100 Fun Facts About San Antonio

San Antonio is the county seat of which Texas county?

The name comes from the 1718 Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, spelled Béjar in modern Spanish.

Where did San Antonio rank among US cities by population in the 2020 census?

It is second in Texas behind Houston and second in the whole South.

The city was named in 1691 in honour of which saint?

Spanish explorers reached the river on June 13, his feast day.

Which Indigenous people lived at the San Pedro Springs when the Spanish arrived?

They called the area Yanaguana, meaning refreshing waters.

What did the original Indigenous name for the area, Yanaguana, mean?

The Spanish renamed the river and the place for Saint Anthony in 1691.

In which year was the mission later known as the Alamo founded?

HemisFair '68 was timed for the 250th anniversary of that founding.

Which priest founded the mission that later became famous as the Alamo?

His Spanish hometown of Moguer became a sister city in 2018.

Settlers from which Spanish archipelago arrived in 1731 to form the first civil government in Texas?

Fifteen families totalling 56 people marched overland from Veracruz under Juan Leal Goraz.

In which year did San Antonio become the first chartered civil settlement in Texas?

The villa of San Fernando de Béxar was founded by the newly arrived islanders.

Who led the Texian forces that captured the city in the Battle of Bexar in December 1835?

They defeated General Martín Perfecto de Cos, Santa Anna's brother-in-law.

Which Tejano patriot fought at San Jacinto and served as mayor before being forced out in 1842?

He was the last Tejano mayor for nearly 150 years.

Which Central Park designer wrote of the city's "jumble of races, costumes, languages, and buildings"?

He wrote that only New Orleans could rival its odd and antiquated foreignness.

In which year did the first railroad reach San Antonio?

It was the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad.

In the early 1900s roughly a third of San Antonio was of which ethnic background?

Street names like Wurzbach and Huebner survive, and Texas German is still spoken in nearby towns.

In which year were the city's five Spanish missions named a UNESCO World Heritage site?

They were the 23rd US site on the list and the first in Texas.

In 2017 UNESCO designated San Antonio a Creative City for what?

It was one of only 26 gastronomy cities in the world at the time.

What is the city's primary source of drinking water?

Braunig and Calaveras lakes were among the first US reservoirs built on recycled wastewater for power plant cooling.

San Antonio sits on which geological feature?

The Texas Hill Country reaches into the far north of the city.

What is the city's approximate altitude above sea level?

The terrain is gently rolling, dotted with oaks, mesquite and cacti.

How much snow fell in the city's record snowfall on January 13, 1985?

Snow turns up only about once every four years; a decade has passed between falls.

Which two Fortune 500 companies were headquartered in San Antonio as of 2024?

AT&T left for Dallas in 2008 and iHeartMedia fell off the list.

Which grocery chain, the fifth-largest private company in the US, is based in San Antonio?

Whataburger, Taco Cabana and Bill Miller Bar-B-Q are also headquartered in the city.

What nickname reflects the huge concentration of armed forces bases here?

Lackland, Randolph, Brooke Army Medical Center and Fort Sam Houston are all in the city.

Every enlisted Air Force recruit goes through basic training at which San Antonio base?

More than 35,000 recruits pass through each year.

Fort Sam Houston hosts METC, the world's largest centre for what kind of training?

It runs 30 programmes and graduates more than 24,000 people a year.

What is the city's second-most-visited attraction, after the Alamo?

It earns the city its other nickname, River City.

Which architect submitted the 1929 plans for the riverside promenade downtown?

The area was once so dangerous it was declared off-limits to military personnel.

Which 1906 building holds a Guinness record as one of the heaviest ever moved intact?

It rolled three blocks south of the Alamo over four days in 1985 at a cost of $650,000.

Which 1925 San Antonio attraction is the oldest children's amusement venue in the US?

Morgan's Wonderland, a theme park for children with special needs, is also in the city.

Which San Antonio institution was the first devoted to modern art in Texas?

The San Antonio Museum of Art occupies the former Lone Star Brewery.

A 40-foot pair of what stands outside North Star Mall?

The Buckhorn Saloon & Museum offers a more traditional dose of cowboy culture downtown.

What is the city's signature annual event, with a $340 million economic impact?

Luminaria is the city's contemporary arts festival.

How many NBA championships had the San Antonio Spurs won by the end of 2025?

They are the city's only top-level professional team.

What was the arena the Spurs moved into in 2002 renamed in 2023?

It opened as the SBC Center and was built with public funds.

The Alamodome was built speculatively in hopes of luring what?

It temporarily hosted the New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina.

Which NFL team played home games in San Antonio after Hurricane Katrina?

The Cowboys held preseason camp in the city through 2011.

