Memories of Early San Antonio 1950's 70's (Marshall, Alamo: apartments, insurance)

[BabyBoomer46]

I was born in the original building of the Santa Rosa Hospital in 1946. At the age of 12 yrs I became the first MALE volunteer at Santa Rosa Hospital (Girls were called CANDY CANES..I believe) My family lived in an old Hotel which had once been a Bordello I believe and was turned into apartments. It was on 700 Hutchins only a few blocks from TERRELL WELLS SWIMMING POOL. Man! That place stunk of sulfer water but I had many an hour of fun there.
Later we moved to STINSON HOMES new what is now STINSON FIELD. They were nothing but old military barracks which had been turned into apartments. Close by was a cemetary which had small ponds throughout. Myself and my friends would go fishing in the cemetary often and catch perch. There were two old military barracks located on the STINSON HOMES property. Actually they turned them into an elementary school. They were small. We had the 3rd and 4th grades in one room. One teacher conducted classes for both grades. The janitor used to sell chocolate milk in a carton for 3 cents and ''DAY OLD" doughnuts for 5 cents each. I'd stay after school sometimes and help him clean. For the work..he'd pay me in DAY OLD doughnuts. I remember the ALLIGATOR GARDENS on Broadway which was later located right next to the hqtrs of USAA INSURANCE. The owners son (OF ALLIGATOR GARDENS) and I were playing (My father worked for USAA) one day and we almost caught the gardens on fire. We mixed sugar with Staffels Weed Killer (Was like gun powder!) and lite a match. The fire lept out of the huge jar and caught some large palm leaves on fire. I RAN!
Wonderland Shopping center was on Fredericksburg road. It was one of the rist indoor shopping centers in San Antonio I believe. I worked for FW WOOLWORTH at the mall while in high school. I attended Northside High School beginning in 1961. Northside Jr High was on the same ground as the high school. It no longer exists. Last but not least I worked for the SAN ANTONIO TRANSIT SYSTEM beginning in 1974. We drove the DREAMLINERS. I saved a police officers life when I used my bus (NO PASSENGERS ON THE BUS) as a shield from gunefire which was being directed at the police during an incident on WOODLAWN AVENUE. CONGRESSMAN HENRY B GONZALES's brother had escaped from the SAN ANTONIO STATE HOSPITAL and went to his mothers home to hide. When the police arrived to pick him up he came out with a rifle and shot one of the offices in the back of the neck..not killing him. I used my bus as a shield so medical aid could be given to the downed officer. One other officer was shot in the process. He was standing in the doorwell of my bus. I was awarded the HEROIC CITATION by the city of San Antonio and asked if I would like to become a police officer. I kindly declined.
Whew!

[940]

Originally Posted by BabyBoomer46

I attended Northside High School beginning in 1961.

Interesting...you should post in the "Gone But Not Forgotten" thread too because I'm sure you're a treasure trove of information!!
By the way, I thought Northside High changed its name to John Marshall High in 1960...or so says the NISD website. Did the students not gravitate to the new Marshall name so easily at first since they were used to Northside High?

[wCat]

Yes.....come join us in the gone but not forgotten thread! Lots of us boomers(and x-ers) have been posting about great old stuff. your post was great! Fishing in a cemetery!! That trumps my getting mugged in one!

[spaceage007]

The Gone but not forgotten page is great. Ive been hooked on it since I found it, I was trying to find out what drive-in move screen I was seeing off HW90. There is also a Early San Antonio history post that is good and growing. There you can find some old maps of SA. Boomer it seem like you spent a lot of time on the early NW side of town. I had asked in the early SA history post if anyone had old pic of the NW side or just good stories. I was born in 73 and have lived on the NW side most of my life. We moved from the John Jay Pinn Rd area to Heritage NW in 78 (I think). So what was it like out here? How was the ingram mall area? There is a business park behind Holmes High School called Alamo Downs, a friend of mine said it use to be a horse racing track....do you know if it is true? Theres some old structure behind Ingram Mall in the area called Devil's Den....any idea of what that might have been or what the area was used for? At the corner of Culebra and Ingram there use to be a private school there when I was very young, do you remember that school? The area has been vacant for years with very very little of it remaming, but now a type of plaza is being built there. Well chime in if you can or anybody for that matter.

[940]

Originally Posted by spaceage007

There is a business park behind Holmes High School called Alamo Downs, a friend of mine said it use to be a horse racing track....do you know if it is true? Theres some old structure behind Ingram Mall in the area called Devil's Den....any idea of what that might have been or what the area was used for? At the corner of Culebra and Ingram there use to be a private school there when I was very young, do you remember that school? The area has been vacant for years with very very little of it remaming, but now a type of plaza is being built there. Well chime in if you can or anybody for that matter.

I remember Alamo Downs before it turned into a business park. My father used to work at Southwest Research Institute across from the Alamo Downs site. As a kid, I remember driving by it and seeing the entrance closed off with a gated fence. Some people were able to sneak through and hike back to where the old elevated bleachers were along with the remains of the old horse stables. You could see these concrete elevated bleachers off in the distance from both Culebra Rd and from Loop 410. In fact, the Northside ISD football stadium was built on some of the old land that used to be part of Alamo Downs. Incidentally, it really was a horse racing track and it had its heyday in the mid to late 1930s.

I'm not familiar with Devil's Den but it does look as if there was something there near Ingram Park a long time ago. I also remember the school that was located at the corner of Ingram Rd and Culebra Rd about a 1/2 mile to a mile outside of Loop 410. I think it was a Catholic school (or some other religiously affiliated school) because I remember seeing older women (nuns/sisters??) working outside on the acreage taking care of the plants and the landscaping that was there. It was a large piece of land and not nearly as wooded as it is now since no one is actively keeping it up today.

