For the last several days I have been in San Antonio to attend a family wedding. The wedding itself was lovely and it was nice to see my siblings, their spouses, and their offspring. We all live in different cities and there is no longer a focal point as there was when my mom was still alive. Despite remaining close emotionally we don’t see each other that often these days.
My family is growing—most of my nieces and nephews have children of their own now, ranging in age from newborns to two. I suspect actually hope that this will be the last family wedding for a while. Stable marriages are sort of a tradition in my family—there have been two divorces in the last century and that includes not just my great-great-grandparents but all of their children and their children’s children. While it’s possible I’ll live to see another family wedding I doubt I’ll feel like traveling to one.
I am the eldest living member of my family. We’re getting old. Oddly, despite my age I’m probably the most active of my generation and I am one of only two (me and the spouse of one of my siblings) still working. I probably walk as much in a day as my mom did at my age in a month.
It has been some time since I’ve been in San Antonio. It is much changed but much the same. It struck me as a city of contradictions.
It is now the seventh largest city in the U. S.—almost as populous as Chicago. It doesn’t really look it. Here’s an example of the contradictions. In San Antonio’s downtown nearly every other building is either a hotel or a parking structure for a hotel. Banks and office buildings have been converted to hotels. Just three or four blocks from town center I saw a completely vacant lovely old Beaux Arts office building. Across the street from my hotel was a Sons of Hermann Hall. If you’re not familiar with it, the Sons of Hermann is a mutual aid society for German immigrants. We generally don’t think of Texas as being a locus for German immigration but it was back at the turn of the 20th century. Now the Sons of Hermann is basically an insurance company.
My impression is that San Antonio’s economy is in transition from what it was to technology, particularly biotech, which I suspect is true in many of Texas’s major cities. The need for large downtown areas is much reduced, particularly now with WFH taking hold. I didn’t have the time to do a lot of exploring but I suspect the level of sprawl is formidable. At the rate that Texas’s population is growing I wouldn’t be surprised if there were to be what amounts to a continuous suburb running from Dallas-Fort Worth all the way to San Antonio.
It will extend north, too. Oklahoma here we come!
“At the rate that Texas’s population is growing I wouldn’t be surprised if there were to be what amounts to a continuous suburb running from Dallas-Fort Worth all the way to San Antonio.”
That’s an interesting comment. Several years ago I was convinced Naples/Bonita Springs/Ft Myers would similarly hookup with Sarasota. It hasn’t happened. Rather, each is going east, which is not nearly as attractive. I don’t think the answer is preservation considerations. Oddly, east to the Everglades is protected, and where they are pulling pythons from overpopulated swamps.
I think it’s more likely to expand eastward into Arkansas and/or Louisiana than northward into Oklahoma for jurisidictional reasons.
I lived in San Antonio for almost four years back in the mid-oughts. It is definitely sprawl, as is the case with most “newer” cities in an age of sclerotic zoning combined with room to expand.
DFH is pretty far – almost 300 miles – so I doubt that will grow into one big suburb, but the corridor between Austin and San Antonio is getting there, especially with the massive growth in Austin.
There is a LOT of German history in that area – just look at the names of nearby towns. And, of course, the beer.
Living in Texas and San Antonio was nicer than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed the hill country (north of the city) which provided easy access to nature. But the climate was still not to my taste – too hot and humid along with an abundance of aggressive insects which sent me to the hospital at one point.
Did TDY there for 3 months. Liked it. Liked a lot about Texas, except for the Texans. Even that would be OK if you could get them to stop talking about how Texas is the only place worth living. Almost as bad as New Yorkers and on par with Californians in my estimate. Definitely sprawl back then. Lots of driving.
Steve
I found Texans to be very friendly but yeah, they are partisans for their state.
One great thing was (and perhaps still is), Texas drivers. Not that they are better drivers, but I found them to be generally very nice. It’s very common on rural roads, for example, for people to move to the shoulder to let you pass. That’s the only place I’ve seen that beside Mexico (there they use turn signals to indicate it’s safe to pass).
@Janis Gore
Are you a Texas gal again? I miss you and hope all is well.