Alamo Mission in San Antonio facts for kids
The chapel of the Alamo Mission is known as the "Shrine of Texas Liberty"
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| Location | 300 Alamo Plaza San Antonio, Texas U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 29°25′33″N 98°29′10″W / 29.42583°N 98.48611°WCoordinates: 29°25′33″N 98°29′10″W / 29.42583°N 98.48611°W |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Designated | October 15, 1966 |
| Reference no. | 66000808 |
| Designated | December 19, 1960 |
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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| Designated | July 13, 1977 |
| Part of | Alamo Plaza Historic District |
| Reference no. | 77001425 |
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Texas State Antiquities Landmark
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| 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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Adina De Zavala
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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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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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Rear view of the main building of the Alamo, 2008
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Today the site of the Alamo Mission is a museum
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Alamo entrance
