The Building of the Hilton Palacio Del Rio

   When the 1968 World's Fair was awarded to San Antonio, the city was in desperate need of additional, modern hotel rooms. In had been almost 30 years since the last hotel was built downtown. When builder H.B. Zachary stepped forward to build a new hotel between the Riverwalk and Alamo Street, there was less than nine months to complete the job.

   Not only would the new Hilton Palacio Del Rio have to be completed in record time, it would have to be built in with new monolithic modular construction techniques. A tower would be built in the middle of the hotel and complete rooms would be stacked on top of each other.

   The rooms were built on a site 7 miles away, complete with furniture, carpeting, lamps, TV's and even a Gideon Bible in the night stand. Crew worked around the clock to build the modular rooms that had steel cable handles to lift the structure into place.

   When the first room was scheduled to be lifted into place, H.B. Zachary and his wife rode on the balcony as a crane took it to it's new home. The builder had hoped to stack 10 complete rooms a day. By the end they had gotten so skilled at operating the special crane, they could lift up to 35 a day, enabling them to complete the building in record time. The entire project ended up taking just 202 working days, last than seven months.

A special crane was used to lift the completed modular rooms into place. Notice the balcony railing on the right side of the room 

  With the new Hilton and the 1968 Hemisfair, San Antonio was discovered by tourist and a new industry was created.

   Below is a movie made about the construction of the Hilton Palacio Del Rio

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San Antonio Sets World Record: The Largest Building Ever Moved, The Fairmount Hotel

The Fairmount Hotel today, at it's new home

   It seems hard to imagine, that the Fairmount Hotel on the corner of Alamo Street and Nueva Street across from La Villita once sat on the other side of downtown where the Rivercenter Marriot now stands.

   The boutique hotel was built in 1906, but it had become an abandoned building in the way of the new Rivercenter development. As is often the case in San Antonio, many realized that the decrepit building had value, it just sat in the way of a multimillion dollar development. If only the building could be moved to another spot in downtown, it could be saved.

The Fairmount, abandoned, sitting in it's previous site, blocking the construction of Rivercenter Marriot

The Fairmount Hotel, in it's earlier heyday

   The idea of moving the building became reality on March 30, 1985 when, after weeks of preparation, the building was ready for its half mile trek thru downtown. The 1,600 ton building wrapped in steel cables, was placed atop 36 dollies each with 8 tires.

   Before it left its old home at the corner of Bowie and Commerce, the Market Street Bridge over the River Walk had to be fortified for the passing of the Fairmount. The weight of the building was such that no one was quite sure if the old hotel would be able to cross over the bridge without crushing it and landing in the river. The Auxillary Bishop Bernard Popp blessed the building moments before the journey.

The building, mounted on 36 dollies, ready for it's move

   It took six days for the Fairmount to make it the half mile across downtown. Turning corners took 4 hours. Top speed was a mere 4 miles an hour on the straightaways.

   Six days later, the hotel reached it's new location. It was then planted on its new address on Alamo Street and converted into a luxury hotel. It's been over 25 years since the building was moved and few remember the festival scene downtown during the moving. Food vendors, souvenir hawkers and crowds lined the streets to watch the record setting event.

   The building was refurbished and reopened on September 5, 1986 along with certification from the Guiness Book of Records as the Largest Building ever moved.

   I thought about the Fairmount the other day when I was telling the story of its moving to my wife. It's seems almost unbelievable today that such an event took place. I ran across this old film that recorded the event and posted it below.  Please enjoy and relive six days when San Antonio was international news.

Note: The film's narration is done by legendary WOAI Newscaster Bob Guthrie

                                    

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Some of My Favorite Forgotten San Antonio Signs

    If you look closely enough, you might find an old forgotten sign, one that tells a story. Here are a few of my favorite.


                           

   How many people remember Handy Andy? The local supermarket chain once rivaled HEB for San Antonio's grocery dollars with 60 local stores and 30% of the local grocery business. The last 6 local stores were bought out in 2010, but most folks had long forgotten about Handy Andy.
   This sign still sits at a former location on Fredericksburg Road and Woodlawn Ave.

      This is the recently refurbished sign at Cool Crest Miniature Golf on Fredericksburg Road. The course recently reopened but the sign was the last part to be renovated. Read more about Cool Crest's reopening here


                                      

   This hotel in downtown San Antonio (now Apartments) harkens back to a time when air conditioning wasn't a given but a much treasured amenity. This historic building started declining in the 1970's, then sat vacant and in disrepair until the early 90s when it was refurbished and reopened.
   The 100% Air Conditioned sign still sits above the building on 1911 Travis

   One of the oldest Chinese Restaurants in San Antonio, if not the oldest. Hung Fong is on Broadway, and is known for the neon flags in the dining room.

    I always loved this sign on Broadway pointing to the Pearl Brewery. Today, it points to a redeveloped site that has spurred a tremendous amount of economic in the neighborhood.

   Sadly, on the other side of downtown, a sign pointing to the Lone Star Brewery slowly faded away and is partially covered by overgrown trees as the brewery awaits redevelopment. 

                                   

   Near the Pearl Brewery, is the former site of Playland Park, which closed in 1979. (not to be confused with Kiddie Park on Broadway)  The remnants of the sign at the main plaza still sits just a few blocks from Ft Sam Houston.

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