Thousands of people are still coming to see the Texas shrine while construction is happening all around it.
Have you been to Alamo Plaza lately?
If it’s been a little while, here’s a construction update:
- The buildings across the church have been gutted.
- Stones on the Cenotaph are being removed, repaired and replaced.
- The final beam on the new Texas Cavaliers Education Center is now in place.
- Plaza de Valero is now open in front of the Menger Hotel.
- An exhibit in the footprint of where the mission gate once stood is hitting its one-year anniversary, giving visitors more information on how the fort was originally laid out and used.
Alamo Plaza in downtown San Antonio is bustling with construction activity in nearly every direction.
Yet, visitors continue to navigate their way through construction fencing to see this iconic piece of Texas history.
Across from the Alamo Church, the most famous building on the plaza footprint, the historic Crockett Building and Woolworth Building are being connected and transformed into what will become the Alamo Visitor Center and Museum.
“There’s a total of eight galleries,” said Kate Rogers, executive director of the Alamo Trust. “They’re chronological, and so we start at the beginning of the Alamo story, which was actually some 10,000 years ago when the first indigenous people settled this part of the state.”
The projects currently underway in and around Alamo Plaza are part of a mission to tell the full story of what unfolded on the grounds, not just the story of the fallen Alamo Defenders.
“Our goal is to be able to introduce 300 years of history culminating in that 13-day battle,” said Ernesto Rodriguez, Alamo senior curator and historian.
Some of that history also includes what happened near the site long after the 1836 battle, including the historic desegregation of the Woolworth lunch counter in 1960.
The visitor center and museum will include a civil rights exhibit that showcases that moment.
“History is like a tapestry. And if you have one thread missing, it’ll all unravel,” Rodriguez said.
The visitor center and museum will also include the memorable moments in pop culture that highlight the Alamo.
“We’re super excited because we just got Pee Wee’s bike at auction to go inside that gallery,” Rogers said.
The 1985 movie “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” follows the main character on a journey to find his beloved red bicycle in the basement of the Alamo.
Spoiler: The Alamo does not have a basement, and these renovations aren’t adding one — at least not in the way you might think.
“There will be a basement at the Alamo,” Rogers said. “It’ll just be in the visitor center and museum, not under the church.”
The white marble stones of the Cenotaph, which commemorate the fallen Alamo Defenders, are undergoing cleaning, repair and replacement.
So right now, some visitors might see big gaps in the monument.
The new education center behind the church will serve as a central hub for the thousands of students who visit each year. It will also offer distance learning opportunities for those not able to visit.
With all the work happening around the plaza’s most significant structure, there will eventually be work done on the church itself.
Rogers said poor drainage has allowed moisture to seep into the walls of the church, which is eating away at the stones.
“We’re actually going to put a superstructure over the church and then we’re going to very carefully remove the existing roof,” Rogers said. “And then replace the roof again with more modern contemporary material.”
The work will also improve the drainage around the church.
Work on the church roof is expected to last 18 months. During part of that time, Rogers said visitors will not be allowed into the church.
The roof work is expected to be complete at the end of 2027, when the rest of the projects in and around Alamo Plaza are also scheduled to wrap.
The State of Texas is paying $400 million for the renovations. The Alamo Trust is relying on $150 million in private donations to complete the projects, $90 million of which it has already received.
The outdoor exhibits and those located on the Alamo grounds will remain free to access, as will the first floor of the visitor center and museum. The additional floors will require a ticket purchase.
Excavation is also underway in the area that connects Alamo Plaza to the River Walk through the Hyatt Hotel.
That work will lead to the construction of a staircase that creates a clearer connection to an exhibit showcasing the importance of water in the establishment of San Antonio.
As for the burning question, is Ripley’s Believe It or Not staying put across from the Alamo?
“TBD,” Rogers said.
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