Old photos of the Alamo

66,979 Views | 122 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by p_bubel
CanyonAg77
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AG
In one of those "waste-time-on-the-Internet" moments, I stumbled across the New York Public Library image collection. You could spend years going through it. So for fun, I did a search for "Texas". Among the interesting stuff were historic photos of the Shrine of Texas Liberty and Beer Warehouse.

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgsubjectbrowseresult.cfm







[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 3/11/2014 10:29p).]
CanyonAg77
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CanyonAg77
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Bonus: Sam Houston House




There are also a ton on there of Galveston.
Rabid Cougar
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Here is A&M's Collection.

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/adp/history/alamo_images/images.html
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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ABATTBQ87
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AG
why was there an image of the Texas flag flying upside down? or was it a NC flag with a star?
Cen-Tex
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A couple of interesting Alamo pics:

(Houston Chronicle 3/6/10)

An 1949 daguerreotype. Probably the earliest picture of the Alamo. Notice that the fascade we see on today's Alamo is missing.

(DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Honore Grenet bought the Alamo in 1877 and turned it into a warehouse, museum & store.

Wikipedia

Charles Hugo & Gustav Schmeltzer bought the Alamo convent property in 1882 and operated a store

(TAMU photo)

The Long Barracks after the Hugo & Schmeltzer wooded structure was removed. Notice the original thick, two-story walls. Fighting was bloody and room to room in the Long Barracks. The 2nd story walls were removed in 1913.

[This message has been edited by Cen-Tex (edited 3/12/2014 2:11p).]
BQ78
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quote:
why was there an image of the Texas flag flying upside down?


Because it was sketched by a stupid Yankee artist from Harper's Weekly.
Cen-Tex
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President Teddy Roosevelt addressing a crowd at the Alamo 1905 while in town for a Rough Rider reunion. In 1898, Roosevelt recruited many of his Rough Riders at the Menger Hotel.

Library of Congress photo


Roosevelt standing
CanyonAg77
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So in this photo, looks like a little store/office built between the east and west wings. There in some photos, gone in others. Wonder what it was and where it fits in the timeline.

The Original AG 76
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Look closely at the TR photo. I think that the Lone Star Flag is flyng above the Federal flag (as it should be). Need to go back to that if true...
Cen-Tex
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quote:
So in this photo, looks like a little store/office built between the east and west wings. There in some photos, gone in others. Wonder what it was and where it fits in the timeline.


The photo specs state ca. 1883. I've also seen the same angle without the signage (before 1883 and early 1900's). The photo was used in a story about Honore Grenet in a 'My San Antonio' article in 2011.

Has anyone come across pics of a jail within the Alamo compound? I read an account of a prisoners being housed in part of the Low Barracks for a short time after the War Between the States or it could be another Alamo yarn.
Cen-Tex
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Try doing this today

http://digital.utsa.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15125coll9/id/8117/rec/11
Cen-Tex
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1850's - the US army uses the Alamo after Texas became a state


1858 - was the cannon barrel in the photo placed there by the photographer?


[This message has been edited by Cen-Tex (edited 3/16/2014 6:40p).]
aalan94
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I like that last pic because it's the closest we get to see the Long Barracks to its original view. Although I'm certain that it was heavily rebuilt just like the chapel.
Macarthur
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quote:
The Original AG 76

Look closely at the TR photo. I think that the Lone Star Flag is flyng above the Federal flag (as it should be). Need to go back to that if true...


Really? Why?
p_bubel
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quote:
Has anyone come across pics of a jail within the Alamo compound?


I have gone through thousands of photos of old San Antonio for my before and after obsessions and have yet to run across anything like that.

I would imagine prisoners were housed at the "Bat Cave" jail in Military Plaza. The two story structure in the background on the right in this photo:



And here:



[This message has been edited by p_bubel (edited 3/18/2014 6:03p).]
Cen-Tex
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quote:
Has anyone come across pics of a jail within the Alamo compound?


