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Before the San Antonio River Walk was the lively tourist attraction it is now, it was just a river. Read up on our history here.
History. Looking down at the river at Market and Alamo streets. The colorful umbrellas mark Casa Rio, the first restaurant built on the water in 1946. In September 1921, a disastrous flood along the San Antonio River took 51 lives, with an additional 23 people reported missing. [1]
The San Antonio River Walk is an emblem of the city’s cultural heritage, tracing its origins to the early 20th century, with successive transformations forging the landscape visitors admire today. Early Development. Development of the River Walk began as a flood control measure.
Construction of the riverwalk began in 1939 and was completed in 1941. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency, provided funding for the project. The riverwalk was built using local materials, including limestone and river rock. Great Depression and Flood Control.
In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s City and County leaders began planning for extensions of the Riverwalk to the North and to the South. The river is not just an entertainment area for visitors and residents but also functioning waterway that funnels water through central San Antonio and the southern parts of the City and South Texas.
Nestled in the heart of San Antonio, the Riverwalk has its roots deeply intertwined with the city’s earliest days and the visionary ideas of Robert H. H. Hugman. From settlements that date back to Spanish colonial times to Hugman’s detailed blueprints, its evolution is as rich as the history it mirrors.
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Jan 29, 2014 · The River Walk has its origins at the end of the nineteenth century, when the narrow San Antonio River was replaced as the source of the city’s water by a municipal system fed by artesian wells. The wells began lowering the water table and periodically caused the river, some twenty feet below downtown street level, to go dry.
