rent, however, guests are also welcome to bring their own kayaks, boats, jet skis and floats.

Son’s Island was set to close in 2019 after the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority said Lake McQueeney, Lake Placid, Meadow Lake and Lake Gonzales needed to be drained due to safety concerns over aging dams. However, a judge put a temporary halt to the draining of the four lakes in September 2019 to hear arguments from lawyers representing residents who live along the lakes in addition to GBRA lawyers.

Reservations are required to visit the island and availability for certain cabanas has already filled up for the majority of the summer. Costs run an average of $99-$245 per day depending on the cabana and include entry for up to 8 people. Click here to check availability.

Daytime cabana rentals are 10:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. and evening rentals are 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. For a list of frequently asked questions, click here.

There are also barbecue pits and bathrooms on site for visitors to use while they’re on the island.

Click here for more information about Son’s Island, located at 110 Lee Street in Seguin.

Few things in life are certain. But when it comes to San Antonio in the spring — there’s a good chance you’re going to see some hail.

If you’ve lived in South Central Texas for a while, you’re probably no stranger to hail. There was a significant hailstorm just last week. But there’s a lot about the science of these weather events that you may not know. (Watch the full episode in the video player above.)

SMART. IN-DEPTH. LOCAL: Click here for more episodes of KSAT Explains

History of hail

Feel like hail is something you have to deal with every year? It’s not your imagination.

Over the past 10 years there have been at least 16 large hail events in and around the San Antonio area, according to the National Weather Service.

One of the reasons we have very large hail in South Central Texas is because of our proximity to the West Texas dry line.

Take, for example, the hailstorm that hit the San Antonio area in early May. Temperatures were so hot behind the dry line in Cotulla in the afternoon that they fired off a few showers. These showers then moved into warm, humid air closer to San Antonio and exploded into thunderstorms. One thunderstorm tracked right over San Antonio as it was strengthening and moved across the central parts of the county.

And many remember the very destructive hailstorm of April 12, 2016. A very large hailstorm moved across Bexar County just north of downtown that evening. Tennis ball-sized hail fell in a swath from the Government Canyon area to the San Antonio International Airport, and east through Saint Hedwig.

Some of the largest hailstones that were up to softball size fell near Helotes and Leon Valley, and east in Alamo Heights and Kirby.

This one event resulted in $1.36 billion in damage, making it the second costliest hailstorm in Texas history. Another storm with large hail would hit San Antonio just two weeks later.

How does hail form?

To have hail, your first have to have a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms, especially large and organized ones called supercells, have updrafts and downdrafts. These are areas of fast-moving wind going up into the storm and then down onto the ground.

The updraft transports raindrops to the very top of the storm where the raindrops freeze because it’s so cold. This is the very beginning of a hailstone.

It goes without saying that the bigger the hail, the worse the damage will be. But what makes some hailstones so big?

Once a hailstone forms, it goes on a bit of a wild ride. Those updrafts and downdrafts in a thunderstorm carry the hail up and down, up and down. Each trip adds another layer to the hailstone as it bumps into supercooled water droplets, making it a little bit bigger each time around.

Eventually, the hailstone becomes too heavy and falls out of the storm. A strong storm can support or carry larger hail. On the flip side, a weak thunderstorm will produce smaller hail — sometimes as small as green beans.

Watch the video below from the KSAT Weather Authority team to see how hail forms:

According to the National Weather Service, the largest hailstone ever recorded in the United States fell in South Dakota in 2010. It was eight inches in diameter and weighed nearly two pounds.

As you can see above, that hailstone almost looks like it’s made of a lot of smaller stones. It’s also got some appendages. So, what causes that?

Hailstones can have different shapes based on their journey through a storm. Some perfectly round hailstones will have rings — just as trees have rings. Each ring represents a trip back up to the top of the storm.

Sometimes hail can look jagged with appendages. These stones likely started to melt on their way down a storm, and then refroze as a storm’s draft carried it back up to the top.

Finally, some stones look a little bumpy. This is a result of smaller stones bumping into one another to form one larger hailstone.

Hailstorm safety

Hail is very common in any thunderstorm, but large hail is rarer. Hailstones can range in size from a quarter of an inch to over four inches in diameter.

Pea- and penny-size hail can be noisy, but is unlikely to cause a lot of damage. However, once hailstones get to the size of quarters or larger, significant damage can occur. Hail the size of tennis balls and larger can cause catastrophic damage and injury.

Because of this, severe thunderstorm warnings are issued for storms with the potential to create quarter-size hail or larger.

So what should you do if you find yourself under a severe thunderstorm warning for hail?

If you’re in your home, stay inside until the hail stops. Don’t go outside even to cover your car — it’s too late for that if it’s already hailing.

It’s also important to stay away from all windows, including skylights. Large hail can break glass.

If you are in a car during a hailstorm, try to find a safe place to pull over — like under a gas station awning. However, it’s important to remember never to park under a highway overpass. This could lead to car accidents. Next, turn your back to the car windows and don’t leave the car until the hail stops.

Finally, if you sustain damage to your home or other property, be sure to document the time the hail occurred and the size of the hail. This is necessary for insurance purposes.

Click here for some tips about what to do if your property has been damaged by hail.

Past weather-related episodes of KSAT Explains:

KSAT Explains: The Science and Impact of Climate ChangeKSAT Explains: Western Wildfires and an Active Hurricane SeasonKSAT Explains: The Texas Power Grid Failure

For the latest updates on outages, click here or view the map below. More on the forecast here.

Click here to see reported outages across the state of Texas.

Stay Informed

As always, Your Weather Authority team will keep you updated. You can get the very latest forecast and check out the interactive radar anytime by bookmarking our weather page and downloading the KSAT Weather Authority App – available for both Apple and Android devices.