[spaceage007]

940

Thanks for the info on Alamo Downs. I tried to look it up on the net with no luck. My friend said he went to a job interview there and the company had a arial photo of Alamo Downs in its hay-day. You are right it was a Catholic school my grandmother was going to send me there when I reached 6th gread '86...by then it was closed, so I went down the street Holy Rosary next to St.Mary's. The Devil's Den area is where the low water crossing is off Ingram Rd near Jose's Volcano behind the new Via Park and Ride. What year was it when you could see those bleachers from the track? Also ther is that hill next to Alamo Down with that white tower. I heard it was a school for nuns. I looked at it on Google maps and it still has cars there. Has it always been there, or was that structure on that hill there for another reason?

[940]

Originally Posted by spaceage007

What year was it when you could see those bleachers from the track?

From your earlier post, I'm about 9 years older than you and can remember when that entire area off Ingram, Culebra and Potranco was void of really any development...and Ingram Park wasn't even around. I also remember I could see those bleachers at Alamo Downs throughout the mid to late 70s before the business park came along. I even took Driver's Ed. sponsored by Northside ISD at a temporary classroom trailer on the parking lot of the football stadium back around 1979-1980. Even at that time, I want to say that the bleachers were still around behind the stadium at Alamo Downs.

And that hill behind Alamo Downs was a convent I believe for nuns...I could be wrong but I seem to remember hearing that from my parents. I also heard that so many people wanted to buy the land on that hill because of the views but they refused to sell it. Not sure what's there now as I don't make it over there as much.

And I can remember some really bad flooding back in the mid 70s around that Devil's Den area. It was like an ocean with water covering everything and quite a few people drowned. Irnag, who posts on here also, can probably offer up more info as he went to Holmes and spent a lot of time in this area also.

[irnag]

I don't know if I can help much. I do remember the old Alamo Downs race track. I never got very close to it, but I remember those bleachers being there until possibly the early 80s. Checking the goog map, it appears that Grandstand Dr. is a close approximation of where the track stood. Also, it appears that the convent is still there. There is a winding road called St Josephs Way that leads to some buildings that appear to be on a hill.

I am not familiar with Devil's Den at all. I remember driving down Ingram a few times but do not remember the structure. I thought there was a gravel pit back there and could have been something built for that, but that is pure speculation on my part. I also have no recollection of the flooding. I will have to talk to my cousins, they were at Holmes during the early 70s and may remember the flooding.

I also took drivers ed down in those trailers at Northside stadium. Man, I hated my instructor. He was always yelling at us. I remember the first time I got behind the wheel, he made me drive to Jack-in-the-Box on Evers. He had me so freaked out that I almost hit the clown, but he stopped the car in time.

[BabyBoomer46]

My friend George Mabe's parents used to own the large house and property which was later sold to a Catholic organization and converted to a convent. You are correct it was a convent. I haven't been in that area for some time. I'm certain it's no longer such.
I mentioned in an earlier post I had attended Northside Junior High and school. The junior high school consisted of one building which was right next to Northside High School (About 200 ft away from the old Northside HS's West entrance I believe) Students from NSJH were eventually relocated to Pat Neff Jr. high school. Northside HS was renamed John Marshall High School in the early 60's and a new addition (Two story) was added also. It had air conditioning whereas the older part of the school continued to have floor fans for air circulation within the classrooms.
Directly across the street from Leon Valley Elementary school was located a small grocery store called RIMKUS'S. Ray Rimkus was the owner and he was also the first Mayor of Leon Valley. There is presently a service station located where the grocery store used to be. I used to wash dishes in the cafeteria of the school in order to earn some extra money. They gave me my lunch for free (30 cents at the time was the cost per student) and I made $5.00 a month in wages. I'd work during my lunch hour. They paid me in SILVER DOLLARS!! I'd stack the silver dollars on my school desk each payday. Yes..I was showing off!!!
There was a radio station out Bandera Rd. (4 1/2 miles from the city limits)
It was originally WOAI I believe and later KENS bought the station. It no longer exists.
There's a bridge right past the TEXAS STAR INN on Bandera road. If you follow the bridge to the right..along the river bed there's (Or used to be) a cave that is in solid rock which goes straight down for about 10 ft and then curves. We used to go into the cave (A small one) as kids. Literally hundreds of arrowheads were found along that river during the 50's/60's by my friends the Steubings who owned land to the left of the bridge. It's now a housing development. I'm certain a lot of history was lost when that area was cleared. I was told there were indian reservations along the river.

[spaceage007]

Boom, thanks for the feedback. Very interesting that your friend use to live on that hill. Was the house torn down? What year did they sell? I bet that little peice of land is worth a fortune now. Id hate for the nuns to have to sell it, it would kill me to see a Starbucks and Fantastic Sam's up there. Looking at the convent on Google maps, the structure looks as if it were built to house many people. At the time your friend lived there were there any other houses on the hill? Im going to dirve up that hill this weekend to see what the view is like. There is a no trespassing sign, but Im going to play stupid until Im asked to leave. Ill let you know what its like at the top nowadays.

I also seem to find that Bandera cave interesting, Im going to look for that too. I want to get a metal detector and snoop around. On Bandera there is a In-Town suite Motel. Its near Bandrea and Grissom I think. Well next to it is a very small (for such a busy street) vacant lot, with whats left of a old stone house. Do you have any memory of that house? My oldest memory of Bandera is remembering when TaCasita (sp) lost all its business because a new Taco Cabana was built across Bandera.