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Post by pff on Feb 23, 2012 8:38:37 GMT -5
On March 26, 1911 the San Antonio express p.26 had pictures of East Commerce street site of Old Alameda North side of Former Alameda site of funeral pyre South side of former Alameda site of Funeral pyre
Can someone show the following: Side by side pictures of these sites as they looked in 1911 and 2012? Where they are located on overhead ariel map of San ANtonio?
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Post by jrboddie on Feb 23, 2012 9:26:02 GMT -5
I would love to see those pictures. Do you have a link to view them online? My Alamo app shows the approximate location of the pyres. You can switch between 1836 map and modern street map. View the action on March 6. The pyres are shown at the end. home.comcast.net/~boddie/Alamo1DZ/Default.html
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Post by pff on Feb 23, 2012 10:13:26 GMT -5
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Post by Hiram on Feb 24, 2012 15:13:35 GMT -5
I haven't been "around" ASF for awhile (I think I left a post or two back in mid-January), anyways let me add a bit of information to the discussion.
There are two plaques on E. Commerce Street; a marble plaque donated by the descendants of Green B. Jamison, and a bronze plaque that describes where the marble plaque was originally placed (on the Halff Building owned and operated by M. Halff & Bros.) Mayer Halff was from Alsace-Lorraine and had gone into the dry-goods business with his younger brother Solomon.
The building address was 334 E. Commerce, at the corner of Commerce and Rusk Street. Rusk Street no longer exists due to the extension of the River Walk in that area.
I have seen city maps from the early 20th century and that intersection would be a matter of feet from the site of the two plaques as they are displayed today.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 24, 2012 15:27:42 GMT -5
Hiram - what is the best guess regarding the number of funeral pyres and their locations? I know the one you are describing, although I believe I've only seen the marble marker, not the bronze one. But, were there more funeral pyres (3 is the number I most frequently hear).
Allen
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Post by Hiram on Feb 24, 2012 15:35:40 GMT -5
Allen,
Three is the accepted number of pyres. The two largest on either side of the Alameda and a smaller funeral pyre likely located between the SE corner of the compound and the Alameda.
By the way, if you look at the 1886 bird's eye view map of San Antonio that was posted earlier, you can see Rusk Street.
The bronze plaque I believe was placed around 1967 or 1968 when that area was reworked for Hemisfair '68.
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Post by Hiram on Feb 24, 2012 16:10:26 GMT -5
The bronze plaque was placed there as a result of joint efforts of the Friends of Adina De Zavala, the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, and the Alamo Battlefield Association, so Bill Chemerka would have a better idea for the date that newer plaque was placed (obviously much later than I mentioned in the previous post.)
The marble plaque was placed by the Adina De Zavala Chapter of the Texas Historical Landmarks Association, and by the Green B. Jemision (sic) family. The THLA was founded in 1912 and was an active organization until the passing of Adina in 1955.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 24, 2012 16:28:54 GMT -5
Thanks for the background; maybe you can point me in the right direction next time I'm at the Alamo so I can see both plaques.
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Post by Hiram on Feb 24, 2012 16:41:35 GMT -5
Thanks for the background; maybe you can point me in the right direction next time I'm at the Alamo so I can see both plaques. Be more than happy to Allen. The plaques are located on the south side of E. Commerce, just W of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and right @ a pedestrian crossing that has a traffic light.
Coincidentally, if you walk from the Alamo over to the site, you pass right by the Menger Bar!
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Post by Allen Wiener on Feb 24, 2012 20:55:21 GMT -5
Makes for a nice "detour"!
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Post by Rich Curilla on Feb 25, 2012 3:13:01 GMT -5
As for the Alameda's location, the double line of cottonwood trees stretched along Alameda Street (modern Commerce) from the bridge over the acequia that came from behind the Alamo church east 1,000 feet to the bridge over the Acequia Madre del Alamo, which was just east of Bowie Street about even with Denny's front door. The western-most end of the trees was even with the small parking lot just east of St. Joseph's Church and House. In fact, the odd angle of the eastern edge of the church's house lot is because it bordered the acequia. This bridge over the acequia was about 800 feet due south of the apse of the Alamo church and is in the foreground of Hermann Lungkwitz painting of the Alameda.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Feb 25, 2012 9:50:26 GMT -5
Be more than happy to Allen. The plaques are located on the south side of E. Commerce, just W of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and right @ a pedestrian crossing that has a traffic light. I made a point of searching these out when I was in town a couple of years ago. I couldn't believe how many times I passed by those plaques over the years and didn't even know they existed. Paul
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Post by Kevin Young on Feb 25, 2012 10:08:03 GMT -5
The bronze plaque was placed there as a result of joint efforts of the Friends of Adina De Zavala, the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, and the Alamo Battlefield Association, so Bill Chemerka would have a better idea for the date that newer plaque was placed (obviously much later than I mentioned in the previous post.)
The marble plaque was placed by the Adina De Zavala Chapter of the Texas Historical Landmarks Association, and by the Green B. Jemision (sic) family. The THLA was founded in 1912 and was an active organization until the passing of Adina in 1955. The marker was place 3/6/1995.
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Post by Hiram on Feb 25, 2012 17:20:20 GMT -5
The marker was place 3/6/1995. Thanks Kevin!
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Post by Kevin Young on Feb 26, 2012 11:38:45 GMT -5
Just trying to keep the record straight. Gale Shiffrin was the driving force behind getting the marker put back up (Friends of Adina de Zavala). The Alamo Defenders Descendents (Lee Spencer) and the Alamo Battlefield Association (some guy named Kevin Young) assisted.
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