To keep up with the weather situation, please download the KSAT Weather Authority app for Apple or Android and allow notifications for updates, including livestreams from KSAT meteorologists.

Want to share what you’re seeing with KSAT12′s meteorologists? Submit photos and videos here, and your submission may get featured on KSAT.com or on air.

More resources:

Map: Emergency road closures at low water crossings in San Antonio, Bexar CountyCurrent power outages in Bexar County, tips for residents with energy outages from CPSAvoid these notorious roadways prone to flooding during heavy rain in San AntonioFind the latest forecasts and alerts on our weather pageLive doppler radar

A confrontation ends with a civilian killed by a police officer. Outrage and protests follow. Then calls for accountability.

And then it happens again, in some other city in the United States.

To many it seems we’re stuck in a cycle. It’s why activists in communities across the nation are calling for police reform. And it’s why when you vote in the May 1 election, you’ll have the chance to vote for or against Proposition B.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the effort to repeal San Antonio police officers’ collective bargaining power. But there have been mixed messages on the issue, leading to confusion for voters. In this episode of KSAT Explains, we’re explaining what Prop B is all about, the arguments for and against it, and what it would and wouldn’t accomplish if passed. (Watch the full episode in the video player above.)

SMART. IN-DEPTH. LOCAL: Click here for more episodes of KSAT Explains

What is Prop B?

Last summer, local woman Oji Martin founded a group called Fix SAPD. Martin said she reached her tipping point after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and after watching Broken Blue, the KSAT special on misconduct and disciplinary procedures within the San Antonio Police Department.

With the goal of reforming the police department, the group launched two petition drives to get two items on the May ballot. The ultimate goal was to repeal two local government codes that, among other things, provide protections for police officers under investigation.

“There is lack of accountability in our police system, and that’s what’s causing all these issues,” said Martin when KSAT talked to her about the petition drive in September.

Ultimately, Fix SAPD only amassed enough signatures to get Prop B on the ballot — the proposed repeal of Texas Local Government Code Chapter 174. They are still working on the petition drive to repeal 143.

Chapter 174, explained

This is what Prop B looks like:

As is the case with a lot of ballot initiatives, the wording itself is confusing. It calls for the repeal of Chapter 174, which allows police unions to collectively bargain while keeping in place the rule that says officers can’t strike or stage a lockout.

Collective bargaining is a process in which a union and their employer, in this case the city, determine wages, hours and working conditions for all the employees the union represents: police officers. It’s contract negotiations. And right now, it’s a major debate.

Fix SAPD said they decided to go after collective bargaining, because they believe a lot of the issues with police accountability start with the contract.

“You just follow the breadcrumbs and you realize bad contracts lead to poor performance by some of these officers,” said Fix SAPD board member EJ Pinnock. “These contracts are set up by certain laws. In this case, state laws. And Prop B allows us to go ahead and change all of those things.”

Defunding?

Fix SAPD believes voting yes on Prop B is a step toward more accountability. But the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association has labeled a vote for Prop B a vote for defunding the police.

“Defund the police” became a national rallying cry in the wake of protests for police reform. It means reallocating funding from police departments to other government agencies.

But Prop B would not directly affect the budget of SAPD in any way.

Still, SAPOA President Danny Diaz argues that defunding would be the ultimate effect. Diaz says that because doing away with collective bargaining would remove one negotiating tool from the union, which he says would threaten competitive benefits for officers.

Fix SAPD calls the defund label for Prop B a scare tactic.

Of the eight largest cities in Texas, only San Antonio, El Paso and Corpus Christi use collective bargaining.

The union has questioned why Fix SAPD is targeting collective bargaining in the first place, instead of specific parts of the police contract they take issue with.

“Why did they not go after Articles 28 and 29,” Diaz said. “That’s what deals with our discipline.”

But we checked with the city. And according to the San Antonio City Attorney, Fix SAPD couldn’t put the contract to a city-wide vote.

So the process of negotiating that contract is in the group’s crosshairs.

How many officers have gotten their job back because of arbitration?

For years, certain aspects of the police union’s contract have been questioned.

One major sticking point — arbitration. Under the current contract, an officer fired by the police chief can have a third-party arbitrator determine whether they should get their job back.

The union argues arbitration has rarely given an officer his or her job back. They say it’s happened 10 times over 10 years. Fix SAPD says 70 percent of all SAPD officers fired get their jobs back.

This back and forth has been a huge point of contention in this debate. So which stat is true?

KSAT crunched the numbers. Here’s what we found:

From 2010 to the summer of 2020, there were 71 police officer terminations. Some of those cases are still pending. In 43 cases, the officer appealed their termination and a decision was made whether to put that officer back on the job. Ten of those officers got their jobs back through arbitration. Twenty were brought back by the police chief, which in some cases happens because it becomes too expensive for the city to uphold an officer’s firing through the arbitration process.

This amounts to 69.8 percent of fired officers who appealed their terminations being brought back to the force from 2010 to summer 2020.

What else is in the police contract?

It’s not just arbitration that’s been highlighted as one of the aspects of the collective bargaining agreement that needs a closer look.

Here are a few other often criticized items in the police contract:

The police chief can only discipline officers for up to 180 days from the date of a violation.The police chief can’t consider misconduct older than 10 years for drug and alcohol violations, and older than five years for violent violations, during the disciplinary process.The current contract allows officers accused of wrongdoing to get 48 hours notice before speaking with internal investigators.

Some of these issues are being discussed between the union and the city as they’re negotiating right now. The current contract is set to expire in September. The union argues they’re already talking about possible changes, so why rid them of collective bargaining?

