Viva Hemisfair exhibit celebrates 50 years of park's history, evolution

Exhibit now open at Institute of Texan Cultures

SAN ANTONIO – You know it as the Tower of the Americas, but could you imagine calling it the Wineglass of Friendship instead? That was one of the proposed names for the tower that didn’t make the cut some 50 years ago.

The fact is one of the many tidbits of history now on display at the Viva Hemisfair exhibit, celebrating Hemisfair Park’s 50th anniversary at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

“In 1958, Jerome Harris, who was the president of a local department store, pitched the idea of a World's Fair in San Antonio,” said Dr. Sarah Gould, Lead Curatorial Researcher for ITC.

The idea was meant to be a way to reinvigorate trade between San Antonio and Mexico and Latin America.

After 10 years of planning and major construction, Hemisfair became the site of a World’s Fair in 1968.

“For over 100 years, world's fairs were opportunities for countries to show other countries the products they had to offer other countries for sale,” Gould said.

World fairs often had their own signature piece of architecture. San Antonio’s would become the Tower of the Americas, drawing much inspiration from the Space Needle in Seattle, which had previously held its own World’s Fair.

“They built the stem first and then they started building the top around it on the ground level. And then when it was ready, they started lifting it up,” Gould said. “It took 20 days to get it to the top. It took another year for them to figure out how to clean the windows.”

The Viva Hemisfair exhibit tells the story behind the elaborate plan to propel San Antonio onto the world stage, including photos, home videos, the fashion of the era and even the ideas that weren’t such a success, like the name suggestions for the tower that never made the cut (ehem, “Wineglass of Friendship”).

The exhibit also includes a space for visitors to write down and display their own Hemisfair memories, while at the same time acknowledging memories that are yet to be made as the park continues striving for resurgence with newer additions such as the Yanaguana Gardens, Civic Park and local restaurants.

The Viva Hemisfair exhibit will remain open at the Institute for Texan Cultures throughout 2018.


About the Author:

Myra Arthur is passionate about San Antonio and sharing its stories. She graduated high school in the Alamo City and always wanted to anchor and report in her hometown. Myra anchors KSAT News at 6:00 p.m. and hosts and reports for the streaming show, KSAT Explains. She joined KSAT in 2012 after anchoring and reporting in Waco and Corpus Christi.