Situated in South Central Texas, San Antonio combines a long Mexican heritage and later immigrants with rapid recent development that has made it one of America’s ten largest cities, passing Dallas by 2000. Hence, the “Fiesta City” illustrates multiple fractures of border and global relations.

Mission churches shaped San Antonio’s eighteenth-century foundation, the best known of which is the Alamo, site of an iconic battle in the American Texans war against Mexico, now a shrine in the center city. A large Mexican American population nonetheless still shapes the city its festivals and even recent architecture like Legorreta’s vivid public library. Author Sandra Cisneros, however, has fought authorities to paint her house in colors she feels true to a Mexican spirit.

Other settlers included Germans and Anglo-Americans. Military development, livestock and service industries have all spurred growth, bringing problems of ethnic and class antagonism, gangs and gated communities. The city gained national attention in 1999 through its NBA championship basketball team, the Spurs. Yet the heart of a livable downtown remains the charming Paseo del Rio, a WPA project that offers walkways, restaurants and other amenities along the bends of the San Antonio River.