But Chapter 174 is only the first step in Fix SAPD’s plan to reform the police department.

What is Chapter 143?

San Antonians adopted Chapter 143, or “civil service,” in 1947. It’s a broad law that lays out how a city handles personnel issues for firefighters and police officers. It covers things like hirings, promotions and benefits. It does not, however, address officer pay.

Without collective bargaining, a contract between the city and union is not required. City staff and the city manager would recommend officer pay and benefits, and the city council would vote whether to approve.

But 143 does cover firings and the process used for discipline. And because it is in place, even if Chapter 174 is repealed in May, police would still have protections in place.

What does Chapter 143 say about firings and discipline?

When it comes to hiring, firing and discipline — think of Chapter 143 as a baseline. If a collective bargaining agreement goes away, 143 spells out how to proceed. A lot of those rules are the same or similar to the rules spelled out in the current contract between the city and union.

For example, under 143 a hearing examiner can make a ruling if an officer appeals a termination. Similar to arbitration.

Chapter 143 also says only the police chief can view an officer’s personnel file, not the media or the general public. And it says the police chief can’t suspend an officer for an offense that happened more than 180 days ago. Which is also in the current contract.

That’s why Fix SAPD wants Chapter 143 to be repealed, too. But organizers say repealing 174 is the first step.

But Chapter 143 is a tougher target. Fix SAPD got the more than 20,000 signatures needed to put 174 in front of voters. Repealing 143 requires roughly 80,000 signatures collected in 180 days.

Julia Gannaway, an attorney who represents Texas cities in negotiations and civil service issues, said to her knowledge no city has been successful in repealing 143.

“143 is like the Hotel California,” Gannaway said. “You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave. You can’t get out of it.”

What is meet and confer?

If collective bargaining is repealed in May, the police union and city could still negotiate a contract under what’s known as a “meet and confer” system.

Think of it as collective bargaining light. It can still bring both sides to the negotiating table. But they don’t have to if they don’t want to.

The police union has to agree to meet and confer and petition the city. Then city council has to approve it, or they could let voters decide.

Fix SAPD supports meet and confer and points to the city of Austin as an example.

“In Austin, they actually have better pay, better benefits and they have a meet and confer system,” said Fix SAPD board member James Dykman during a Prop B debate held by KSAT, San Antonio Report and Bexar Facts. “We can still attract great officers to the city as they do.”

Crime, pay, civilian oversight

Are crime rates skyrocketing in Texas? Would San Antonio police officers lose competitive pay under a meet and confer system? Would civilians have more oversight if Prop B passes? Watch the video below for clarification on some of the biggest questions surrounding the Prop B debate.

Whether you prefer a pilsner, a porter or a pale ale, it seems these days there’s a brewery in San Antonio for everyone. While you may think this local beer explosion is recent, our city has a history as a brew town that dates back more than 150 years.

But it’s a history that’s undoubtedly been filled with ups and downs.

In this episode of KSAT Explains, we take a look back at our city’s stories beer history, and the changes in Texas laws that are helping the industry thrive. (Watch the full episode in the video player above.)

SMART. IN-DEPTH. LOCAL: Click here for more episodes of KSAT Explains

‘Germans are thirsty people’: San Antonio’s deep roots in the beer industry

San Antonio has some awesome beer. And we can thank the German, Austrian and Czech immigrants who settled in the San Antonio area in the mid-1800s.

“Germans are thirsty people,” said San Antonio brewery historian Charlie Staats. “They like their beer.”

Cost was an incentive for immigrants to brew their own beer, he said. Since other breweries were out of state, beer took a long time to arrive in San Antonio and was very expensive. With the San Antonio River in their backyards, German immigrants decided to start making their own.

When people think of San Antonio beer history, they often think of Pearl. But Pearl is just a piece of our city’s brewing past. The Alamo City’s beer history all started at a hotel still popular here in San Antonio — The Menger.

Before he opened The Menger Hotel, German immigrant William Menger owned a brewery that distributed beer not only in San Antonio, but as far west as San Angelo, as far east as Galveston and down into the Rio Grande Valley.

The brewery was so popular, customers often crashed there or at Menger’s boarding house next door. So Menger expanded the boarding house and opened his hotel in 1859. His brewery moved underneath it.

The brewery maintained popularity well into the Civil War Era.

Menger’s brewery was in business until 1878. That year it was considered one of the largest beer producers in Texas.

Around this time period, there were dozens of breweries in the San Antonio area. Many didn’t survive because of competition from beer giants Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch.

A brief History of Pearl Brewery

The Pearl Brewery didn’t get its start until 1883, and was originally known as The San Antonio Brewing Association.

But as years went by, the brewery would go through different names and different owners until, in 1952, it was finally given the name we know it by today.

Pearl beer got its name after a brewmaster said the bubbles of the beer looked like sparkling pearls when poured into a glass.

By 1916, The Pearl would grow in popularity and become the largest brewery in Texas. But the business would soon face a series of challenges.

When the 18th Amendment was ratified on January 17, 1920, alcohol became illegal in the United States, and it nearly killed the brewing industry, closing Texas beer giant Lone Star, among others.

On top of that, the owner of the Pearl Brewery Otto Koehler died. His widow, Emma Koehler, was quick to adapt. Pearl started making orange sodas, ice cream and malts.

“They’re using every piece of the equipment that was part of the brewing process and part of maintaining a manufacturing facility to kind of keep this thing going during Prohibition,” said Travis Poling, co-author of San Antonio Beer: Alamo City History by the Pint. “They were the first brewery actually in the entire Southwest to reopen when Prohibition lifted.”

