In mid-May a second army map (Plan of the Quarter Master's Depot, The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, May 24, 1849, records of the office of the quartermaster general, record group 92, copy on file at the DRT Library, the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas) was made showing the stables against the east wall of the Long Barracks and a second stable along the line of the old east wall of the north courtyard, a wall line no longer marked on the map. These stables extended north and east across the property line onto Samuel Maverick's land, indicating the army was already leasing this property from Maverick, although no official arrangement is mentioned before October 1851.

Captain Ralston was relieved December 17, 1848, by Captain M. S. Miller who assumed the duties of assistant quartermaster (Young ca. 1970s:39). In March 1848, the chief assistant quartermaster was Major E. B. Babbitt. Major Babbitt received permission from the army early in 1850 to proceed with plans to roof the church building. By mid-May he reported "I am now about to cover the Alamo Church" (Young ca. 1970s:61), and said he had delayed until the question of who actually owned the land--the Catholic church, the city of San Antonio, or the federal government--was reasonably settled. The new top of the facade of the church building was designed by architect John Fries (Steinfeldt 1978:28); the whole renovation was probably completed by 1851.

By October 1851, as stated above, the army had officially leased the property from the east edge of the old courtyard complex to the acequia from the Maverick family (Fox et al. 1976:18). At about the same time, old Rivas Street in downtown San Antonio was extended eastward to the San Antonio River, where a bridge was built connecting it with old Paseo Street on the west side of Alamo Plaza; Paseo Street was extended eastward across Alamo Plaza and the north end of the Long Barracks to the acequia. Both streets were then renamed Houston Street (Heusinger 1951:25). The result was that the army lost its corrals and stables north of Houston Street, which undoubtedly prompted further additions to the structures within the courtyard complex, producing a series of stables and sheds laid out around an inner yard or patio approximately equivalent to the present north courtyard (A. Koch, 1873, Bird's Eye View of the City of San Antonio. Map, copy on file at the DRT Library, the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas).

Later, during the Civil War, the Alamo became a Confederate Army depot, then reverted to the U.S. Army at the end of the war. The army relinquished the property to the Catholic church in late 1877. On November 30, 1877, the Alamo buildings were purchased from the church by Honore Grenet who immediately began the work of converting the old convento buildings into a store and warehouse (BCDR Vol.7:373).

Grenet removed the roof built by the army and tore down all the walls and floors east of the facade facing onto Alamo Plaza. On the south side he tore down the northern third of the sacristy of the Alamo church and several other walls of the church which extended across his property line. He added an eastward extension to the stone facade along Houston Street, which made the building about 55 ft wide east to west (Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, Ltd. 1885, copy on file at the DRT Library, the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas).The facades to the west, north, and south had wooden galleries added, and the new line of the east wall was built of wood. Apparently the old army stables and sheds in the courtyard complex were incorporated into this new building complex and continued to be used (Colquitt 1913:104, 140). Gateways opened to the north onto Houston Street, south onto Alamo Plaza, and east into a smaller area in front of a line of hay sheds and produce storage buildings, some of which were probably also originally built by the army (Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, Ltd. 1885). Major changes to the convento building were completed by 1878.

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