San Antonio on Wheels: The Alamo City Learns to Drive Book

This book documents in 107 photographs--most published for the first time--and in newly uncovered details the dramatic transition of the San Antonio region to modern transportation. Horseless carriages came to San Antonio to stay in 1899. Mechanized transport including bicycles revolutionized the way things moved in the largest city in Texas, though it took a little practice. Following a series of mishaps, in 1910 city council adopted a formal set of driving rules. The speed limit was set at 8 miles per hour within one mile of San Fernando Cathedral and at 15 miles per hour beyond that. San Antonio had always been dependent on horses, oxen and mules. The story unfolds as bicycles and then horseless carriages transformed the way people moved around, both in general transport and for recreation. There are rare photos of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century bicycle racer on a wooden track in Brackenridge Park and of auto races on the grounds of the International Fair. Also portrayed is the evolution of streetcars, fire engines, buses and trucks. Photographs as well as text also portray the struggles of San Antonians to drive beyond, first to neighboring towns like Kerrville and Corpus Christi, then to the rest of the world on a rugged new highway known as the Old Spanish Trail that has since become the general route of Interstate 10.Read More