The purpose of this Resource Inventory (RI) is to highlight resources that embody the San Antonio – Bexar County Metropolitan Area as a historic and natural landscape of national importance. In many cases, the importance of resources is indicated by their already having official designations in the National Register of Historic Places listings, the River Walk Historic District, and the Main and Military Plaza Historic District. A number of the sites and structures in the resource index do not have any official designations, but contribute to the region’s story of national significance and are structures relevant to cultural or environmental attraction and importance.
For more information about specific sites listed below, please visit their linked pages!
| Resource Name | Description | Theme |
| Alamo Plaza Historic District | Includes National Historic Landmarks, State Antiquities Landmarks, recorded Texas Historic Landmarks. San Antonio’s iconic Alamo Plaza is located at the center of the city and includes the Alamo Chapel and complex, open/public use space formerly part of the courtyard of the Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), and the commercial resources that developed around the plaza during the late nineteenth and twentieth century. | History and Culture |
| Bat Conservation International | Bracken Cave is the summer home of more than 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats, making it the world’s largest bat colony. The emergence of these millions of bats, as they spiral out of the cave at dusk for their nightly insect hunt, is an unforgettable sight. | Parks and Natural Areas; Recreation |
| Edwards Aquifer | The Edwards Aquifer provides San Antonio with an abundant source of groundwater vital to the livelihood of a growing population and an expanding economy. It stretches across thousands of acres over several counties in South Central Texas. Rainfall enters the aquifer through fractures, caves, sinkholes and other features and replenishes the aquifer. However, rapid growth and development continue to impact the aquifer, reducing the number of recharge features needed to maintain San Antonio’s primary water resource. | Parks and Natural Areas |
| Fiesta San Antonio | The festival, also known as the Battle of Flowers, commemorates of the Battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. Fiesta is the city’s biggest festival, with an economic impact of $340 million for the city. More than three million people take part, in more than 100 events that take place all over the city and beyond. | History and Culture; Recreation |
| Government Canyon State Natural Area | The reserve is located in northwestern Bexar County, and protects 12,244 acres of rugged hills and canyons in the Hill Country terrain. It is designated a Natural Area and therefore the primary focus is maintenance and protection of the property’s numerous and diverse species of plants & wildlife, the upper Culebra Creek/Leon Creek watershed, and a critical aquifer recharge zone for the San Antonio Water System. The area contains campgrounds, picnic areas, and 40 miles of trails within the city limits. Attractions include viewing of dinosaur footprints and the nesting habitats of the golden-cheeked warbler and the black-capped vireo, both of which are classified as endangered birds. | Parks and Natural Areas |
| HemisFair Park | Hemisfair is a community with residences, local businesses and three public parks in the heart of San Antonio. Redevelopment efforts are designed to transform a vacant space left over from the 1968 World’s Fair into a vibrant, active urban parks district, reintroducing people and a neighborhood back to the downtown core. The park houses such structures as the Tower of the Americas and the Institute of Texan Cultures. | Culture; Parks and Natural Areas; Recreation |
| Hill Country State Natural Area | Hill Country State Natural Area preserves 5,369 acres of rugged, relatively pristine Hill Country terrain in Bandera County, Texas. It offers camping areas, hiking trails, scenic landscapes and other attractions such as horseback riding in a place known as the “Cowboy Capital of the World.” | Parks and Natural Areas; Recreation |
| Institute of Texan Culture | The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures is a museum and library located in HemisFair Park in Downtown San Antonio, Texas. It serves as the state’s primary center for multicultural education, with exhibits, programs, and events like the Texas Folklife Festival, an annual celebration of the many ethnicities that make up the population of Texas. The facility originally served as the Texas Pavilion at the ’68 World Fair before being turned over to the University of Texas in 1969. | Education; History and Culture |
| Main and Military Plazas | A wide variety of architectural styles are represented in the Main and Military Plaza Historic District, covering a time span of over 200 years. This variety illustrates, through the built environment, San Antonio’s evolution from Spanish Presidio in the 18th century to l9th-century cow town, to solid commercial city center in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, giving the area an organic, eclectic flavor not found in many downtown areas of this size. The District has been the traditional hub of downtown San Antonio since the 18th century | Urban Development; History |
| Majestic Theater | Designed in 1929, the Majestic Theater is San Antonio’s oldest and largest theater. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark. | History and Culture; Recreation |
| Mexican Cultural Institute | Originally forming part of the HemisFair, it is the only national pavilion still in its original location, although the original structure was modified and expanded during the expansion of the adjacent convention center and was re-opened in 2002. | History and Culture |
| River Walk | The River Walk is a city park and network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River. Th walkway connects shops, restaurants, nature, public artwork, and the 5 historic missions, making it a key part of the city’s urban infrastructure. | Innovation; Parks and Natural Areas |
| San Antonio River Authority | The San Antonio River Authority (River Authority) was created in 1937 by the State of Texas to preserve, protect, and manage the resources and environment of the San Antonio River Basin. Today, It has partnered with both national and grassroots organizations to support and take point on restoration and conservation projects for the San Antonio River and its surrounding lands. It also creates and maintains watershed master plans for the San Antonio River Basin that identify areas of flood risk, water quality concerns, and green space opportunities. This critical information is intended for use by citizens and community leaders to guide investments in capital projects to mitigate flooding, inform future development decisions to help improve water quality in creeks and rivers, and ensure the health, recreational, and economic benefits of green space can be maximized. | Education; Parks and Natural Areas; Partner Organization |
| San Antonio Missions | In 1978, the Spanish colonial missions in San Antonio were listed as part of the National Historic Park system. The San Antonio Missions tell the stories of the people who came into the Spanish missions to live in the 1700s. Acculturating and converting the indigenous population in order to become Spanish citizens reverberates today in the southwest United States. The site consists of 5 frontier missions situated along a stretch of the San Antonio River basin in southern Texas, as well as a ranch located 37 kilometres to the south. | History and Culture |
| San Fernando Cathedral | San Fernando Cathedral is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church located in downtown San Antonio, facing the city’s Main Plaza. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the seat of its archbishop. Its dome serves as the city of San Antonio’s cultural and geographical center. The cathedral is also known as the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria y Guadalupe and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is notable as one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States. | Religious; History and Cultural |
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