World Class
Fifty years ago, Hemisfair brought The World to San Antonio
San Antonio is defined by its people and the stories they share. Neighborhoods, art and architecture help tell those stories. San Antonio’s shared cultural and geographic ties with Mexico, the indigenous tribes and Spanish missionaries who colonized the area, and generations of immigrants predate the city’s 1718 founding and shape its unique identity.
Now in its tricentennial year, San Antonio has a rare opportunity to reexamine historic milestones including HemisFair, the site of the 1968 World’s Fair, an event that established the city’s now $13 billion tourism industry and transformed its landscape and celebrated its international connections.
“I don’t think those connections ever left,” says Maria Berriozabal, a San Antonio activist who credits her time as a HemisFair employee, from 1965 to 1968, with inspiring her political career. “They’re what makes us a hospitable city, a friendly city, a soft city.”
Today, a modernized HemisFair offers 40 acres of green space, parks and mixed-use developments that bring people to work, shop, eat, live and play in downtown San Antonio, but the original installation was aimed at boosting the local economy and commemorating the city’s 250th anniversary. Developed by local business leaders and championed by U.S. Rep. Henry B. González, HemisFair grew from a shared idea to a citywide project in 1965, when the city was officially selected to host the 1968 World’s Fair.
The World’s Fair theme, “Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas,” meant to highlight the city’s close ties with Latin America and position the area as a site that would bridge cultural gaps through technology and innovation. The city’s identity shifted to marry its rich history with a promising future.
“The most important year in the history of San Antonio, even more so than 1845 or 1718, was 1968,” says Tom Frost, chairman emeritus of Frost Bank, who helped oversee the HemisFair development from the outset. “HemisFair is what put us on the map, especially in the hospitality and tourism industries.”
Local leaders like William “Bill” R. Sinkin, H. B. Zachry and Frost worked with city officials to select 92 acres of land, located just south of down- town, as the future home of HemisFair.
However, the tract slated for construction happened to include Germantown, a neighborhood that was home to many African-American families. Named for its immigrant founders, who arrived to San Antonio in the mid-to-late 19th century, the area also included historic buildings and homes. A handful of the historic structures were saved, but residents were eventually forced to relocate before construction began.
City leaders were able to secure $156 million in federal and local funds to develop a number of structures, including the Texas State Pavilion, the present-day Institute of Texan Cultures (ITC), the U.S. Pavilion, the present-day John H. Wood Federal Courthouse, and the fair’s architectural centerpiece, the Tower of the Americas.
The development also helped to spur construction for the Hilton Palacio del Rio, which Zachry built in a headline-grabbing 202 days, and extended the Riverwalk east to become a tourist and business friendly area. The structural changes and progressive efforts taking in place in San Antonio were echoed by major cities across the country.
“Through HemisFair, I learned about the different parts of my city,” Berriozabal says, “and I was able to meet with elected officials throughout the country and from countries around the world.” Despite the groundbreaking work that led up to the fair, there were few visible reminders of the changes taking place outside the office buildings.
Left A wall of lanterns at Luminaria in HemisFair Park. Right Visitors silhouetted against a glowing Texas flag.
Crowds gathered for HemisFair’s grand opening, on April 6, 1968, just two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Despite the country’s somber political mood and heavy security for dignitaries on opening day, there was widespread excitement for the World’s Fair.
Opening-day visitors eagerly lined up to ride the mini-monorail, view the educational exhibits and artwork on loan from 33 nations including Mexico, Spain, France, Japan and Italy. Crowds flooded through the corporate pavilions, sponsored by the likes of General Electric and Coca-Cola, before moving onto the national cultural pavilions for international food, dance and eclectic musical performances.
“There was so much excitement and so many people,” Berriozabal says. “My family and I went countless times after church on Sunday afternoons to ride the monorail, to see different exhibits and eat the different foods. For me, there was so much to learn from places I’d never known before. I felt such pride seeing Los Voladores de Papantla, ‘The Flying Indians,’ as they flew through the air.”
Even with public enthusiasm and support, HemisFair was plagued by financial troubles from the start. Just weeks after its opening, the World’s Fair ran out of funds and threatened to halt the event. In response to the financial emergency, Frost quickly secured a bank loan and raised the $3 million needed to continue the fair and its events.
“Launching the tourism industry required everything the city had,” Frost says. “It required every political element and the business community, who underwrote the loan, and those employees working in the hospitality industry.”
