Alamo Plaza - Inside the Old Walls

A stop on San Antonio River Walk and the Alamo, a free self-guided tour.

Look around this plaza and picture walls. In 1836 most of what is now Alamo Plaza lay inside the mission's big walled compound, and much of the fighting happened right where you are standing. The church was only one corner of the fort. The Long Barrack, just north of the church, dates back to 1724 and is the oldest building on the site.

The tall marble shaft to the north is the Cenotaph, completed in 1939 by sculptor Pompeo Coppini. A cenotaph is an empty tomb, a monument to people buried elsewhere. Its carved figures honor the defenders.

On the east side of the plaza, the Menger Hotel opened in 1859 and is often called the oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi. On the west side, a row of historic commercial buildings is being turned into the new Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, scheduled to open in 2028. Ask the kids to guess where the old walls ran and where they would have stood guard.

Getting here: Walk south across the plaza to the corner by the Menger Hotel, next to the Alamo grounds.

Did you know?: On March 16, 1960, the Woolworth store on the west side of this plaza was one of seven San Antonio lunch counters that desegregated peacefully on the same day, weeks after the Greensboro sit-ins. The building was spared from demolition in 2021.

Photo op: Frame the Cenotaph with the Alamo church beside it from the south end of the plaza.

More on Wikipedia: Alamo Plaza Historic District · Alamo Cenotaph · Menger Hotel · Pompeo Coppini

Alamo Plaza - Inside the Old Walls

Stops on this tour