Happy New Year! Join us in a look back at 2021 as ScoutSA celebrates another year of discovery and exploration of San Antonio’s special places, people, and traditions!

Edgar Velásquez Reynald joined us during his final semester at St. Mary’s University in 2021. He recently completed a fellowship with the Smithsonian’s Latino Museum Studies Program. Edgar is currently pursuing his PhD in History at Southern Methodist University.

In January 1971, construction began on Alpha Tau Omega’s Roseville Apartments, an affordable housing project on San Antonio’s Eastside designed by Norcell Haywood and funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The sorority, a local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, continues to run the apartment complex, which provides senior citizens with housing and programs to enhance their lives.

Norcell Dan Haywood, the first licensed Black architect in San Antonio, shaped our city’s modern aesthetic. He designed community spaces for our historically Black Eastside such as churches, libraries, and community centers, and believed “[Minority architects] should be able to beneficially serve their profession and community at the same time without having to serve one at the expense of the other.”

Artemisia Bowden was dean and President Emeritus of St. Philip’s College. She served the school from 1902 until her retirement in 1954 and was canonized by the Episcopal Church for her work in education. In addition to her work with St. Philip’s, Bowden was an active community advocate for San Antonio’s and Texas’ African American residents. Get to know this important civic leader and educator!

2020 was the longest, shortest year. Have you heard this phrase before? When time passes incredibly slowly, but somehow it’s already a new year? It feels like we just published our 2019 year-in-review post, but here we are: it’s already February 2021, and we haven’t reported back to you all ScoutSA learned and shared in 2020.

Alicia joined us during her last semester in the Public History program at St. Mary's University. As we transitioned to remote work in March, she demonstrated resilience and professionalism at every turn. We wish her the best in her next adventure!

As we count down to 2020, we in ScoutSA—the designation, survey, and assessment arm of the Office of Historic Preservation—decided to take some time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished in the last 12 months.

ScoutSA Intern Angela Gallegos spent several months at OHP working on an innovative project about a unique architectural expression found in many of San Antonio’s historic neighborhoods. Craftsman bungalows can be spotted from Alta Vista to Highland Park, Denver Heights to East French Place. These homes represent a period of rapid residential growth in San Antonio’s early suburbs. Sprinkled throughout these developments are some exceptional properties with unusual features that seem to have been influenced by Asian designs. How did these bungalows come to exist in San Antonio?