As of the 2025 season, the Double-A San Antonio Missions were an affiliate of which MLB club?

They play at Nelson Wolff Stadium.

Which soccer club won the 2014 Soccer Bowl, the first soccer title in city history?

San Antonio FC replaced them at Toyota Field in 2016 and won the USL Championship in 2022.

The San Antonio Stars WNBA team relocated in 2017 to become which franchise?

The Rampage hockey team was sold to the Vegas Golden Knights three years later.

Which PGA Tour event has been held in San Antonio since 1922?

It has been played at TPC San Antonio since 2010.

Into how many council districts is the city divided?

Council members and the mayor serve four-year terms with a two-term limit.

What is the nickname of the University of Texas at San Antonio's teams?

UTSA's first football game in 2011 drew a record 56,743 fans for an inaugural game.

Which Mexican university has a campus in San Antonio?

The Culinary Institute of America also has a San Antonio campus.

San Antonio became the largest US city without intra-city rail when which city got a system in 2008?

The planned Lone Star Rail link to Austin was cancelled in 2016 after 19 years of planning.

Which Amtrak route runs daily between Chicago and San Antonio?

The thrice-weekly Sunset Limited links New Orleans and Los Angeles through the city.

Which Mexican city became San Antonio's first sister city, in 1953?

Two Canary Islands cities followed in 1975 and 1983, honouring the 1731 settlers.

In which year did San Antonio host an official World's Fair?

HemisFair's theme was The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas.

How tall is the Tower of the Americas, built for HemisFair '68?

It was the tallest observation tower in the US until the Las Vegas Stratosphere in 1996.

Which architect designed the Tower of the Americas?

A name-the-tower contest replaced its original name, HemisFair Tower.

HemisFair's dragon mascot Luther was later renamed and starred in which Krofft TV show?

The show's premise came from the Kroffts' Coca-Cola pavilion at the fair.

Which rock singer was banned from San Antonio stages for a decade after urinating on the Alamo Cenotaph in 1982?

Ozzy Osbourne was wearing his future wife's dress that day because she had hidden his clothes. He later apologized and donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Which 1985 comedy sends its hero to San Antonio after a stolen bike supposedly hidden in the Alamo's basement?

Pee-wee's Big Adventure sends its hero on a guided tour before he learns the Alamo has no basement at all. The film was Tim Burton's first feature as a director.

Which British rock drummer donated his huge private collection of Alamo artifacts to the San Antonio shrine in 2014?

Phil Collins had gathered hundreds of items tied to the 1836 battle and written a book about them. He announced the gift at a press conference held at the Alamo itself.

Which San Antonio Spurs legend took up basketball at 14 after Hurricane Hugo destroyed the pool he swam in?

Tim Duncan hoped to become an Olympic swimmer like his sister Tricia. With the pool gone he had to train in the ocean, where his fear of sharks ruined his enthusiasm for the sport.

Which corn chip brand began in San Antonio in 1932, when Charles Doolin bought the recipe for just $100?

Fritos started with a newspaper ad. Gustavo Olguin, a soccer coach from Oaxaca who wanted to return to Mexico, offered his recipe, his custom potato ricer and his 19 retail accounts for sale.

Bracken Cave, just outside San Antonio, is the summer home of the world's largest colony of which animal?

Bats at Bracken Cave, about 20 million Mexican free-tails, form the largest known gathering of mammals on Earth. Together they eat several tons of insects every night.

Which future president recruited cavalry volunteers in the bar of San Antonio's Menger Hotel in 1898?

Theodore Roosevelt drank at the Menger Bar while signing up his Rough Riders for the war with Spain. The hotel had opened in 1859 on what is now Alamo Plaza.

Which future NBA giant led Cole High School in San Antonio to a 68–1 record and a Texas state title?

Shaquille O'Neal grew up an Army kid: his stepfather was a career sergeant, and the family reached Texas after a posting in Europe. He won the state championship in his senior year.

Which former Tennessee congressman and famed frontiersman died defending the Alamo in San Antonio in 1836?

Davy Crockett reached Texas only in January 1836, weeks before the siege began. He had left home after losing his seat in Congress in the election of August 1835.

Which annual event takes over the San Antonio Spurs' arena each February, sending the team on a long road trip?

A rodeo, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, has pushed the Spurs out for much of every February since 2003. Fans and players know the stretch as the Rodeo Road Trip.

Which Mexican general and president personally led the army that stormed the Alamo in San Antonio in March 1836?

Santa Anna was captured weeks later, the day after the Battle of San Jacinto. He had hastily put on a dead dragoon's uniform but was quickly recognized.

Which Alamo defender, namesake of a famous fighting knife, spent the San Antonio siege bedridden with illness?

