DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it — and it's one worth tellin' right. Italian immigrants started finding their way to San Antonio back in the 1870s. Slowly, steadily, family by family.
And by 1890, enough of those families had put down roots that a whole neighborhood had taken shape, northwest of downtown. Now picture that spring — April of 1890 — a small group of people crowding into a fruit store at the corner of Commerce Street and Plaza de Armas. A fruit store.
Not a grand hall, not a courthouse. A fruit store. But what they were about to do had permanence to it.
They were going to organize a benevolent association. And on May 14, 1890, they made it official — a charter in hand for the Christopher Columbus Italian Society. For years after that, the society moved around, meeting in a variety of locations, never quite having a permanent home to call its own.
But they kept working, kept building, kept each other up. Then came 1926. After a fund-raising campaign, the society purchased property at the corner of Morales Street and Concho Street — streets that would later carry new names, Piazza Italia and Columbus, respectively.
Part of that land was conveyed to the Catholic Diocese of San Antonio, and San Francesco Di Paola Church rose up on it. The Christopher Columbus Society hall went up right next door, the following year. Two buildings, side by side, one for faith and one for fellowship.
Then, in 1957, something happened that only a community with deep roots could pull off. Franklin Square was renamed Columbus Park, and the Christopher Columbus Italian Society dedicated a statue of the explorer himself — during a special Columbus Day celebration, no less. That's not a footnote.
That's a community planting its flag in a city it helped build. And the descendants of those original Italian settlers — the ones who crowded into that fruit store more than a century before — they're still there. Still preserving the culture, still part of the fabric of San Antonio.
Some stories don't end so much as they just keep going.
What the marker says
Italian immigrants began arriving in San Antonio in the 1870s. By 1890 a number of families had established an Italian neighborhood northwest of downtown. In April of that year a small group gathered together in a fruit store at the corner of Commerce Street and Plaza de Armas to organize a benevolent association. They obtained a charter for the Christopher Columbus Italian Society on May 14, 1890. Meeting in a variety of locations, the society conducted a fund-raising campaign and in 1926 purchased property at the corner of Morales (now Piazza Italia) and Concho (now Columbus) Street. Part of the land was conveyed to the Catholic Diocese of San Antonio for the construction of San Francesco Di Paola Church, and the Christopher Columbus society hall was built next door the following year. Franklin Square was renamed Columbus Park in 1957, when the Christopher Columbus Italian Society dedicated a statue of the explorer during a special Columbus Day celebration. Descendants of the original Italian settlers continue to preserve their culture and heritage. They remain an integral part of the city's diverse population.