Well sorta. The chili was served over the beans.
Military Plaza in San Antonio 1876 -- In the left foreground, the town's famous "chili queens"
operated "chili tables" to nourish visitors of all social classes.
"San Antonio in the nineteenth century is well known for the "Chili Queens" that sold chili con carne from their chili stands at the plaza. An authoritative early account is provided in an article published in the July 1927 issue of Frontier Times Magazine. In the article, San Antonio Commissioner Frank H. Bushick reminisces about the Chili Queens and their origin at Military Plaza before they were moved to Market Square in 1887.
According to Bushick, "The chili stand and chili queens are peculiarities, or unique institutions, of the Alamo City. They started away back there when the Spanish army camped on the plaza. They were started to feed the soldiers. Every class of people in every station of life patronized them in the old days. Some were attracted by the novelty of it, some by the cheapness. A big plate of chili and beans, with a tortilla on the side, cost a dime. A Mexican bootblack and a silk-hatted tourist would line up and eat side by side, [each] unconscious or oblivious of the other."
It was a newspaper writer Joe (?) Cooper that started the "No beans" nonsense. To promote his newly published book, he organized a World Champions Chili cook-off that didn't allow beans ...