Jim Bowie had commanded the Alamo's volunteers until he fell ill. In 1831 he had married Ursula de Veramendi at San Fernando, now the city's cathedral.

Which comedy legend, born in San Antonio in 1933, starred in her own CBS variety show from 1967 to 1978?

Carol Burnett was born at Nix Hospital downtown, the daughter of a movie theater manager and a studio publicity writer. The family later moved to Hollywood.

Which fried chicken chain opened its first stand in 1952 across the street from the Alamo in San Antonio?

Church's began as a to-go stand run by George W. Church, a retired chicken incubator salesman. Two pieces of chicken and a roll cost 49 cents.

Which San Antonio Spurs center was nicknamed the Admiral after playing college basketball at the US Naval Academy?

David Robinson never came close to admiral: his highest rank was lieutenant, junior grade. Drafted in 1987, he served two years in the Navy before playing his first NBA game.

Cascarones, cracked over friends' heads during San Antonio's big April festival, are hollow eggshells filled with what?

Confetti eggs are mostly a Carnival custom in Mexico. Along the border the two cultures blended and made them a popular Easter tradition as well.

Whose last official act as president was dedicating an aerospace medical school at San Antonio's Brooks Air Force Base?

John F. Kennedy spoke at Brooks on November 21, 1963. He was assassinated in Dallas the following day.

Which marine theme park chain opened its largest park in San Antonio in 1988, drawing 75,000 people to the opening?

SeaWorld was then owned by a book publisher, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, which spent $170 million on the Texas park. Deep in debt, it sold its theme parks to Anheuser-Busch a year later.

Which Texas burger chain, known for orange-and-white striped roofs, moved its headquarters to San Antonio in 2009?

Whataburger left Corpus Christi, where Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton had opened the first restaurant in 1950. The Dobson family went on owning the chain until 2019.

Which Native American leader was held with his captured warriors in the Quadrangle of San Antonio's Fort Sam Houston?

Geronimo is tied to a legend that the deer in the Quadrangle were brought in because he refused food he had not hunted. The herd was in fact there before him.

Which Air Force Academy graduate became the winningest head coach in NBA history while leading the San Antonio Spurs?

Gregg Popovich earned a degree in Soviet studies at the academy and went through Air Force intelligence training. He briefly considered a career with the Central Intelligence Agency.

San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginóbili led which country to the Olympic basketball gold medal in 2004?

Argentina's win made Ginóbili one of only two players, alongside Bill Bradley, to own a EuroLeague title, an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal.

Which French teenager did the San Antonio Spurs select with the first overall pick of the 2023 NBA draft?

Victor Wembanyama was the first French player ever drafted first overall. He went on to lead the league in blocks and was the unanimous Rookie of the Year.

Which 2000 pageant comedy starring Sandra Bullock shot scenes at the Alamo and elsewhere in San Antonio?

Miss Congeniality cast Bullock, who also produced it, as FBI agent Gracie Hart, sent undercover as a contestant after a bomb threat. The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Which interstate highway runs north from Laredo through San Antonio and Austin on its way toward Dallas?

I-35 between San Antonio and Austin is considered one of the most congested stretches in the whole Interstate System. The road keeps going all the way to Duluth, Minnesota.

Which 1927 silent war film, shot at Kelly Field in San Antonio, won the first Academy Award for Best Picture?

Wings was directed by William Wellman, hired as the only Hollywood director who had flown in combat in World War I. No other fully silent film has won the top prize.

The Alamo in San Antonio most likely takes its name from the Spanish word for which kind of tree?

Cottonwood trees grew nearby, but the name probably arrived with a cavalry company posted at the old mission in the early 1800s. Its home town in Coahuila was Álamo de Parras.

Which dish gave the 'queens' of San Antonio's open-air plaza food stalls their famous nickname?

Chili con carne went national after a San Antonio stand at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago gave many Americans their first taste. Texas named it the official state dish in 1977.

San Antonio's Six Flags theme park opened in 1992 on a site that had spent decades as what?

A limestone quarry called Redland had worked the site since 1934. When the stone in that section ran out in 1988 the land was freed up, and much of the park now sits hidden inside the pit.

During World War II, San Antonio renamed its Japanese Tea Garden after which other country?

China replaced Japan in the name to shield the garden from wartime vandalism, and the Japanese-American family that tended it was evicted in 1942. The original name returned in 1984.

Which San Antonio Spurs guard, nicknamed the Iceman, won his first NBA scoring title by seven-hundredths of a point?

George Gervin scored 63 points in the last game of the 1977–78 season to hold off a rival who had just put up 73. The nickname came from his cool demeanor on court.

