Parks Are Good For Latinos
Latino families celebrate birthdays and anniversaries at Brackenridge Park. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Brackenridge Park is Latinos’ Central Park. Weather permitting, Latino families fill the park on most weekends. As the population of the city moves to the Northwest, the park is becoming an extension of the Westside, the area of San Antonio where the majority of Latinos live today. Additionally, here is a link between the preservation of our parks and the continuity of some of our Latino cultural traditions.
I am a member of the Brackenridge Park Conservancy that looks after the park’s well-being. As a historian, I have examined the books and journals that trace the path of the Spanish and Mestizo exploration of Texas and the subsequent origin of the first Latino settlements in San Antonio. The Brackenridge Park site has important historical significance for our Latino community. I am especially interested in preserving the park’s historical and archaeological sites.
Indigenous tribes settled in the surrounding area of the San Antonio River headwaters near the park 12,000 years ago. The first place of exploration and settlements for the Catholic padres and Spanish soldiers was in the land between what is now San Pedro Springs and the headwaters of the San Antonio River. Much of this area is now part of Brackenridge Park. When the Spanish padres arrived at the headwaters of the San Antonio River in 1718, they brought with them three Mexican Indian laborers who built the first version of the Alamo Mission, a small hut not far from the San Antonio River. Floods destroyed that structure and the padres then engaged the tribes of the area for the construction of the new Alamo Mission five miles away. In addition, the Indians dug the water ditches linking the headwaters of the river to adjacent farms and ranches.
The Pump House in the background was built by George Brackenridge’s Water Company. Photo by Ricardo Romo, 2009.
The acequias built by the Indigenous tribes were essential for the planting of agricultural fields that fed the livestock and provided food for Spanish and Indian residents of the newly constructed Alamo Mission. The modern era of Brackenridge Park’s green space and watershed began in 1899 with a generous gift of 320 acres by George Brackenridge.
Going to Brackenridge Park has been a long tradition for my family and for the families of most of our Latino neighbors. Among my mom’s more precious possessions were the photos of her marriage and of her young family.
One day in 1944 when my mom first took me to Brackenridge Park, someone took a photo that I am fortunate my parents saved. I was a young toddler, too young to walk around the park, and frustrated that my older brother was granted the freedom to explore the park’s many trails and pathways. My family never owned a camera, so the photo of my mom with me and my four-year-old brother at Brakenridge Park is indeed special. During my early teens, we returned to the park on hot summer days to go swimming in the San Antonio River that flowed through the park or in the Alazan-Apache creek near our house.
My mom, Alicia Saenz Romo held me while my brother Henry explores the park. Ricardo Romo photo collection.
During my high school and college running days, I went to the park often to train. The park appealed to me and other runners because it offered off-the-road trails where we did not worry about traffic interference. It also offered ample shade from the tall oak, cypress, and pecan trees. On many of my training runs, I was joined by two Black athletes, twin brothers Charlie and Madison from the Eastside.
At that time much of San Antonio was segregated, most notably in housing and hospitality. The twin Grant brothers attended a segregated Catholic school in the Eastside. Finding a friendly and safe place to run was important in those years—sadly we once received death threats at Woodlawn Park.
Brackenridge Park’s inclusiveness over the 20th century lessened the stigma of discrimination and allowed the integration of different racial and ethnic groups. Before World War II most Mexican Americans and Blacks lived in segregated communities east and west of downtown. For the entire century, Brackenridge Park welcomed San Antonians of all colors and creeds. At least until the 1960s when public swimming pools became more prevalent, Mexican Americans swam in Brakenridge’s section of the San Antonio River. Lambert Beach near the Iron Auto bridge was especially popular with Mexican Americans.
An event that gained fame over the last 50 years has been the annual Easter weekend campout at Brackenridge Park. Easter weekend in the park was the busiest of the year with nearly every space by the river and adjacent to the picnic tables occupied. On one occasion when I photographed this special weekend some ten years ago, I met family members who had arrived at the park four to seven days early to reserve their camp spaces.
Brackenridge Park Bridge “Trabajo Rustico” by artisan Dionicio Rodriguez. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
These days, with my running days long behind me, I take brisk walks around the park as often as I can. On most weekends, the park is one of the more popular places for families in San Antonio with children. The amenities of the park include picnic tables, barbeque pits, walking trails, and train rides. The San Antonio Zoo, the Witte Museum, the Japanese Sunken Gardens, and the Sunken Gardens Amphitheater are also located within the confines of the original park designation.
The pandemic crisis has altered our lives in many ways. Work and school routines, for example, are often filled with anxieties. Parks offer a reprieve, a place to get away from crowded venues and a place to enjoy the fresh air while practicing social distancing. Brackenridge Park has no entrance fee and there is no charge for parking.
Barbecuing is a popular activity in the park. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Among the nation’s largest cities, Antonio ranks high in the prevalence of obesity and diabetes. These chronic illnesses, in addition to high blood pressure and heart disease, impact Latino communities significantly. Parks such as Brackenridge Park can contribute to better health. Scottish researchers recently concluded that “Physical health, mental well being, and life satisfaction are all enhanced through access to and use of parks and green spaces.” The researchers also found that “parks create important opportunities for social integration.”
Parks have an important historical and meaningful place in our society. I welcome the opportunity to work for better parks in my community knowing that the benefits are multifold to all parts of the city.
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Copyright 2022 by Ricardo Romo. All photos copyrighted by the author.