The Where I Live series aims to showcase our diverse city and region by spotlighting its many vibrant neighborhoods. Each week a local resident invites us over and lets us in on what makes their neighborhood special. Have we been to your neighborhood yet? Get in touch to share your story. If your story is selected and published, you will receive a $250 stipend.
“I’ve driven down Highway 90 hundreds of times and never knew this community was here.”
That is arguably one of the most memorable lines a councilmember once said during my decade of community advocacy.
Nestled between Lackland Air Force Base’s runway to the west, Union Pacific’s railroad tracks to the east, and Port San Antonio to the south, is the forgotten Thompson Community.
It is a community that, surprisingly, many San Antonians have a connection to once they’re reminded it exists. Over the years, I’ve heard business owners and local journalists share memories of their time in Thompson. Whether they had or still have family in the neighborhood, visited friends, or played at the famous Funtown USA sports and game complex back in the day, it’s always funny to me how so many are connected to this place I call home, and have their own stories to tell.
When I first wrote about Thompson Community in 2021, I was a vice president of the neighborhood association, still learning the ropes of leadership and advocacy. I had so much to learn about the history of the community, the responsibility and weight of effective leadership and stewardship, and how to be both a good neighbor and a neighborhood statesman. In 2025, I officially became president of the Thompson Neighborhood Association, one of the most active neighborhood associations in District 5.
Thompson Community has quietly played its part in San Antonio’s history since its creation. It began as farmland for the Van de Walle family, one of the first Belgian families who settled in San Antonio. Neighbors remember the days when they could smell the aroma of fresh vegetables cooking that would become Pace Picante Sauce. To this day, you can find properties in Thompson with massive yards and original cisterns from the days when yards were for growing crops.
Kelly Air Force Base was once the crown jewel of Thompson. It created a comfortable middle class for many families, many of whom were able to afford to send their children to college. But beyond training thousands of men to defend the skies during World War I and serving as a logistical hub, it provided Thompson and the West Side a forward-thinking commander. What we refer to as Gen. McMullen Road was barely more than a farm road that began at Kelly and stretched into the West Side. Major General Clements McMullen, whom the road is named after, advocated for the city to construct a major road that would support both the Air Force’s mission and future development of the West Side.
Now that road is the corridor for San Antonio’s tech sector. Since 2021, Port San Antonio completed the innovation center, now known as The Boeing Center at Tech Port. It hosts conferences, concerts, and e-sports competitions for schools around Texas and beyond. And soon, it will be the springboard to humanity’s eventual return and colonization of the moon. A giant leap from what used to be land used to grow onions and tomatoes for salsa.
From the first high school named after a living president, to Pope John Paul II and space shuttles landing in our backyard, Thompson quietly trekked through San Antonio history without much fanfare. But no community, no matter how quiet or tranquil, can escape history without a few moments that force it to reflect and transform.
Of the most memorable events, the closing of Kelly AFB is by far the most tragic and destructive to Thompson. As an advocate, I use it as an example of the lack of meaningful economic development since the 1990s. In the mid-2000s, when the levees broke and thousands were left homeless after Hurricane Katrina, many refugees found safety at Port San Antonio. While many families chose to head back home to rebuild, some remained in San Antonio and now call Thompson their home. And most recently, as public education’s future travels an unknown path, I watched as my former elementary school, Winston Elementary, became another empty building in a community with one too many. Though it is far from the original school building I attended in the 1990s, watching it sit empty is a painful reminder of the importance of advocacy and protecting community institutions.
It’s these moments of history, both good and not so good, that make me proud to lead this community as its president. While we may not have all the modern amenities of more affluent neighborhoods, we are a proud and resilient community that isn’t afraid to remind people we’re still here. A fact that was proven recently after Thompson residents fought against the Concepcion Drainage Creek Project that would have displaced more than 150 legacy homes.
While economic progress is slow, I’m glad to see signs of life returning to Thompson. Soon San Antonians will return to Funtown with a new, modern vision. New homes and housing developments are on the horizon. And air taxis will eventually fly over San Antonio thanks to research and development happening at Port San Antonio.
This October, Thompson will host its annual San Antonio Neighbors Together event, one of the largest held in District 5 and the cornerstone of community pride for our neighborhood. It serves not only as a celebration of community unity, but as a loud reminder to the city of San Antonio that we’re still here.
