What are Cultural Heritage Districts?
A cultural heritage district represents a collection of tangible and intangible resources that contribute to a community’s sense of place and cultural identity. Cultural significance is evaluated by identifying and assessing heritage values associated with a site and themes associated with social, ethnic, and culinary traditions. By recognizing and authenticating places of cultural significance in our city as cultural heritage districts, we help to recognize and celebrate our unique and diverse heritage.
The primary benefits of cultural heritage district recognition are promotion and awareness of the history and culture of an area or resource and a close review of potential demolition applications by OHP staff for potential landmark designation.
Cultural Heritage Districts
San Antonio has designated four Cultural Heritage Districts, and one more is in progress.
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An identified historic context for the Jefferson Heights neighborhood incorporates the historic theme of African American residential occupation and the civil rights movement in San Antonio. The architectural period of significance is from the earliest plat date of 1919 to 1930.
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The Enrique Barrera Parkway has a heritage dating back to the original Spanish expedition routes. Also known as Old Highway 90, the corridor has a long history as an economically important route. Known in the 19th century as the San Antonio – El Paso road, the Lower Immigrant Road and the Lower Military Road, the trade route carried mail, freight and passengers by horse and wagon from San Antonio to West Texas. It has remained a vibrant, economically based route over the centuries. Today it continues to be a commercial corridor featuring small family-owned businesses that evoke a sense of small town America. Its musical heritage and small business heritage, in particular, stand out as two of the most important influences of the corridor. Moreover, both of these forms of living heritage connect the area to the national history of Highway 90.
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Jane Warren (b.1825 in Alabama) was a former slave, and matriarch of the Hockley-Freeman- Clay family. She received the deed to the first fifty seven acres of her land in 1873, and later dedicated 1.26 acres “…to be used as a burying ground and graveyard and a road leading to same…” Records verify burials as early as 1908. A number of other black families joined the Hockleys in buying and occupying land in the area. By 1900 the U.S. Census rolls recorded more than one hundred blacks near Jane Warren’s property and the Cibolo Creek to the north. The dedication of land by black citizens for two “colored schools”, two “colored churches”, and three cemeteries, formed the civic core of an extended rural black enclave. Members of the Ellis Griffin family, to the south, and the Dan Winters family, to the north, intermarried into the Hockley family. Members of the Demp Clay family, from the Floresville area, also married into the extended family. The enclave is one example of at least twelve black settlements in Bexar County that originated more than one hundred years ago. The cemetery remains as one of the last original components of a 19th century historic black settlement currently within the San Antonio city limits. This type of cultural resource is extremely rare in a major Texas or American city. The Hockley heirs sold most of the land in 1975, except for the cemetery. Easter Jane Hock-ley Clay (1880 - 1982) resided on the property until its sale in 1975. Burials continued into the 1970’s. In 1980 the Lloyd A. Denton company filed a plat for subdivision of Northern Hills Unit 13 into residential lots north of Uhr Lane. The plat specifically labeled the old Hockley property and easement access as “cemetery”, and arranged the new residential lots around the original cemetery boundary and access.
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The Silk Road Cultural Heritage District (SRCHD) recognizes the many cultures and communities whose roots stem from North and Central Africa to Eastern Asia that shop, live, and interact within a geographic cluster in northwestern San Antonio. The linear core of the SRCHD consists of the homes, businesses, organizations, and institutions with cultural significance to culturally diverse communities along Wurzbach Road. The SRCHD is roughly bounded by Fredericksburg Road to the west and I-10 to the east. Clusters of additional sites are found within a mile radius of the core. The proposed name for the district is a reference to the historic Silk Road which consisted of a series of trade routes that extended over thousands of miles interconnecting the Mediterranean Basin with East Asia that allowed for the sharing of commerce, cultures, and belief systems. These routes were named in the English language after silk, one of the most iconic products that made it halfway across the world for centuries.
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The Office of Historic Preservation is currently preparing the nomination of the Pride Cultural Heritage District. The core of the proposed district is centered along North Main Avenue between E Maple Street and W Ashby Place. By recognizing the history, changing landscape, and current living heritage in the North Main Avenue Corridor and beyond, the OHP seeks to grant greater recognition of the LGTBQ+ serving places that have been in San Antonio for a long time. OHP Staff is currently compiling data, seeking community feedback, and preparing recommendations. The community meetings provide a space for active listening. The OHP has been in contact with community leaders, academics, and stakeholders as well, as part of creating the district.