After Prohibition, during the Great Depression, Emma Koehler had to rethink everything again.

She sold the soda bottling portion of the brewery and began making full-strength beer again, staying afloat by selling it to anyone who could afford it.

This not only helped The Pearl stay alive, but would cause it to be a top-selling beer after World War II.

But, once again, bigger beer brands gained popularity throughout the country, including Texas. And in 1968, Pearl brand beer was at the bottom of most people’s lists.

Pabst took over the Pearl brewery in 1985, and it would close its doors for good in 2001.

Pearl beer is still owned by Pabst, and as of last summer, the beer is brewed in Austin.

Watch the video below to learn more about San Antonio’s early breweries:

With all of its heavy hitters bought out, and moved to different areas of Texas, it looked like the San Antonio beer scene was coming to an end.

‘People in Texas always liked beer’: Local beer returns to San Antonio

When it comes to beer legislation, Texas has historically been behind the curve. But over the past 20 years, there have been several pieces of legislation that have helped the beer industry boom.

In 1993, Texas legalized brewpubs — establishments that sell beer brewed on the premises and often include a restaurant. At the time, brewpubs were already legal in 41 states. Texans were quick to jump on the trend.

“People in Texas always liked beer,” said Dustin Baker, owner of Roadmap Brewery. “They’ve always liked good beer.”

A familiar face in the local craft beer scene, Jason Davis got his start in the industry soon after brewpubs became legal. He worked at the first brewpub in Texas, Waterloo. He also worked at the oldest brewpub in San Antonio, Blue Star.

But in 2008, Davis helped launch the brewery where he still serves as director of brewing operations today — Freetail. Over the past 13 years, the business has exploded. And the brewery’s founder, Scott Metzger, was instrumental in working alongside the Texas Craft Brewer’s Guild to help change even more laws to further the beer industry in the state.

2013 was a big year for change.

A series of bills passed in the Texas Legislature made the state more beer business-friendly. For the first time, brewpubs could sell their beer to grocery stores and restaurants. A new law also allowed microbreweries to actually sell beer in their tap rooms. Previously, they were limited to giving away free beer samples on tours.

After another piece of legislation passed in 2019, Texans can now buy a six-pack of beer directly from a craft brewery.

All of these fairly new laws have helped many smaller breweries develop and become more popular throughout Texas and San Antonio.

Click through the slideshow below to learn more about some of San Antonio’s most popular breweries:

‘We’re not an industrial economy anymore’: New life for old breweries

Over the past several years, we’ve seen developers breathe new life into abandoned breweries. The most obvious example of this is what has happened to the old Pearl Brewery.

Pabst closed the brewery in 2001. That same year, the 23-arce property was bought by Silver Ventures. Today the sight is a popular hang-out spot — home to shops, restaurants, apartments and a hotel.

Less than a mile south of the Pearl is the old Lone Star Brewery building, which is now the San Antonio Museum of Art. It opened in 1981, years after the brewery closed during Prohibition.

And then there’s the other Lone Star Brewery — the brand that’s still popular today. Operations stopped at the South Side plant in 1996. But now there’s a new plan for the spot.

Gray Street Partners, a local real estate investment group, has been looking to fund a new project that would rework the space — building retail space, restaurants, apartment buildings, and a park, complete with a walking path.

“Every city is kind of going through the same process of thinking about what do we do with this old industrial space because we’re not an industrial economy anymore,” said Christine Drennon, Ph.D., Director of Urban Studies at Trinity University.

Experts say that redeveloping these buildings has many environmental benefits, by using buildings that already exist instead of building new ones. But even though these mixed-use developments we see today create jobs, they don’t replace the kinds of jobs that the factories they’re being built in once offered.

Drennon said the old factories, like the Pearl and Lone Star breweries, are a relic of an industrial past that built the middle class.

“We have not been able to sustain the American middle class in the kind of economy that we’ve built and that we’ve replaced it with,” Drennon said. “These places represent that. They are playgrounds for people with a lot of disposable income. Yet the people who work there are service industry employees, and you probably can’t send your kid to college on that income.”

San Antonio’s mark on the beer world

It’s not just the breweries that have made a mark on this city. It’s gone the other way, too. Over the past few years, there’s been an explosion of new flavors and ingredients being used in beer. The trend is just another sign that these establishments have become part of the fabric of the community.

Watch the video below to learn more about San Antonio-inspired beer:

In mid-February, Texas was hit with a winter storm unlike any we’ve seen in years. Record-low temperatures caused a deadly power crisis that left millions without heat or reliable water for days.

We later learned we were just four minutes and 37 seconds away from a catastrophic power grid crash that would have left the majority of the state in the dark for weeks.

SMART. IN-DEPTH. LOCAL: Click here for more episodes of KSAT Explains

While we narrowly avoided that situation, the February storm was still devastating. At least 57 people died across the state — from hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, medical equipment failure, and in car crashes and house fires.

In the wake of that storm, Texans are left with a lot of questions. Who should take the blame? Will the fallout force state lawmakers to take action? Will we be prepared for the next winter storm?

The answers to a lot of these questions will take time. In this episode of KSAT Explains, we focus on what we do know, including how Texas’ power grid works and how this winter storm stacks up to past weather events.

We hope that by breaking down what we do know, you’ll better understand what happened during that storm that likely left you, or someone you know, in the dark. (Watch the full episode in the video player above.)

‘Something’s going to blow’: How the winter storm played out

By early Feb. there were warning signs of what was headed our way.

On Feb. 3, KSAT meteorologists said there was a possibility that Texas could get cold air as a result of a cold front in Canada. On Feb. 9, a frigid weekend was in the forecast. On Feb. 11, the Hill Country received its first batch of freezing rain. And late on the night of Feb. 14, heavy snow fell in San Antonio.