Fair employees and visitors also dealt with ride and elevator breakdowns, hot Texas weather, power failures and a monorail accident, which killed one Missouri tourist and injured dozens more. Despite the logistical issues, the fair remained a popular family destination from spring to early fall.
Though HemisFair brought more than 6 million visitors and international coverage to San Antonio, attendance fell short of leadership’s expectations. The fair recorded an $8.5 million loss, but it also launched San Antonio’s tourism and hospitality industries.
“Ultimately, HemisFair was a success,” Frost says. “It showed that when we, as a city, work together, we know how to make things happen.”
The event cemented San Antonio as a place of industry and international interest, but for many residents, daily life remained unchanged. For Berriozabal, HemisFair was a positive, if not temporary, experience for most of the city.
“Fifty years later, people still want to know, ‘Did HemisFair have a meaningful, immediate impact on its employees’ lives, politics and careers?’” Berriozabal says. “For Mexican- Americans, the answer is generally ‘no.’ There was no change for our barrios, or for our lives, but we were lucky to be taken out of our world and see something really big for a little while.”
Because of the fair’s financial losses, HemisFair leaders were unable to purchase any of the international art pieces on loan and soon returned the works to their respective nations. Without permanent art pieces or a clear context for the area’s architecture, there was little evidence the event had taken place. The city eventually installed a fence around HemisFair, while parcels of land were gradually incorporated into new developments like the Convention Center, city and county office buildings and an expansion of the ITC. For several decades, the grounds remained largely inaccessible to the public.
Nearly a dozen master plans were developed for the park over the years, but they never found funding support, says Andres Andujar, CEO of Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corporation (HPARC), the organization behind the revitalization.
TOWER OF THE AMERICAS The iconic building, designed by architect O’Neil Ford for the 1968 World’s Fair, stands at 750 feet tall and provides visitors with a unique view of downtown San Antonio.
Calls to improve HemisFair Park emerged in the early years of the 21st century, when former Mayor Phil Hardberger approved ongoing study efforts for park redevelopment. Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro followed suit when he designated $30 million in bond funding toward the project and area improvements, part of his “Decade of Downtown” plan to reactivate the area for residents.
Since 2011, Andujar has led HPARC to collaborate with many local organizations and institutions — the ITC, managed by the University of Texas at San Antonio, the San Antonio Conservation Society, The City of San Antonio’s Office of Historic Preservation and the Texas Historical Commission — to preserve history and inspire multiple generations to engage in San Antonio’s urban core.
“There’s still a sense of pride and accomplishment that the city was able to achieve this impossible task,” Andujar said. “So much planning and investment was required, but the community pulled it off, and I think there was a sense of pride in showcasing our city to the world.”
HemisFair opened Yanaguana Garden, a popular, child-friendly park with green space, murals, plazas and playscapes, to local visitors and families in 2015. Several of the park’s historic buildings and surviving homes have been renovated to house local businesses and restaurants. The first phase of Civic Park, an eight-acre-plus park filled with green space, is expected to open this year, in time for the city’s tricentennial celebrations, with a projected completion date of 2021.
Yanaguana Garden, a green space that features impressive landscape elements, public art and local events, inside the Institute of Texas Cultures on the HemisFair grounds.
“There’s momentum for this transformation,” Andjuar says. “The area is on its way to becoming a great part of the community that will incorporate the great urban parks so critical to making a great city.”
Visitors can experience that transformation during ¡Viva Hemisfair!, a celebration of the park’s 50th anniversary, slated to take place between April 6-8, 2018.
“HemisFair was intended to bring the world to San Antonio, and as we look back 50 years, we want to honor the people of San Antonio and their history,” Andujar says. “They come from all over the world — and honor the locale.”
Designated cultural zones, similar to the 1968 national pavilions, will celebrate San Antonio’s people and their cultural heritage. A maker’s village will allow visitors to test 3-D printers, com- pare the technology of 1968 with present-day reality, and view predictions for future product innovation.
The three day event is among the city’s many historic celebrations planned for 2018, but HemisFair promises to offer an iconic backdrop to the park’s past and present visitors. As the area undergoes rapid redevelopment, there’s been a renewed interest in HemisFair’s people and their stories.
“I don’t think there’s been another time in our history that’s been as marked by change as now,” Berriozabal says. “We’re losing neighborhoods and cultural aspects through gentrification, but I hope that history and those connections don’t disappear. Those stories are what make us, and San Antonio, special.”
