How Well Do You Know San Antonio?

   Have you lived in San Antonio your whole life?  Did you get stationed here in the military and decided to stay? Do you consider yourself an expert on San Antonio? Test yourself (Answers below)


1. This is the second oldest park in the United States. What park is it and where is it located?

2. Downtown's Fairmount Hotel holds a Guiness Book of Records for what accomplishment?

3. Gutzon Borglum was an artist whose studio was near the Brackenridge Golf Course. He created perhaps the most famous piece of public art in the USA. What was it?

4.  Do you know where the Ghost Crossing is? Have you ever been there?

5. What hotel is this and what is so special about the way it was built?

6. What product did John "Bet-A-Million" Gates demonstrate in front of the Alamo in the 1870's that brought an end to a way of life on the western frontier

7. Who is this gentleman?

8. What was the Southwest Craft Center in downtown San Antonio originally? And why does the clock tower only have a clock on three sides?

9. The bar in the Menger Hotel is named for a famous American. Who and Why?

10.  The San Antonio Zoo, Alamo Stadium, Sunken Gardens and Fiesta Texas all have this in common, what is it? (Hint: It has something to do with what the lion is sitting on)

11: Who is supposedly buried in San Fernando Catherdal?

12. The first movie ever to win an Oscar was filmed in San Antonio and premiered at the Texas Theatre. What was the movie?

13. Only one team from San Antonio ever played in the Cotton Bowl Classic. What team was it?

14. What former US President was once football coach at St Mary's University?

  Answers Below

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1. San Pedro Springs Park, on San Pedro Avenue across from San Antonio College, is the second oldest park in the US, behind Boston Commons. It is the second oldest park in the US, behind Boston Commons.  In 1729, Spanish King Phillip V, via his viceroy in Mexico declared the headwaters of this springs an elido, or public lands.  

2. In 1985, the Fairmount Hotel set a Guiness Record for the largest building ever moved. It was moved from it's original location (where the Marriot Rivercenter is now located) to its present location across from LaVillita on Alamo Street. Read More Here

3. Gutzon Borglum carved Mount Rushmore. He would work in his San Antonio studio in the winter and return to South Dakota in the spring. His studio is now headquarters for the Pan American Golf Association and is next to the clubhouse at Brackenridge Golf Course. 

4. If you don't know where the Ghost Crossing is, or you've never been there, you can find out here

5. The Hilton Palacio Del Rio, was built on the River Walk for the 1968 World's Fair. Constructed in a modular style, each room was completely built at a separate site, with all the furniture, carpeting and even a Gideon Bibles in the night stand. Afterwards, they were transported downtown and stacked atop each other

6. John 'Bet-A-Million' Gates demonstrated a new product in the 1870 called 'Barbed Wire.' In less than 10 years, large cattle ranches using his product had replaced the open plains, and the west was changed forever. 

7. Henry B. Gonzales was a former San Antonio city councilman and the first hispanic citizen to be elected to the US House of Representatives. The Convention Center is named in his honor.

8. The Southwest Craft Center was the original home of Ursuline Academy. The tower does not have a clock on the north side because, when built, there wasn't development north of the school.  Later, it became legend that the clock wasn't installed on the north side, because no proper southern girl would give the time of day to a northerner

9. The bar in the Menger Hotel is named for Teddy Roosevelt, who recruited his Rough Riders in the hotel bar

10. The San Antonio Zoo, Alamo Stadium, Sunken Gardens and Fiesta Texas, like many other things in San Antonio, were all built in abandoned rock quarries

11. Davy Crockett, James Bowie, William Travis were supposedly buried in San Fernando Cathedral. Read the story here on why many doubt there remains are actually there

12. Wings, premiered in 1927, was a silent movie depicting World War I ariel dogfights. The filmed premiered in 1927 and won the first Oscar for Best Picture

13. The 1943 Randolph Field Ramblers a team the played at Randolph Field (Now Randolph AFB) during World War II played the University of Texas in the 1944 Cotton Bowl Classic. With travel restricted during the way and many of the top collegiate players serving in the military, many bowl games invited military teams to play on the New Years Day contests. The game, played in a downpour, ended in a 7-7 tie.

14.  A young Dwight D Eisenhower, while stationed at Fort Sam Houston,  coached the 1916 St Mary's Rattlers Football team.