Alamo Village facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Alamo Village |
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The replica of the Alamo built for John Wayne's film The Alamo (1960)
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| Type | film set |
| Location | Brackettville, Texas, US |
| Area | 400 acres (160 ha) |
| Built | 1957 |
| Built for | The Alamo |
| Original use | film set |
| Current use | tourist attraction |
| Owner | Happy Shahan |
| Website | (defunct) |
Alamo Village is a special place in Brackettville, Texas, United States. It's not just a regular village; it's a famous film set! This means it was built to look like a real place for movies. It's most famous for being the setting of the 1960 movie The Alamo, which was directed by and starred the legendary John Wayne.
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Alamo Village: A Movie Set Come to Life
Imagine building an entire town just for a movie! That's what happened with Alamo Village. It was created to look exactly like the Alamo Mission compound and the village of San Antonio de Béxar in 1836. This was the year of the famous Battle of the Alamo. The real Alamo is in Downtown San Antonio today, surrounded by modern buildings. So, a movie set was needed to show what it looked like long ago.
How Alamo Village Was Built
The movie set was built by a man named James T. "Happy" Shahan. He started building it on his ranch in September 1957. John Wayne, a famous actor and director, wanted to make a movie about the Battle of the Alamo. He needed a realistic place to film it.
At first, John Wayne only planned to build the fronts of the buildings. But he ran out of money! Happy Shahan agreed to keep building if Wayne would make full buildings with four walls, floors, and roofs. Wayne agreed, and the amazing set was completed.
Building Alamo Village was a huge job. Workers made over 1.5 million adobe bricks right there on the ranch. They also built 14 miles of gravel roads and even a 4,000-foot runway!
Movies Filmed at Alamo Village
After the 1960 movie The Alamo finished filming, Happy Shahan kept the set. It became a popular spot for many other movies. Over the years, more than a dozen films about the Alamo were shot there.
But it wasn't just Alamo movies! Over 100 other western movies used the set. You might also find parts of Alamo Village in documentaries, music videos, and even commercials. Each time a new movie was filmed, the set might change a little. This shows how ideas about what the Alamo looked like have changed over time.
Here are some of the movies and TV shows filmed at Alamo Village:
- The Alamo (1960) – Starring John Wayne
- Two Rode Together (1961) – Starring James Stewart
- Bandolero! (1968) – Starring James Stewart, Raquel Welch, and Dean Martin
- Barbarosa (1982) – Starring Willie Nelson
- Good As Gold (1983 music video) by Red Rockers
- The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987)
- Alamo: The Price of Freedom (1988) – Filmed in IMAX
- Lonesome Dove (1988) (TV) – Starring Robert Duvall
- Bad Girls (1994)
- Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997) – A Chinese martial arts western
- Bullfighter (2000)
- Jericho (2000)
- Call of the Wildman (2013)
Visiting Alamo Village
For many years, Alamo Village was also a fun tourist attraction. After the 1960 movie, people could visit the set and explore the old-time village. It was a big part of the local economy in Brackettville.
Visitors could see the replica of The Alamo. The village also had a cantina (a type of restaurant), a trading post, an Indian store, a church, and even a jail! There was a blacksmith shop and museums, including the John Wayne Western Museum. Alamo Village also had a collection of old tools and props from movies. They even had a herd of longhorn cattle!
During the summer, there were live music shows and stage performances. Over Labor Day weekend, horse races brought many people to the village. Alamo Village was usually open to visitors all year, except for a few days around Christmas.
The Village Closes Its Doors
In 2004, the owner, Virginia Shahan (Happy Shahan's widow), put the set up for sale. She passed away in 2009. After her death, Alamo Village closed to the public for a while. The family had to decide what to do with the village, especially during a tough economic time.
Alamo Village briefly reopened in 2010 for the summer. However, it had limited hours and no shows or stores. It closed again within a few months. There were talks about a businessman buying the site, but it didn't happen.
After being closed for eight years, Alamo Village opened one last time in January 2018. This event was a sale of all the movie props. At that time, the future of the site was still uncertain.
