Where was the Powder House located?

The Powderhouse, or "Garita" as it was known to the Spanish and later to the Mexicans, was actually located just south of modern Commerce Street in the area roughly bounded by Monumental and South Palmetto (both north/south trending streets). It was likely on or immediately adjacent to a property now known as City Cemetery Number 2, NCB 1388 Block Lot A2.

There are several maps on which the Powder House and Watchtower were recorded. Two of the best of these are the map of the plans for Confederate to fortify San Antonio and the Gentilz map replicating the town's original boundaries. After making overlays of these and other historic maps, I have concluded that the structures once stood at the far western edge of this cemetery directly in line with a projection of Commerce Street (if Commerce didn't bend). That would be east of Piedmont Avenue between Commerce and Montana Streets.

Craig Covner has also worked with these overlays and suggests that the buildings would have stood a little further west, either in or immediately west of Piedmont Avenue. This area, perhaps 200 feet west of the location I propose is around 8-12 feet below the crest of the hill and thus less than ideal for a watchtower.

Bruce, I assume that the Gentilz map you referred to is unpublished; is it in the DRT Library at the Alamo? (The map with the proposed Confederate defenses for San Antonio is in George Nelson's The Alamo: An Illustrated History.)

Hiram, go to the Historic Bexar walking tour, Part II, in the "Texas Revolution and Texas Republic" section of this forum; toward the end of it is a phyiscal description of the site that I compiled. Note, you need to be logged in to access the walking tour.

-Tom