The San Antonio police had a police station (substation) built onto the south wall (nave)of the Alamo shrine from 1885 until about 1896. Evidence of the police station first appeared on a Sanborn insurance map in 1885, according to one of the curators at Alamo. The curator stated that the substation was mainly used as a 'drunk tank'.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/sanborn/san_antonio_1885_2.jpg

The Alamo plaza is located to the left of the compass rose. The police station is noted on the map.

Ned Huthmacher photo

South wall of the Alamo. The indented line is where the old police station roof began.



Not sure what the sign states on the office squeezed between the baptistry (left) and the church transept section (right).

[This message has been edited by Cen-Tex (edited 3/20/2014 9:26p).]
Cen-Tex
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A drunk tank makes sense with a saloon located next door

No Bat Soup For You
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Fantastic thread.

Thanks for the pictures.

[This message has been edited by hennyj15 (edited 3/29/2014 7:46p).]
p_bubel
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quote:
South wall of the Alamo. The indented line is where the old police station roof began.


You learn something new everyday!
I have seen that "building" in photos before but is was a store of some sort at that point.
p_bubel
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Here's a slightly later image of the saloon next door, just for fun:

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p_bubel
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Cen-Tex, do you do a lot of online research?


You mentioned Roosevelt much early in this thread and I have been searching for a specific building photo for years with no luck.

I know it exists somewhere out that as I have seen the place in a couple of shots of Teddy's Rough Rider Reunion in San Antonio at the turn of the century.

Specifically, I'm looking for photos of San Antonio's old International Exposition Hall in Riverside Park. (Now, Roosevelt Park)
TheSheik
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P_bubel

the building in the background ?




TheSheik
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same building ?
even less

p_bubel
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Yeah, that building. I can't find a full photo and that kills me.

It was massive.
TheSheik
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more of the same




this looks like a diff building
Ernest Tucker
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quote:
quote:
why was there an image of the Texas flag flying upside down?


Because it was sketched by a stupid Yankee artist from Harper's Weekly.


Also look closely at the columns in the front of the Alamo. I think he thought they were statues, like what you would find in Egypt.
Build It
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Couldn't the upside down flag represent the occupants are in distress?
Cen-Tex
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1975
http://rollingstonesofficial.tumblr.com/image/16114340134
Emzy
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The building in question is the old San Antonio International Fair and Exposition building (held from 1888-1911) which is where Camp Wood was and where the Rough Riders trained for their 4 weeks in San Antonio before departing for Cuba via Florida. The grounds are now a neighborhood, Rooselvelt Park and surrounding area including a flood control tunnel for the San Antonio River. The photo was taken April 7, 1905 while Rooselvelt was in town for the RR reunion. The veterans dined on their old training grounds.
p_bubel
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Thanks, Emzy!
aalan94
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quote:
quote:
quote:why was there an image of the Texas flag flying upside down?


Because it was sketched by a stupid Yankee artist from Harper's Weekly.


The flag is not necessarily upside down. Note the star is pointing the right way. It very well could have been that way at that time, as the Texas flag wasn't really standardized until the late 1800s. Although the Republic passed the current flag in a bill in 1839, people were very sloppy on whether or not the red went on top or whether it was upside down or not. I've come across dozens of photos in which it is wrong.

A more obvious discrepancy in that drawing (besides the statues) is that the long barracks is on the right, not the left, of the Alamo.

This was probably quickly sketched by the artist from memory, leading to the mistakes. Take a piece of paper and draw any historical event you know from memory and you'll miss stuff too.
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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More, please !
p_bubel
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If anyone is interested further, I spotted the old exposition grounds on a map a couple of weeks back and put this together tonight. Emzy is definitely correct.





The river was moved when channeled, but the old spur line is still in the same spot as well as the major roads - though San Juan was changed to S. Presa.
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