Texas's 20th Congressional District encompasses over half of San Antonio, parts of Bexar county and the
communities of Leon
Valley, Balcones Heights, and Kirby. The district's
heart is the downtown of San Antonio
which is home to the Alamo,
the Tower of the Americas, La Villita, and the Paseo del
Rio, or Riverwalk. To the southwest lie Lackland Air
Force Base and the now-closed Kelly Air Force base, two of the four bases in
San Antonio that earned the city the moniker
"Militarytown, USA."
As throughout its storied history,
San Antonio continues to be the crossroads
of many different cultures and traditions. From the original Native
American tribes to the Spanish missionaries to the early Mexican republic to
the German settlers to the cowboys of the cattle trails to the grandeur and
majesty of the Old South to the military bases, San Antonio
represents the beautiful
tapestry of the myriad influences and styles of South Texas. Founded in 1718 when Father
Antonio Olivares established the Mission San Antonio de Valero, America's eighth largest city and Texas' most popular tourist destination
sits at the edge of Central and South Texas, at the intersection of the lush,
green Hill Country and the semi-arid, semi-tropical Rio Grande Plain.
San Antonio is positioned atop the Edwards
Aquifer, an underground, natural repository for the groundwater from Central
Texas and one of the world's most amazing ecosystems, which makes life on a
large scale possible for South Texas.
San
Antonio serves as a major conduit for
commerce and people. Located at the intersection of three major highways,
I-10, I-35, and I-37, and a major rail connection, the city brings together the
disparate strands of South Texas and Latin America
at the beginning of the 21st
century as it has in years past. During the late 19th century,
San Antonio was the starting point for the great
cattle drives northward to rail spurs and, ultimately, to the stockyards of
Chicago.
Considered the birthplace of the
Republic of Texas, San Antonio
is home to the Alamo, the mission where 189 Texans held
off a force of at least 2,500 Mexican troops for 13 days in the first battle for
independence. Although ultimately defeated, Texans used the memory of
that battle to rally and overthrow the Mexican dictator, Santa Ana, at the battle of San Jacinto where
the charging troops cried out, "Remember the Alamo!" The restored Alamo now
serves as the emotional center for San Antonio
and all of the Lone
Star State
as Texans often make the
pilgrimage to San
Antonio to visit this veritable
shrine. Frank Tolbert, a noted Texas
historian and journalist, once
said, "Every Texan has two homes: his own and San
Antonio."
As Texas' most popular tourist destination,
San Antonio
boasts a number of unique
attractions. The Riverwalk's limestone and concrete sidewalks hug
the San Antonio
River
as it bisects the city and are lined with restaurants, rivers, and hotels. Underneath the towering cypresses,
oaks, and willows, tourists stroll along the river towards La Villita, the first
neighborhood of San
Antonio. Home to Spanish and
later German settlers, La Villita was restored in the 1930s and now houses a
vibrant art community. The San Fernando Cathedral was built by Canary Island
settlers in 1731, houses the
diocese of San Antonio, and sits at the geographical
center of the city. Tourists also flock to Market Square
(El Mercado), the largest
Mexican marketplace outside of Mexico
where numerous shops sell
goods and products indigenous to the region.
The 20th district can
proudly boast of its storied military tradition as it is home to our nation's
first military aviation base, Kelly, which later became an Air Force Base until it was closed in 2001. Lackland AFB, "The Gateway to the Air Force,"
still serves as the only basic training site for the Air Force, however, so San Antonio experiences an influx of new recruits every six weeks.
Moreover, many veterans have retired to San
Antonio which has further deepened the
city's military heritage.
Not a city content to rely on its
rich historical and cultural legacies, San
Antonio is moving to embrace the 21st
century global economy. At Toyota's
light-truck factory, opened south of the city in 2003, nearly 2,000 people turn out hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year. Home to SBC and Clear Channel, San
Antonio also has a presence in two cutting
edge, high-tech fields. USAA, which also calls the 20th District home, is one of America's largest and most diverse
financial services companies.
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