San Pedro Springs is the name of a cluster of springs in

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Bra ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, U.S.A. These springs provide water for San Pedro Creek, which flows into the

San Antonio River The San Antonio River is a major waterway that originates in central Texas in a cluster of springs in midtown San Antonio, about 4 miles north of downtown, and follows a roughly southeastern path through the state. It eventually feeds into the ...

. The San Antonio Springs also feed into the

Natural history

The San Pedro Springs are located in the Tobin Hill neighborhood of San Antonio, about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Downtown San Antonio. Most of the springs are within

San Pedro Springs Park San Pedro Springs Park is located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. Surrounding the source of the springs, the 46-acre park is the oldest in the state of Texas. It is the location of a Payaya Indian village known ...

, the oldest park in Texas. The springs are fed by water from the

Edwards Aquifer The Edwards Aquifer is one of the most prolific artesian aquifers in the world. Located on the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas, it is the source of drinking water for two million people, and is the primary water su ...

; this water reaches the surface through faults along the

Balcones Escarpment The Balcones Fault or Balcones Fault Zone is an area of largely normal faulting Edwards Aquifer in the U.S. state of Texas that runs roughly from the southwest part of the state near Del Rio to the north-central region near Dallas along Inte ...

. There are 13 primary springs, but they seldom flow due to pumping demands on the Edwards Aquifer. In addition to the association of groundwater availability with this locale along the Balcones Fault, the area is also considered an ecological dividing line for occurrence of some species; for example, the

California Fan Palm ''Washingtonia filifera'', the desert fan palm, California fan palm, or California palm,Flora of North America Association. ''Flora of North America: North of Mexico Volume 22: Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in Part), and Zi ...

, ''

Washingtonia filifera ''Washingtonia filifera'', the desert fan palm, California fan palm, or California palm,Flora of North America Association. ''Flora of North America: North of Mexico Volume 22: Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in Part), and Zi ...

'' occurs only at or west of San Pedro Springs, i.e. Balcones Fault zone.

History

Artifacts from Paleo-Indian cultures have been found at the site of the San Pedro Springs, as well as just downstream at the former site of a small natural

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

. These artifacts indicate that the springs were used more than 12,000 years ago. Later, a band of

Coahuiltecan The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter-gatherers. First encountered by Europ ...

Indians, the

Payaya people The Payaya people were Indigenous people whose territory encompassed the area of present-day San Antonio, Texas. The Payaya were a Coahuiltecan band and are the earliest recorded inhabitants of San Pedro Springs Park, the geographical area that ...

, lived near the springs and called their village '' Yanaguana'' ("place of refreshing waters"). The springs were named by Father

Isidro Félix de Espinosa Isidro Félix de Espinosa (1679–1755) was a Franciscan missionary from New Spain who participated in several expeditionary missions throughout the province of Tejas (modern Texas). He was the president of the missionaries from the College of ...

, a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

, in 1709;''Handbook of Texas Online''. 2008 but some scholars believe

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (; 1488/90/92"Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Núñez (1492?-1559?)." American Eras. Vol. 1: Early American Civilizations and Exploration to 1600. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 50-51. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Decembe ...

may have camped at the springs in 1535. That would make the springs one of the oldest historical sites in North America and the second oldest park in America, behind only

Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...

. In 1718 Governor

Martín de Alarcón Martín de Alarcón was the Governor of Coahuila and Spanish Texas from 1705 until 1708, and again from 1716 until 1719. He founded San Antonio, the first Spanish civilian settlement in Texas. Texas First term Alarcón was first appointed gov ...

established a settlement he called Villa de Béxar near the headwaters of San Pedro Creek, but civilian settlement did not materialize. Also, in 1718, another Spanish missionary,

Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, built a mission nearby the fort at San Pedro Springs that he named San Antonio de Valero. This was the first permanent

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an settlement in San Antonio. San pedro springs 2011

San Pedro Springs Park and Lake, San Antonio, Texas

In the 1730s, an acequia was built to carry water from the springs toward the city for irrigation and household use. By the 1870s, the springs provided water for boating, fishing, and swimming. A municipal swimming pool was built in the park in 1922; it was replaced in 1954 and again in 2000.

References

* 2008. * C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''California Fan Palm: Washingtonia filifera'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
* Roy L. Lehman, Ruth O'Brien, Tammy White. 2005. ''Plants of the Texas Coastal Bend'', Texas A&M University Press, 352 pages , * ''Jesús Francisco de la Teja, Land and Society in 18th Century San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier'', Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1988.

Line notes

External links

* *Map: {{San Antonio Springs of Texas Bodies of water of Bexar County, Texas Geography of San Antonio

Natural history

History

See also

References

Line notes

External links