An archaeological and historical assessment of the Vista Verde South project, San Antonio, Texas

The Vista Verde South project area has borne witness to much of the economic development that has occurred in downtown San Antonio since the early years of Texas' statehood. As with many other areas of San Antonio, economic interests stimulated early development. Following the Civil War, this area became an integral part in San Antonio's flourishing freight hauling and transportation network. By the turn of the 20th century, the area had developed into an ethnically diverse, middle-class neighborhood, while just a few blocks away, San Antonio's infamous Red Light District thrived. The Great Depression of 1929 struck a critical blow to economic development of this area from which it never fully recovered. Economic decline and social change reduced this neighborhood to a "blighted area" within a sprawling metropolitan city by the 1970s. The purpose of the Vista Verde South project is to revitalize 31 city blocks by redevelopment. This report documents the historical, architectural, and archaeological remnants left from roughly 150 years of known occupation in the project area.