The San Antonio Spurs won their first NBA championship in 1999 by beating which eighth-seeded team in the Finals?

The New York Knicks were the first eighth seed ever to reach the Finals. The Spurs clinched on the road at Madison Square Garden and became the first former ABA team to win the title.

Before moving to San Antonio in 1973 and becoming the Spurs, the franchise played in the ABA as which Dallas team?

The Chaparrals found no credible buyer, so their owners leased the team to 35 San Antonio businessmen led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs, who moved it south and renamed it.

Which Delta blues legend made his first recordings in Room 414 of San Antonio's Gunter Hotel in 1936?

Robert Johnson cut future standards such as Sweet Home Chicago and Cross Road Blues at the Gunter over three days. His only other session came in Dallas the following year.

Which famed aviator graduated first in his Army flight class at San Antonio's Kelly Field in 1925?

Charles Lindbergh was one of just 18 cadets left from a class of 104 when the year-long course ended. He had drifted into San Antonio after months of barnstorming across the South.

Which San Antonio specialty is Henry, the baseball Missions' mascot chased around the bases by a child each game?

A puffy taco starts as raw masa dropped into hot oil until it balloons, a style popularized by Henry Lopez's San Antonio restaurant. The ballpark chase has run since 1989.

Which former San Antonio brewery, closed in 2001, became home to a campus of the Culinary Institute of America?

Pearl beer outlived its own brewery, with production shifted to a Miller plant in Fort Worth. The San Antonio complex, the company's home since 1883, was redeveloped instead of torn down.

Which lieutenant colonel led the Alamo's regular soldiers in San Antonio and wrote a famous plea for reinforcements?

William B. Travis wrote the plea on February 24, 1836, early in the siege, addressing it to the people of Texas and all Americans in the world. It is known as the Victory or Death letter.

Which of San Antonio's colonial missions is famed for its ornately carved Rose Window, sculpted in 1775?

San José's window comes with a folk tale: a craftsman named Pedro Huizar is said to have carved it for his sweetheart Rosa, lost at sea on her way from Spain. Its real sculptor is unknown.

Which San Antonio mayor became, in 2012, the first Hispanic keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention?

Julián Castro first won a council seat at 26, at the time the youngest councilman in San Antonio history. His identical twin Joaquin, born a minute after him, became a congressman.

Salesman John Gates penned charging cattle in a downtown San Antonio plaza to prove the strength of which new product?

Barbed wire fences held when the cattle charged them. The showman behind the stunt became a Gilded Age industrialist and gambler known as Bet-a-Million Gates.

The 1840 Council House Fight in San Antonio erupted during a peace conference with chiefs of which nation?

Comanche delegates were to be seized as hostages unless they handed over all their captives, on orders from the Texas secretary of war. Buffalo Hump answered the killings with the Great Raid of 1840.

The San Antonio Texans played their only season, 1995, at the Alamodome as members of which league?

The CFL could play there because the Alamodome's floor was large enough for a regulation Canadian field. The team had relocated from Sacramento, where it was the Gold Miners.

In 1938 Emma Tenayuca led about 12,000 San Antonio workers out on strike in which industry?

Pecan shelling produced the largest strike in the city's history. Once the industry was held to the minimum wage it turned to machines, and about 10,000 shellers had lost their jobs by 1941.

Which San Antonio air base, home to a headquarters nicknamed the Taj Mahal, was dubbed the West Point of the Air?

Randolph earned the title because nearly every new Air Corps officer passed through its pilot training. The Taj is its headquarters building, crowned by a large water tower.

Which Mexican revolutionary wrote his call to overthrow Porfirio Díaz while in exile in San Antonio in 1910?

Francisco Madero had escaped from jail and fled north after a rigged election. He backdated his Plan of San Luis Potosí and set it in the last place in Mexico he had been.

After a deadly 1921 flood swamped San Antonio, the city built which dam to hold back future floods?

Olmos Dam was begun in 1925 and finished the next year. A cut-off channel followed in 1929 so that excess water could bypass the Great Bend of the river downtown.

Which adobe landmark in downtown San Antonio is the last visible trace of the city's 18th-century colonial presidio?

The Spanish Governor's Palace was planned as early as 1722 and finished in 1749. It is the only aristocratic Spanish Colonial town house of its century left in Texas.

The San Antonio River ends about ten miles short of San Antonio Bay by flowing into which other Texas river?

The Guadalupe takes in the San Antonio River at the end of a 240-mile run. That journey starts at a cluster of springs about four miles north of downtown.

Parents from which poor San Antonio school district brought the 1973 Supreme Court case over unequal school funding?

Edgewood parents won in the lower courts, but the Supreme Court ruled that school financing built on local property taxes did not violate the Equal Protection Clause.