Alamo Mission in San Antonio facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
The Alamo

The chapel of the Alamo Mission is known as the "Shrine of Texas Liberty"
Location in Texas
Location	300 Alamo Plaza San Antonio, Texas U.S.
Coordinates	29°25′33″N 98°29′10″W / 29.42583°N 98.48611°W / 29.42583; -98.48611
Name as founded	Misión San Antonio de Valero
English translation	Saint Anthony of Valero Mission
Patron	Anthony of Padua
Founding priest(s)	Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivare
Area	5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built	1718
Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s)	Coahuiltecans
Governing body	Texas General Land Office
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: (ii)
Designated	2015 (39th session)
Part of	San Antonio Missions
Reference no.	1466-005
State Party	United States
Region	Europe and North America
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Designated	October 15, 1966
Reference no.	66000808
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Designated	December 19, 1960
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Designated	July 13, 1977
Part of	Alamo Plaza Historic District
Reference no.	77001425
Texas State Antiquities Landmark
Designated	June 28, 1983
Reference no.	8200001755

The Alamo Mission in San Antonio (Spanish: Misión de Álamo), commonly called The Alamo and originally known as the Misión San Antonio de Valero, is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Today it is a museum in the Alamo Plaza Historic District and a part of the San Antonio Missions World Heritage Site.

The historic district was one of the early Spanish missions in Texas, built for the education of local American Indians after their conversion to Christianity. The mission was secularized in 1793 and then abandoned. Ten years later, it became a fortress housing the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras military unit, who likely gave the mission the name Alamo. During the Texas Revolution, Mexican General Martín Perfecto de Cos surrendered the fort to the Texian Army in December 1835, following the Siege of Béxar. A relatively small number of Texian soldiers then occupied the compound for several months. The defenders were wiped out at the Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. As the Mexican Army retreated from Texas several months later, they tore down many of the Alamo walls and burned some of the buildings.

For the next five years, the Alamo was periodically used to garrison soldiers, both Texian and Mexican, but was ultimately abandoned. In 1849, several years after Texas was annexed to the United States, the U.S. Army began renting the facility for use as a quartermaster's depot, before again abandoning the mission in 1876 after nearby Fort Sam Houston was established. The Alamo chapel was sold to the state of Texas, which conducted occasional tours but made no effort to restore it. The remaining buildings were sold to a mercantile company which operated them as a wholesale grocery store.

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) formed in 1895 and began trying to preserve the Alamo. Adina Emilia De Zavala and Clara Driscoll successfully convinced the state legislature in 1905 to purchase the remaining buildings and to name the DRT as the permanent custodian of the site. Over the next century, periodic attempts were made to transfer control of the Alamo from the DRT. In early 2015, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush officially removed control of the Alamo to the Texas General Land Office. The Alamo and the four missions in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 5, 2015.

Images for kids

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  This is one of the first drawings depicting the Misión San Antonio de Valero. It was created in 1838 by Mary Maverick and clearly shows statues within the niches.

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  1854 drawing – The Alamo chapel would have looked something like this in the 1830s

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  The Fall of the Alamo, painted by Theodore Gentilz in 1844, depicts the final assault

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  Alamo Plaza in the 1860s

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  Mercantile firm Hugo & Schmeltzer operated a store on the site in the 1880s

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  2011 view of the scene in 1844 Gentilz painting [top] and 1880s view above

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  Adina De Zavala

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  Clara Driscoll in 1903

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  Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech at the Alamo, April 7, 1905. The picture shows the building that had been added by Hugo and Schmeltzer.

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  This 1907 postcard entreated citizens to Save the Alamo

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  The Alamo and Downtown San Antonio c. 1920. In the center of the surrounding area are the remains of the "Long Barracks" which had been covered by the Hugo and Schmeltzer building

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  Today the site of the Alamo Mission is a museum

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  Alamo entrance

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  Interior of the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas about 1904 looking toward the front entrance

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  Interior of the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas (postcard, c. 1907–1914)

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  Interior Alamo, cannon, San Antonio, Texas (postcard, c. 1901–1914)

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  Colorized postcard c. 1910

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  Under six flags, Alamo, San Antonio, Texas (postcard, circa 1915–1924)

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  Plaque on a wall at the Alamo, recognizing ownership by the state of Texas and custodianship of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas

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  A plaque posted in remembrance of the contribution of the Alamo by Clara Driscoll to the state of Texas

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  Cactus shrub adjacent to main building at the Alamo

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  Old well and oak tree in courtyard of the Alamo

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  A stone memorial to the 32 men from Gonzales who perished at the Battle of the Alamo

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  Memorial poem carved in granite written by a Japanese geography professor in 1914 comparing the Battle to the siege of Nagashino Castle in 1575

See also

In Spanish: Misión de El Álamo (Texas) para niños