Kid-Friendly Parks in San Antonio – San Pedro Springs Park | Evans Road CBD Store

2200 N Flores, San Antonio, TX 78212, United States

You can find San Pedro Springs Park in the Bexar County city of San Antonio, Texas. The 46-acre park surrounds the source of the springs and is the oldest in Texas county. It is the location of an Indian Payayaya village known as Yanaguana, and is San Antonio’s original site. Alternatively the park is known as San Pedro Park. In 1965, the park was designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. On November 1, 1979, it was added to the listings for the National Register of Historic Places in Bexar County, Texas.

San Pedro Springs Park is the nation’s second-oldest, and San Antonio’s oldest. As there is a natural source of water in the park, it is said this is the reason why settlers have been attracted to the area. This also includes the San Pedro Playhouse, a basketball court and a library.

Archaeological studies have uncovered evidence of 12,000 years of human activity in the region. The earliest known spring dwellers were the Payayaya Indians, who named their village Yanaguana. The first European contact with the region, a military expedition in 1691, was led by the Spanish Franciscan priest Damián Massanet. In 1709 the Spanish Franciscan missionary Isidro de Espinosa came to the region with a retinue of Spanish soldiers. Espinoza mentioned the springs in detail in his journal, and noted that they called it Agua de San Pedro (Saint Peter’s Waters).

Based on the original Spanish land grant, the park’s boundaries were established in 1851 by the town of San Antonio’s first surveyor Francois P. Giraud. In 1852, the town formally proclaimed it a public park, making it the oldest park in Texas state. U.S. By 1856 There were camel stables at the site of the Camel Corps. Sam Houston stopped here in 1860 to give a two-hour speech criticizing the proposed US Texas secession. The park was used as a prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. After the Civil War the park was used as a military camp by Buffalo Soldiers.

Swiss landscape designer John J. Duerler rented land adjacent to the park, and reached an agreement with the city in 1864 to restructure the park. The park was designed by Duerler with landscaping, a greenhouse, picnic areas, a zoo and aviary, a music pavilion, and even a racetrack. In 1885 the naturalist Gustave Jermy opened the Natural History Museum in the Park.

Park services include a gazebo, swimming pool, showers, softball and tennis courts, a park, a skate plaza, the San Pedro Library and the Playhouse of San Pedro.