SAN ANTONIO – With its hundreds of acres of beautiful trees, pavilions and walking trails, Brackenridge Park has been a part of San Antonio’s scenery for more than a century.
George Washington Brackenridge founded the historic park, located below the headwaters of the San Antonio River, in 1899.
“He donated the first 199 acres that essentially runs from Hildebrand to Josephine where the tunnel inlet begins with the San Antonio River,” said Lynn Osborne Bobbitt, Brackenridge Park Conservancy executive director.
Brackenridge, along with fellow prominent San Antonio residents, the Koehler family, later donated more acreage to the city to expand the park to the size it is now, 343 acres.
The park is filled with decades of rich history. Pumphouse No. 1 is the oldest industrial building in Bexar County and still stands today.
“It was built in ’78, 1878, and it was actually the precursor for SAWS,” Bobbitt said.
Brackenridge built another pump house that was used by Gutzon Borglum, the artist who designed Mount Rushmore.
“He designed it here in San Antonio,” said Bobbitt. “So we have amazing history in the park and everybody has a sentimental story to tell.”
Those stories also link to the B.C. era. The park has been called the most significant archealogical site in Texas.
Researchers have located Native American artifacts dating as early as 9200 B.C. in the Olmos Basin and near Hildebrand Avenue.
Centuries later, early Spanish settlers used the river and land as a source of water for hand-dug ditches that irrigated their fields.
The last dam built by the Spanish was in 1776 near the Hildebrand entrance.
With the help of bond funds, the dam will soon be uncovered for everyone to see.
“This was built as the city, villa de San Fernando grew, and they needed grazing lands and also agricultural lands,” said Bobbitt. “It’s going to be an amazing opportunity to show people how it operated.”
Fast-forward to the present. Along with more than 100 acres of free space, the park includes the San Antonio Zoo, Witte Museum, Japanese Tea Gardens, Sunken Garden Theater and much more.
The Brackenridge Park Conservancy has worked to preserve and enhance the park and to build future memories for San Antonio residents.
“I would come with my father to the polo games. The polo field was located where the first tee is now so it's special for me,” said Bobbitt. “Brackeridge Park is truly unequaled in terms of history and culture of a park owned by a municipality in the entire United States.”