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San Pedro Creek has been a place of natural beauty and human occupation for thousands of years. Our community originated on the banks of San Pedro Creek on May 5, 1718. Three hundred years later, San Pedro Creek will experience a milestone anniversary with a renewed purpose as a world-class linear park.
Located on the western edge of downtown San Antonio, the first segment of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park – stretching from the flood tunnel inlet at North Santa Rosa Street near Fox Tech High School to Houston Street – will open to the public on May 5.
The vision for the San Pedro Creek Culture Park was to create a park where local citizens and visitors could learn and appreciate the roots of local heritage and culture. The culturally meaningful endeavor transforms San Pedro Creek into a space for San Antonio families to create and share memories for generations to come, while connecting the past with the future. This vision is being realized with the opening of the first segment of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park.
Over the course of the last 300 years, San Pedro Creek became the site where a convergence of civilizations in our community took root and evolved into where we live today. The new San Pedro Creek Culture Park will capture the legacy of the waterway and its vital role in our history through a series of architectural features, murals, art designs, interpretive signage, historic preservation, ecosystem restoration, and native landscaping.
The interpretive signs along the creek’s banks will highlight the rich and colorful story of San Pedro Creek’s history, the cultural identity it has helped create along its banks and the traditions of the community through which it flows. From prehistoric habitation by indigenous people more than 12,000 years ago to a residential boom in the 1850s to a series of catastrophic floods during the 1900s that caused the natural creek to be engineered out of existence – a walk through the San Pedro Creek Culture Park serves as a journey through the past with a look to the future.
In addition to signage that tells the story of the sacred creek, the San Pedro Creek Culture Park encompasses several historical features. Before construction began, the San Antonio River Authority commissioned a culture resources survey to identify archaeological and historical sites that may be impacted.
The study revealed many significant features along the creek, including 1,800 linear feet of historic wall that construction crews stabilized, preserved, and encompassed into the project. A circular stone structure built of rough, dry-stacked pieces of limestone was also uncovered near Menger Soap Works, surrounded by artifacts including bottles, pottery, and metal fragments that dated to the late 1800s and early 1900s. While its original use is unknown, the structure was stabilized and preserved through encasement in mortared stonework.
The new chapter and vision for San Pedro Creek was made possible by a partnership between Bexar County and the San Antonio River Authority, in coordination with the City of San Antonio.
The San Pedro Creek Culture Park will encompass a total of four phases, with three segments in Phase 1. With the first segment of Phase 1 one complete, the second segment – from Houston Street to Nueva Street – is currently under construction.
San Pedro Creek Culture Park – Phase 1, Segment 1 Grand Opening
Stroll the banks of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park and experience culture, art, and nature during the grand opening of the first segment on May 5.
The grand opening event is free and open to the public and will incorporate family-friendly fun lining the banks of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park from noon to 9 p.m., including food trucks, live music, children’s activities, and historical presentations, and an evening illumination ceremony beginning at 7:30 p.m., presented by Bexar County.
Performances will include a special presentation by the Canary Islands Descendants Association; the Burbank High School mariachi band, Mariachi Estrellas de Oro; Musical Bridges Around the World; Classical Musical Institute; performances by the American Indians in Texas; Olè Flamenco; and Heart of Texas Band featuring music by their guest composer, Mr. Carlos Pellicer, from Valencia, Spain, who has written a piece to commemorate our community’s 300th anniversary. San Pedro Creek Culture Park will be the premiere performance.
For more information about the San Pedro Creek Culture Park and grand opening details, click here.
