DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. San Antonio's got layers, friend — layers of people, layers of stories, layers of culture stacked so deep you could spend a lifetime peeling them back and still find something new. And the westside?
The westside is a good place to start peeling. The black presence in San Antonio doesn't start in the nineteenth century. It doesn't start after the Civil War.
It traces all the way back to the city's earliest days — presidial soldiers, many of them of African and American Indian ancestry, walking these streets before there was much of a street to walk. Then came the Canary Islanders, bringing their North African Berber culture with them. Layer upon layer, right from the beginning.
By 1876, San Antonio had a population of seventeen thousand two hundred and fourteen people. Out of that number, two thousand and seventy-five citizens were recorded as African. That's a community.
A real, rooted, breathing community — and a sizable number of them had settled west of the San Antonio River. By 1885, the city's Second Ward — that stretch west of the San Antonio River and north of Commerce Street — was largely populated by black citizens. Primarily residential, but don't let that word fool you into thinking quiet.
A neighborhood earns its character through its institutions, and this one had some that could hold their own anywhere in Texas. St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church — now that's a story.
It began in 1868, in a soap factory along San Pedro Creek. A soap factory. The early members were emancipated African Americans, building something sacred in the most unassuming of spaces, and what they built endured.
The church moved to its present location on Richter Street in 1928, and it has played a prominent role in the spiritual, social, and civic lives of the neighborhood's residents from that creek-side soap factory all the way to today. Then there was the West End Baptist Church, founded in 1905 — described right there on the marker as exciting, and I see no reason to argue with that — serving the growing black population on the westside. And Ella Austin.
Born in 1856, gone by 1902, she was a prominent community leader who in 1890 opened an orphans' home near this very site, at 926 West Houston Street. When it outgrew what that location could hold, she moved it to a larger facility on the city's eastside. Black children in the neighborhood attended the Bishop Grant School on North Leona.
And if you wanted to gather, to debate literature, to lift your voice in song, or simply to organize, there was Krisch Hall — a German-owned business at Houston and Flores — that opened its doors to black organizations like the Lonestar Literary Society, the Glee Club, and community gatherings of all kinds. Think about that a moment. A German-owned hall hosting the Lonestar Literary Society.
San Antonio was always more complicated than the simple stories want it to be. Over time, the westside transitioned to a Latino cultural center. African American families and institutions became concentrated on the eastside.
Many historic residences were replaced by commercial buildings. Change came, as it always does, and it reshaped the geography of community life. But the marker is careful to tell you this — the near westside is still home to many African Americans, and it remains an important example of the city's layers of history and cultural diversity.
Layers. There's that word again. From presidial soldiers to a soap factory church to a literary society in a German-owned hall — all of it here, all of it real, all of it part of what San Antonio is.
You just have to know where to look.
What the marker says
San Antonio’s black population can be traced back to the city’s earliest days. Presidial soldiers included many of African and American Indian ancestry. Later, Canary Islanders would bring their North African Berber culture with them. In 1876, out of a population of 17,214, some 2,075 citizens were recorded as “African.” Black communities settled in small enclaves throughout the city, including a sizable number west of the San Antonio River. By 1885, the city’s Second Ward, which included that portion west of the San Antonio River and north of Commerce Street, was largely populated by black citizens. Primarily residential, the area was anchored by significant community institutions. St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church began in 1868 in a soap factory along San Pedro Creek, and has played a prominent role in the spiritual, social and civic lives of the neighborhood’s residents. The early members were emancipated African Americans. The church moved to its present location on Richter Street in 1928. The exciting West End Baptist Church, founded in 1905, also served the growing black population. Ella Austin (1856-1902), a prominent community leader, first opened an orphans’ home near this site, at 926 West Houston Street, in 1890 before moving to a larger facility on the city’s eastside. Black children attended the Bishop Grant School on N. Leona. Krisch Hall, a German-owned business located at Houston and Flores, hosted black organizations such as the Lonestar Literary Society, the Glee Club and community gatherings. Over time, San Antonio’s westside transitioned to a Latino cultural center, African American families and institutions became concentrated on the eastside, and many historic residences were replaced by commercial buildings. Still, the near westside is home to many African Americans and remains an important example of the city’s layers of history and cultural diversity. (2016)