Families across the city stepped outside to watch the rare South Texas snowfall, unaware that this was the start of a catastrophic weather event for the entire state.

In the early hours of Feb. 15, the state power grid operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, announced record-breaking electric demand because of the cold. Here in San Antonio, temperatures dropped to just nine degrees at 6:51 a.m.

The cold weather led to problems with energy generators. The issue impacted all types of energy.

“We had a crisis situation and ERCOT had to make those adjustments once they ran out of generation to bring online,” said Dr. Don Russell, a Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University’s Department of Electrical Engineering. “The only choice they had was to cut off some of the load.”

As most Texans slept, ERCOT instructed energy providers to begin rolling blackouts to protect the state’s power grid. When Texans woke up the next morning, millions found themselves without power, including hundreds of thousands in San Antonio.

“Just as some generation becomes unavailable, everybody is getting up in their homes and flipping the heat on,” University of Houston Energy Fellow Ed Hirs said. “Just as you would have with adding that extra string of lights to your Christmas tree, something’s going to blow.”

It soon became clear that the blackouts across the state weren’t so much rolling blackouts as they were prolonged outages. Some people didn’t lose power at all, while others would end up losing it for days or longer. The rolling blackouts just weren’t cutting power demand enough, so some utilities had to cut off certain circuits completely.

With Texans already dealing with a lot, people across the state and the city began to lose water.

‼️First, let us correct a rumor: SAWS is NOT going to shut water off to the city.
We are experiencing some outages due to power issues & freezing temps, but be assured that we have back-up systems to provide #satx with water. More info: https://t.co/AkF35NJ0YK #txwater pic.twitter.com/lElV1Mw1DA

— 𝐒𝐀𝐖𝐒 🧼+💧+🤲🏼 (@MySAWS) February 16, 2021

Water pump stations are on critical power circuits, but even those circuits were no longer safe from having their power pulled. San Antonio Water System executive Steve Clouse told KSAT that CPS Energy requested the water utility put pump stations on the blackout circuit, compounding the problem.

“When you take a complicated pump station offline, there is no button that turns that back on,” Clouse said. “When we were losing power at our pump stations, we just had no way we could restart them or get pressure back up to people before that power was lost again.”

SAWS issued a precautionary boil water notice on Wednesday due to the dip in water pressure.

After a rough week, warmer temperatures arrive on Friday, February 19, and the city begins to thaw out.

Eventually, boil water notices were lifted, roads reopened and power returned. But questions about what happened are just beginning to circulate.

“This was a total breakdown in Texas infrastructure,” Hirs said. “We lost power. We lost heat. We lost the fabric of society here and everything that runs our infrastructure.”

‘We like to think of ourselves as freewheeling folks’: Texas’ unique power grid, explained

In a few days, millions of Texans became familiar with the previously obscure ERCOT. Before the storm, a lot of people had no idea what ERCOT was. While many are now more familiar with the organization, there’s a lot to explain when it comes to ERCOT and how it operates.

Why is Texas’ power grid on its own?

Power in the United States is essentially divided up in three systems. And Texas stands on its own.

Texas’ power grid system is isolated by design. It was a decision made by state lawmakers in the 1990s to avoid federal regulations, like the Federal Power Act of 1935 that gave the feds regulatory power over interstate electricity transmission. So any power transmission that crossed state lines was put under the federal government’s jurisdiction.

“We don’t sell energy into interstate commerce,” Russell said. “We could remain our own thing and not have a bunch of federal regulation.”

What is ERCOT?

Across the country, there are different organizations that work as nonprofits that are responsible for making sure the power created by generators, and the supply to customers, is reliably maintained. For Texas, that’s ERCOT. It manages the flow of power to the majority of the state — more than 26 million customers.

ERCOT is in charge of balancing the grid, making sure enough power is being produced to meet demand.

“Generation of electricity must occur at exactly the same time as consumption of electricity,” Russell said. “The total of everybody’s electricity has to always exactly meet the level of generation.”

This is because there is no mass storage for energy. Russell said that technology is under research.

ERCOT gets energy from generators across the state. But they don’t own the generation. The nonprofit just acts as a broker.

Why is Texas’ power grid deregulated?

In 1999, Texas lawmakers voted to deregulate the state’s energy market. The move broke up most monopoly energy providers and got rid of regulated energy rates.

That put an end to most utility monopolies in Texas. If you live in San Antonio and you’re thinking about the fact that CPS is your only power provider choice, there’s a reason for that. We explain below.

But for much of the state, deregulation meant competition. And those in favor believed it would mean lower energy prices.

But this theory isn’t necessarily true. And the experts we talked to said there are additional downsides to deregulation.

“Once you give up control of all the generation, once you allow a random list of producers to buy into the Texas generation market, you don’t have the ability to plan for and spend for these one-off kinds of events,” Russell said. “Many of those producers of that energy were not mandated to have certain reliability standards. It became more or less a free for all.”

Today, a long list of companies generate power using those various sources, and ERCOT buys the energy. The nonprofit then sells it to local utility companies. ERCOT acts as a marketplace for these transactions.

But who manages ERCOT?

The Public Utility Commission of Texas has oversight of the state grid. It regulates electric, telephone and water utilities, writing and enforcing the rules utilities have to abide by.

How does CPS fit into the puzzle?

San Antonio was not affected by the deregulation of the 1990s. Because CPS Energy is owned by the city, its part of the small percentage of the Texas energy market that was exempt.

This means that CPS still is a utility monopoly in San Antonio. And it’s a complex organization that wears several hats.

