50 Fun Facts About San Antonio
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Take the 50-question quizSan 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.
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