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 Travel & Outdoors | March 2008 
Alamo Gets a Facelift
 bclocalnews.com
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| | Andrew Rangel of the Alamo Rangers security force stands guard at The Alamo mission in downtown San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday, March 4, 2008. Moisture penetration from the ground is causing some of the limestone to flake off, as seen in the upper left hand corner of the “long barracks” wall. | | |
Everyone remembers the Alamo, even if they’ve never seen it.
Some 2.5 million people each year visit the site of the pivotal battle in Texas’ revolt against Mexico, which took place 172 years ago this month.
“I always heard so much about the Alamo and the history that occurred here, I thought I should take a look,” said West Virginian Katrina Fritts, in San Antonio for a convention. “It’s a lot more impressive than I expected. I really felt a chill when I stepped onto the grounds.”
On March 6, 1836, Texian defenders, made up of native-born Tejanos and newcomers from the United States, were overrun and killed by a much larger Mexican army after a 13-day siege. The loss became a rallying cry for Texas independence - and an almost immediate international icon for sacrifice in the name of freedom. It also became a divisive point between white and Hispanic Texans that is still felt today.
Now, to better tell the Alamo story, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas have approved their largest expansion effort ever - a $60 million capital improvements project. The project seeks to repair damaged walls and a leaky roof in the Alamo chapel as well as modernize the compound with a 48,000-square-foot building that would house a museum-quality exhibit hall, a community meeting hall and a much larger research library.
“The Alamo is more relevant today than ever,” said Bruce Winders, the Alamo’s historian and curator.
“The Alamo is about identity and the struggles between colonization and immigration, the very things we confront today. Our job is to show that history occurred here and it’s Texan history, Mexican history and American history. It’s everyone’s history.”
The official guardians of the Alamo shrine will launch their first-ever fundraising drive, seeking donations from foundations and individuals to pay for the project, though nothing has been started yet.
The Alamo has never drawn public funding, and the Daughters pay the $5 million operating costs completely through gift shop revenue.
“The Alamo means something different to each generation, but it always speaks to some variation of patriotism and idealism,” said novelist Stephen Harrigan, author of “Gates of the Alamo.” “When you get to the bottom line of the Alamo legend, it’s that there is something worth dying for. That’s what it’s all about.”
The capital improvements plan, still several years from the start of construction, will include a small TV production studio and educational facilities for the 300,000 schoolchildren who visit the Alamo each year.
The plan would eventually require closure of a street between the Alamo and the Emily Morgan Hotel, and acquisition of two structures to clear space for construction of the exhibit hall/library complex.
“We definitely want to be more visitor-friendly so that people can be aware of the fuller story of the Alamo,” Winders said. “We shouldn’t forget that history is about people, not just facts and dates.”
The Alamo acequia, a concrete-lined ditch that approximates the old Spanish-era irrigation channel, will be restructured in a more natural setting and extend into the foyer of the new exhibition hall.
The revitalization plan follows efforts by the Daughters in the mid-1990s to broaden the historical interpretation of the Shrine of Texas Liberty from the narrowly tailored depiction of Anglo heroes standing up to Mexican invaders.
More attention was paid to the historical contributions of native-born “Tejanos,” such as Juan Seguin, in the struggle for Texas independence. The Daughters added signage to show the broader interpretation of the Alamo story in context with its role in the colonization of Texas by Spain and the founding of San Antonio.
Craig Stinson, marketing director at the Alamo, said discussions are in the early stages.
“This won’t be the Alamo you saw in the seventh grade,” Stinson said.In 2005, the Daughters unveiled the new Long Barracks museum that concentrates on the full spectrum of Alamo history, with only about 15 per cent of the material focused on the 1836 battle, Stinson said.
“A common reaction of visitors to the Alamo is `been there - done that,’” Stinson said. “But the Alamo’s mission is focused on remembering what happened here and how best to interpret that. That history extends beyond the battle and siege, and we’ve sought to make it more broadly based to include more on the Spanish period.”
Harrigan praised the Daughters’ Alamo expansion plan.
By enlarging the idea of the Alamo, the Daughters expanded the resonance of the Alamo stories.
“There have always been two stories at the Alamo - the history and the mythic one, and both are important to know,” he said. “The Daughters deserve a hand for understanding the Alamo and creating a space that helps tell the story and give people a way to know what it was like to be there and what it means to us now.” |
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