“CPS makes its power available in the statewide grid, they take back what they need and they sell the excess on the wholesale market, which ERCOT regulates,” said Greg Jefferson, business editor at the San Antonio Express-News.

CPS generates power, transmits and provides it to San Antonio customers. A portion of its revenue goes back the the city. And even though there’s only one choice for power in San Antonio, CPS Energy still has some of the lowest rates in the state.

“Part of that has to do with the fact that you don’t have investors who are demanding dividends,” Jefferson said.

CPS also is able to put surplus at the end of the year back into maintenance and operations.

“They basically will reinvest the money,” Jefferson said. “That’s how they keep rates low.”

This flies in the face of the theory that deregulation and competition equal lower prices.

“Basically what it boils down to was that if there’s competition, electricity will be cheaper,” Russell said. “That’s true for a can of beans in the grocery store, not always true with something like a large public infrastructure system.”

ERCOT sets prices for energy available on the grid, and those prices are subject to change during emergencies.

During the February winter storm, ERCOT charged the maximum amount allowed for wholesale electricity: $9,000/MWh. Before the storm, prices were less than $50/MWh.

ERCOT also has the authority to require utility companies to carry out rolling outages during emergencies.

“CPS Energy and every other utility in the state essentially answers to ERCOT and they coordinate with them to balance demand for electricity across the state with power generation,” Jefferson said. “To make sure when it’s really hot during the summer we have enough power to run our air conditioners. And conversely, during a winter emergency, we have enough power to heat our homes. Which didn’t happen.”

CPS Energy took heat in the winter storm’s aftermath. ERCOT was certainly blamed. And Texans are waiting to see if anyone will be held accountable.

“In Texas we like to think of ourselves as freewheeling folks,” Russell said. “Texas is known as the state with probably less of a kind of regulatory mindset of any state. Frankly, the consequences of that mindset and culture may be the biggest single cause of what happened in the big freeze.”

‘We can expect these events to happen occasionally’: Weather disasters & the climate change question

We know this winter storm had disastrous consequences that few of us have seen before. It felt unprecedented — but was it?

Meteorologically speaking, the event broke, set and challenged several records. From Valentine’s Day though Feb. 18, areas around San Antonio saw six to eight inches of snow. The official 6.4 inches at the San Antonio International Airport made the 2020-2021 winter the third snowiest on record.

As far as temperatures go, it got as cold as nine degrees on Feb. 15. That’s tied for the eighth coldest recorded temperature ever in San Antonio. We also set five new record-low temperatures in one week, including that nine-degree day.

Another note about February’s winter storm: it could end up being Texas’ costliest weather-related disaster. The final tab for the winter storm could rival that of Hurricane Harvey.

Harvey in 2017 was a nearly $125 billion disaster for the Texas Gulf Coast and parts of southeast Texas. The final cost from the February 2021 winter storm won’t be known for some time.

Even before the storm, some have hypothesized that climate change could be affecting the polar vortex and leading to more cold snaps in Texas. But that’s not a theory that everyone has embraced.

“That’s still an active area of investigation,” said Andrew Dessler, a climate change expert who is a Texas A&M University professor. “They haven’t really convinced the scientific community that these are connected.”

Dessler said he’s hesitant to attribute the February storm to climate change because Texas has dealt with record cold before. And we’ll deal with it again in the future.

“Regardless of whether it’s connected to climate change or not, we can expect these events to happen occasionally,” Dessler said. “And then it just becomes a question of what we do about it.”

The answer, Dessler said, lies with the government.

“Texas is a state where we really believe in doing things ourselves,” Dessler said. “But there are certain things, certain problems, that only the government can solve.”

And if they don’t? Dessler said we’ll be facing another round of blackouts next time we have a really cold winter event.

Watch meteorologist Sarah Spivey explain the polar vortex in the video below:

‘Sometimes we have to get hit in the head twice before we wake up’

Experts agree that a winter storm like the one we saw in February will happen again. And preparing will require government intervention. So has the government done anything? The short answer: not really.

But there is a bill from 2015 that’s been getting a lot of attention recently.

Four years after another major winter storm that caused blackouts across Texas, House Bill 2571 was under consideration in the Texas House of Representatives. It would not have provided a strategy on how to deal with extreme weather. But it would have required the Public Utilities Commission of Texas to have a plan.

“It would require the state agencies to every two years come up with a strategic plan to figure out severe weather events, how to deal with them and also factor in climate change,” said Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, a longtime insider publication at the Texas Capitol.

Then-Democratic State Rep. Eric Johnson — now the mayor of Dallas — introduced the bill. HB 2571 had made it through committee and was on its third and final reading on the full House floor. This is something that is normally a good sign, according to Johnson, who recently talked about the matter on an episode of WFAA’s Y’all-itics podcast.

But as the vote for final passage in the House began, the bill’s fate took a turn.

Former Republican State Rep. Ron Simmons interrupts the vote just as it begins to announce that there’s been a mistake and the Republican Policy Committee was against HB 2571. Simmons was also recently a guest on the Y’all-itics podcast to give his side of the story. He said he realized the error a bit late, but felt he had to speak up.

Johnson said before that interruption the bill had bipartisan support. But after, it quickly failed pretty much along party lines.

Watch the video below to see how the final vote on HB 2571 played out.

Eighty-four Republicans ended up voting against the bill. Three broke ranks and voted for it, along with 44 Democrats. Few have probably given HB 2571 much thought since then until recently.

Now, there’s been talk of reintroducing the bill. And state lawmakers are trying to bring new bills as well. But will any of them stick? That’s yet to be determined.

“Sometimes we have to get hit in the head twice before we wake up,” Russell said. “The 2011 thing was the first time it was pretty bad, but not catastrophic. This one was really bad and catastrophic.”

