San Antonio, Bexar County
In 1709 Franciscan fathers Antonio Olivares and Isidro Espinosa came upon an Indian campsite at the natural springs (1.4 miles north) which form the headwaters of this creek. They named the creek San Pedro and noted the area as a superior site for a settlement. On May 1, 1718, Olivares and Martin de Alarcon, Spanish governor of Coahuila and Texas, founded Mission San Antonio de Valero near here on San Pedro Creek. On May 5, 1718 Alarcon selected a site near San Pedro Springs for a presidio and the founding of Villa de Bejar "at the place called San Antonio." An irrigation canal (acequia) system, began in the 1720s from San Pedro Springs and extending south along the creek, provided water for the families of the first settlers, presidio soldiers, and Canary Island settlers. San Antonio's first streetcar line, which began in 1878, operated from Alamo Plaza to San Pedro Springs, then a popular tourist destination and site of numerous social and cultural events. The San Pedro Springs, creek, and irrigation system played vital roles in the founding and early development of the Spanish presidio and mission settlement and royally decreed municipality which became the city of San Antonio. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995