Hemisfair Park

In the spring of 1968 San Antonios HemisFair Park was the site of the
official 1968 Worlds Fair. From April 6 through October 6 San Antonio welcomed
more than thirty nations and six million visitors as they celebrated the various
people and cultures that settled in the region. Themed the Confluence of
Civilizations in the Americas, the fair was set to jointly pay tribute to the 250th
anniversary of the founding of the city of San Antonio in 1718.
The HemisFair project officially began in November 1965 when The Bureau
International de Expositions (BIE) awarded San Antonio official Fair status.
Funded by a combination of public and private funds, the venture had an estimated
cost of $156 million dollars and included the construction of San Antonios most
iconic buildings.
The development of HemisFair completely changed the cityscape and brought with
it the convention center and arena, the Texas State Pavilion now recognized as the
Institute of Texan Cultures, the U. S. Pavilion which has since transitioned to
become the John H. Wood Federal Courthouse, and San Antonios skyline staple
the Tower of Americas.
The fair grounds were built on a 96.2acre site on the southeastern edge of
downtown San Antonio. Though a majority of the existing structures on the site
were demolished, the San Antonio Preservation Society saved 24 structures, which
were incorporated directly into the fair site.
As part of the overall HemisFair project the city extended its River Walk (Paseo
del Rio) one quarter of a mile into the site. The extension linked the River Walk
with the Worlds Fair grounds and cemented San Antonio, and the River Walk, as a
tourist destination. As San Antonios city center, Hemisfair continues to transform
and unify its surrounding areas in an effort to create a friendlier park space for the
community, and tourists alike.

In 2001 the River Walk was further extended under the new Convention Center
Expansion and is now connected to a small lagoon inside Hemisfair. As the city
continues to undergo renovations, Hemisfair represents both a relic of the past and
a beacon of the future as it merges historic sites with the much needed urban
revitalization of San Antonio.

Mc Nay Art Museum

Founded in 1954 in San Antonio and Known to be the first modern art museum in
the state of Texas .McNayArt_Museum was the creation of Jessie Marion Koogler
McNay who was an artist.
The museum was named after her and has been expanded to include galleries of
medieval and renaisssace art work.Atlee Ayres and Robert M ayres designed a
house for McNay.In 1950 upon her death ,gave her home,23 acre estate surroung it
and two thirds of her wealth to the city of san Antonio to support a museum of
modern art.
In 1954, Marion Koogler Mc Nay Art Institute opened to the public .The McNay
was accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1971 and reaccredited
in 1984 and is a member of the American Association of Museums and the Texas
Association of Museums.

Hill county
Located in north central texas,its the largest city within the county and is at the junction
of interstate highway 35 east and west. Geographically the countys centre lies at 32 north
latitude and 97.07 west longitude.
Climatic conditions of the hill county is as follows: In between Between April and September

of each year falls 56 percent of the average annual rainfall: 3640 inches in the eastern
part of the county and 3236 inches in the western. The temperature ranges between an
average high of 95 F in July and an average low of 36 in January. The mild
temperatures and adequate rainfall provide a growing season of 230 days a year. In the
1980s, 46 percent of the county was used for field crops, 32 percent for pasture, and 13

percent for rangeland. Urban and water usage took up 6 percent, and 3 percent remained
wooded.

Witte Museum
The witte museum was inagurated in 1926 under the charter of San Antonio Museum
Association a nonprofit corporation established in 1925.

A local school teacher Ellen Schulz, had raised $5,000 to purchase an extensive private
collection of natural history specimens for the city of San Antonio. The collection was
first housed in the local high school, and when it outgrew this space, Miss Schulz and her
supporters petitioned city commissioners to build a new museum. The building was
constructed with public funds and a $65,000 bequest to the city from local businessman
Alfred G. Witte, who stipulated that a museum be built in Brackenridge Park in memory
of his parents.
The facility was known as the Witte Memorial Museum until 1984, when the name was
simplified to the Witte Museum.The museum survived financial struggles during the
Great Depression and World War II through activities that included operation of a reptile
garden, a popular natural history attraction adjacent to the museum. In the 1930s the
Witte conducted a series of archeological excavations.

FIESTA SAN ANTONIO

Previously Fiesta San Antonio is known as Fiesta San Jacinto .It is a 10
day festival held every spring in San Antonio.
It originated in the 1891 flower parade conceived by Ellen Maury Slayden, wife of
Congressman James L. Slayden, as an April 21 salute to the heroes of the battles of the
Alamo and San Jacinto. A group of San Antonio women formed the Battle of Flowers
Association.

The first parade was moved a day ahead to accommodate the schedule of visiting
President Benjamin Harrison, but it was then delayed for four days by bad weather. With
the arrival of fair weather, participants in carriages pelted one another with flowers as
they rounded Alamo Plaza. By 1895 an elaborate weeklong celebration surrounded the
Battle of Flowers Parade, and the first queen was chosen.

The Battle of Flowers Parade continued to be the only major parade in the United States
that was conceived, organized, and presented by a women's group. The final event of the
festival had become the Fiesta Night Parade or "Fiesta Flambeau," sponsored by the San
Antonio Jaycees and lit by torchlight and fireworks.

SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM OF ART

The San Antonio Museum of Art, dedicated to presenting art of the world's cultures from
ancient times to the present, is housed in a renovated brewery located at 200 West Jones
Avenue, near downtown San Antonio. The museum originated as an outgrowth of the
Witte Museum, a general museum established in 1926 by the San Antonio Art League,
the San Antonio Conservation Society, the San Antonio Museum Association, and the San
Antonio Scientific Society.
The idea of a separate museum of art originated with Jack McGregor, who became
director of the Witte Museum in 1970. McGregor was the first to see the renovation
possibilities in the former AnhauserBusch brewery situated on a 2acre river site.The
San Antonio Museum of Art is owned and operated by the San Antonio Museum
Association, which is governed by a board of trustees of no more than thirty members.
The museum's daily operations are supervised by the director.
The San Antonio Museum Association sponsored a number of educational programs for
both the Witte Museum and the San Antonio Museum of Art. Major programs include
tours for school children, curriculum guides and teacher training workshops, and the
Museum School, which provides a variety of learning experiences for children, families,
and adults. The museum also presents gallery concerts, an Asian New Year Festival, film
series, and educational workshops for students and teachers.