Who will be held accountable?

The full scope of the winter storm fallout will take a while to play out. But there have been some consequences since February:

All three members of the PUC have resigned.ERCOT’s CEO has been fired.San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg put together a committee to study the preparedness and response to the storm.Huge energy rate hikes left CPS and its customers with a $1 billion bill. CPS said they are doing what they can to get that cost down, but we still don’t know what’s going to happen.

Through all of the chaos, pain and loss, there was good. Click the video below to see how neighbors stepped up to help neighbors in true San Antonio fashion.

Editor’s note: This free newsletter was sent to subscribers on March 24. To sign up for future newsletters, click here.

Welcome to the first KSAT Defenders newsletter.

I’m David Raziq, Executive Producer of Investigative Journalism and a proud member of the KSAT Defenders team. Every day we work to bring you some of the hardest-hitting journalism in South Texas.

These days the news moves fast, so this newsletter will make sure you get the latest exclusive reporting as uncovered by journalists Dillon Collier and Tim Gerber. It’s necessary information that’s aimed at both protecting you and your loved ones and keeping the powerful honest.

You will also get advance notice of some of our upcoming special programs.

First up? Our latest one-hour report, “Downfall,” pulls back the curtain on ex-Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela’s controversial time in office at Precinct 2. It airs Thursday, March 25 at 9 p.m. on KSAT 12 and KSAT.com.

You’re getting this email because we think you care about your community and the role investigative reporting plays in it. If so, this newsletter is for you! (Please feel free to share it with friends and family members you think might like it).

If you don’t want the latest investigative journalism from San Antonio, manage your email subscription settings here.

We’re excited to showcase our work with you and grateful for your time. Find our other KSAT newsletters, like KSAT Explains or evening headlines, or manage your email subscription settings, here.

If you have questions or comments about the newsletter, reach out at draziq@ksat.com.

In the meantime, you can also find our latest investigations on the Defenders page.

LATEST INVESTIGATIONS:

A timeline of Michelle Barrientes Vela’s controversial time in officeThe most unusual acts of Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela during her troubled tenureFour people tied up in Michelle Barrientes Vela’s scandalsAn innocent Black man was charged by SAPD based on his name. Two years later, the damage remains.Video shows Texas lawmaker near steps of U.S. Capitol as rioters clashed with officersCPS Energy uses a college student for weather forecasting. That’s not how other major Texas utilities operate.

The Alamo is one of the most historic sites in the United States and it’s located in the heart of downtown San Antonio.

The Spanish mission was built more than 100 years before the start of the Texas Revolution, but it is best known for the battle that happened on its grounds in 1836.

The Battle of the Alamo has been depicted in film and television for nearly a century. It has turned men who lived long ago into larger-than-life Texas legends.

SMART. IN-DEPTH. LOCAL: Click here for more episodes of KSAT Explains

But recent headlines about the Alamo have focused on the controversial plans for its future.

The topic has become a political lightning rod and raised questions about whose stories are prioritized and how those stories are told when discussing the past.

In this episode of KSAT Explains, we examine the history, legacy and myths associated with the Alamo, as well as the battle over how the historic mission is remembered. (Watch the full episode in the video player above.)

The Alamo Master Plan fight

The Alamo is steeped in history, but the push to revamp the way that history is told has been at the center of a contentious debate over how to redesign Alamo Plaza.

The Alamo Master Plan was unveiled in 2017. Part of the plan included closing off traffic in front of and around the Alamo, and creating a museum to help tell the full history.

“It’s something that I believe will heal a lot of deep wounds in terms of what how something like this that it doesn’t acknowledge its complete telling, it’s full history, what it’s done to to our community,” said Robert Trevino, District 1 city councilman and former member of Alamo Management Committee.

But the biggest battle in the redesign plan has been over moving the cenotaph. The large white monument dates back to 1936. It stands in front of the church and long barracks in honor of the defenders who fought and died there.

The cenotaph’s new location was initially approved by city officials, but the idea sparked protests from several sides.

State, local officials and other groups have gone back-and-forth on the future of the cenotaph and the redesign plan has largely remained at a standstill.

“What we’re faced with now is a project that is highly politicized. We’re trying to work around that, trying to get make sure that we don’t lose our guiding principles, we don’t lose the whole reason that we try to do this project and most importantly, that we tell our story,” said Trevino.

In the video below, we dive deeper into the plan, the issues surrounding race and proper representation raised amid the redesign and why the battle over the cenotaph does not appear to be ending any time soon.

(Note: San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg removed Trevino from the Alamo Management and Citizen’s Advisory committees on March 1. You can read the city’s memo and Trevino’s statement here.)

Alamo’s history before and after Texas Revolution

To understand why the battle over the Alamo’s future is so contentious, it’s important to understand its past.

There are many layers and complexities when it comes to the Alamo’s history. Texas was a frontier region when the Spaniards began to explore the area.

It was difficult to establish a foothold in the area so the Spaniard established missions across the state.

Indigenous people, known as the Coahuiltecans, had been living in Texas for thousands of years and the Spanish wanted to convert them to Catholicism.

From 1680 to 1690, Spain established missions near the present-day towns of El Paso, Presidio and Nacogdoches.

The mission that would later be known as the Alamo was founded in May 1718 as Mission San Antonio de Valero.

Six years later, the mission was relocated to where it stands today. It operated until 1793 when the Spanish crown ordered that the land be given to converts, but things changed in 1803.

“That is the year of the Louisiana Purchase. So before that, Spain was controlling Louisiana. And so when they lose Louisiana, we have to give it back to France and Napoleon sells it. That leaves the borders open to the threat of this emerging country known as the United States,” said Ernesto Rodriguez, Alamo curator.

