A Walk Through History—San Antonio’s River Walk

by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

Summary: The San Antonio River Walk, also known as El Paseo del Rio, forms a three-mile winding loop along the San Antonio River lined with walkways, green space, shops and restaurants, bridges, and access to major tourist attractions, such as nearby Alamo Plaza. The River Walk is one street level beneath downtown San Antonio and has many access stairs, ramps, and elevators. The San Antonio River Walk attracts 5 million visitors each year. Although the river is only about 25 to 40 feet wide and about 4 feet deep, there are many attractions, replete with Venice-style boats floating down the River Walk, the heart of which is the original Great Bend channel, shaped like a sideways horseshoe.

What started as a tiny, writhing downtown stream has now become one of the top travel destinations in Texas, pumping $3 million per into year into San Antonio’s economy. In his book River Walk—The Epic Story of San Antonio’s River, Lewis F. Fisher depicts the evolution of the San Antonio River and the River Walk, including how in 1926 architect Robert Hugman, just 27, had a romantic plan for the river—a “Venice of America.” Hugman’s plan envisioned boats poling along the bending, shallow river through green space, walkways, and shops, only to have his plan scrapped. It was a 1936 Texas Centennial river parade, however, that revived interest in the downtown river, which in turn revived Hugman’s River Walk, breaking ground in 1939.

River ebbs and flows
In the 18th century, San Antonio’s river lacked volume and slope to power anything bigger than small mills, but it did become an oasis to early settlers, forming an amalgam of foreign tongues and cultures. Cowboys mingled with immigrants, mainly Spanish settlers. Of prime importance in the settlement was digging acequias—irrigation ditches—which the Spanish for generations had fine tuned into an art. By the next century, droughts, such as in 1877, caused the river flow to disappear. The river seemed doomed but bounced back. In its prime, while never broad and rushing, it flowed gently through town, albeit at less than 20 feet across and rarely more than 15 feet deep.

River-driven industry made the banks a random mix of stone and brick basement foundations of structures fronting on streets above. The patchwork would enhance the character of the future River Walk. River beautification calls and a river park were planned after the 1887 drought. By 1900, only runoff from the wells of two breweries kept water in the river. The original river park, against many odds, was dedicated in 1914. Businessmen tested its appeal with tentative results. However, in 1919, Architectural Record wrote that San Antonio succeeded in its attempt to “make the most of it.”

A flood in 1921 restored the river, although with damaging results. A dam was built in 1926. Hugman, who was only starting out, had a plan called Romula, inspired by “the old cities of Spain,” the bending canals and water gardens of Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, and the twisting rockwork of the post-World War I Japanese Sunken Gardens. His plan, however, was blasted as an “idle dream.”

Along the River Walk is La Villita, “The Little Village,” part of the original Mexican San Antonio. An attraction in La Villita is Arneson River Theater, an open-air venue erected in 1939 and designed by Hugman. The stage is on the north side of river and the audience sits on the grass-covered steps on the south side. Periodically, river taxis float by between audience and stage. It is located in the shadow of the Hilton Palacio Del Rio hotel.

Crown jewel of Texas
Hugman’s plan was revised after the 1936 Fiesta and the term “Romula” dropped, but the River Walk was indeed promoted as the “Venice of America.” Hugman’s plan was to transform the old river park by adding a few blocks, replace walls lining the river with terraced, stone banks, incorporate shops and restaurants, have canal boats, and build stone bridges and staircases. Hugman’s most dramatic feature, with engineering input from Edwin Arneson, was the outdoor theater. Understated design was paramount. Said Hugman: “I’ll die if it looks like Hollywood.”

In all, the completed River Walk was 21 blocks or 8,500 feet of riverbank with 17,000 feet of sidewalks; 11,000 cubic yards of masonry; 31 stairways; 3 dams; 40,000 trees, shrubs, and plants; and a vast number of stone, cement, and cedar benches. The final cost was $442,900. Fifty thousand people lined the River Walk on April 21, 1941, for the dedication.

By the mid-1960s, the River Walk underwent enhancements, chief of which was River Square, a complex of new and restored buildings, including La Villita. By the end of the decade, a new 1,650-foot, four-foot deep River Walk extension was created. Because land and funds were scarce, the extension had to follow a straight course. It was dug 26 feet beneath the street and cut through the rear of sites of newly razed buildings to reach a lagoon enfolded by the Convention Center.

Preserve the River Walk
Hugman was honored in 1970, at a ceremony held by AIA San Antonio. A few years later, he wrote: “Lasting good taste, beauty, quiet dignity, satisfying aesthetics, and good food are the things which will perpetuate the river. Please do not allow these river assets to be eroded. Once they are gone it is too late.”