In response to emerging threats, Spain sent soldiers west to defend their territory that included the San Antonio area. A cavalry unit called the Alamo Company converted the old mission into a military outpost and it became known as El Alamo.

In the video below, we break down the next three decades and what led to the Texas Revolution and ultimately Texas winning its independence in April 1836, a month after the 13-day siege at the Alamo.

The Battle of the Alamo and the war was fought for many reasons that included the opposition of General Santa Anna’s dictatorship and the efforts by colonists to make Texas a slave state after it was abolished by Mexico. In fact, historians believe many slaves escaped to Mexico and some fought for the country against the Texians.

“It takes a while for us later to determine the meanings of each conflict,” said Lesli Hicks, professor in the History department at University of Texas at San Antonio. “But I think immediately people knew something big had happened at the Alamo and it was going to turn the tide of history. Texas ultimately is going to become part of the United States. And that really starts in the tragedy of the lives lost at the Alamo.”

Myths surrounding Alamo

The story about the Battle of the Alamo quickly became a magnet for larger than life myths and legends.

People are more familiar with the legendary stories associated with the Alamo instead of what actually happened.

Hollywood has helped fuel these myths, depicting the battle on multiple TV shows and movies dating to 1915.

While some of the things we have all come to know about the Alamo are true, many others are not.

“The truth is there was a battle at the Alamo and that people named William B. Travis and Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett died at that battle. Once you get beyond that, it becomes really fuzzy,” said Chris Tomlinson, columnist for the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle.

Tomlinson, who co-authored a book set to be released in June titled Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth said the Alamo was mostly an afterthought for decades after the battle.

“The Alamo was largely forgotten after the battle of 1836 and it only really came back into the public imagination after the Civil War when Texans were looking for a new myth, a new origin story that did not include the baggage of slavery,” said Tomlinson.

“There were no professional historians before 1880. When they started digging into the Alamo history, they only looked at what the white people said about what happened and they conveniently left out some Mexican army reports such as Travis offering to surrender the night before Santa Anna attacked, the fact that Davy Crockett was captured alive and executed on Santa Anna’s orders,” said Tomlinson.

Despite recent revelations unearthed by historians, the myths of the Alamo remain strong. Films and TV shows have fed into the lore and made the Alamo and San Antonio a popular tourist destination.

“I grew up in San Antonio and like many people, I thought about the Alamo,” said Mario Marcel Salas, local historian and former UTSA political science professor and city councilman. “I saw the old John Wayne movie as a child and like many other people was kind of captivated by the story they told because it was a story of heroic people who put up a good fight and tried to change the course of their destiny. But that’s a very shallow explanation of the whole thing.”

So what is fact and what is fiction when it comes to the Alamo?

In the video below, we take a closer look at the myths surrounding the Alamo, whether Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword, his victory or death letter and the longstanding belief that no one survived the battle.

Alamo descendants battle to have voices heard

Throughout the debate over the Alamo redesign plan, some have argued that one way to fight the myths is to tell the full story in a way that has not been done before.

That includes stories from the Indigenous people of San Antonio. In 2001, the City of San Antonio issued a proclamation recognizing the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation as the first tribal families of San Antonio.

The Archdioceses of San Antonio recognized them as the Indigenous tribal families of the five Indian Missions of San Antonio.

The Alamo served as a Catholic mission long before the battle. Hundreds of Indigenous people are believed to have been buried at the site.

“That history is extremely important to us because we’re living in it now. That’s our children and our grandchildren’s legacy,” said Ray Hernandez, Tap Pilam tribal council member. “What has happened over time is that we have been excluded from the history books in the educational system.”

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas is an organization that served as Alamo custodians for more than 100 years.

Martha Fleitas, the historian general of the DRT, can trace her lineage to her ancestors who settled in Texas prior to when the state joined the U.S. at the end of the year 1845.

The DRT is dedicated to preserving the history of Texas, particularly before statehood and during the republic. They have a huge collection of artifacts prized by Texas historians.

“I think most tourists come to see where Davy Crockett died,” said Fleitas. “Do we stop it there? No. That’s why they come but we need to have a museum. We need to have docents. We need to have signage. People need to know that this was a mission and who was here.”

Another aspect critics say gets glossed over is the role Tejanos, Texans of Mexican descent, played in the battle. Historians say Juan Seguin and Lorenzo de Zavala were as important to Texas independence as people like Travis and Sam Houston.

“When the outbreak of the Texas revolution in 1835 started, many joined up. People don’t realize is that if you joined as a native Texan and the war didn’t go your way. You have no home because you can’t stay. You can’t go to Mexico because you just fought against them and going to the United States is a new place for you,” said Hernandez.

Many contributions were forgotten or left out altogether during the Jim Crow era in Texas when minorities and people of color had little to no rights and their voices were silenced.

“We saw the stories of Juan Seguin, who was betrayed by the white revolutionaries, downplayed,” said Tomlinson. “De Zavala was perhaps the most famous person in the Texas revolution because of his previous role as vice president of Mexico. We’ve seen the portrayal of him and his experience completely rewritten to serve this Anglo white supremacist myth.”

There were also important Tejanas who treated and cared for injured defenders. But a lot of these stories have been overshadowed by the myths.

Many people are now hoping that whatever happens to the Alamo’s redesign plan. It’s more inclusive and tells a larger story than in the past.

“It’s really important to show everybody’s role in that, whether you were born, native, born or just arrived. It’s important for people to know that this is a bigger story,” said Hernandez.

Hear more from the descendants and the effort to have their stories told in the video below.