Posted on 02/10/2008 11:44:12 AM PST by Racehorse
It's been 100 years since a feisty woman who stood 5-foot-3 began "the second battle of the Alamo."
Adina De Zavala barricaded herself in the Long Barrack, not knowing her three-day protest would save the Alamo's oldest structure, but cast her in a shadow of controversy.
De Zavala is thought to be the first person to use civil disobedience to preserve Texas history. A commemoration is set for 3 p.m. today at the Alamo.
"She's almost an unsung hero," said Marcie Ince, San Antonio Conservation Society president. "She was the first to really set the way for others to follow for many generations."
In 1908, San Antonio was using its first bonds for streets and replacing horse-drawn fire pumpers with motor vehicles. What little was left of the Alamo was an eyesore. Though the Alamo church had been saved from neglect, many wanted to level the Long Barrack, unaware it had been a focal point in the 1836 siege and battle that helped win Texas independence.
"The idea was that we're no longer an old Spanish town," said Bruce Winders, Alamo historian. "San Antonio was trying to be a new, progressive city."
The Long Barrack had been covered for more than 30 years by the wooden exterior of a grocery and dry goods store, then owned by Hugo & Schmeltzer. Clara Driscoll, the heralded "savior of the Alamo," had put up funds in 1903 to buy the building. She wanted it razed so the church — with its original stone carvings and parapet, the iconic hump that tops the façade added in 1850 — could be the stand-alone centerpiece of a park.
She and De Zavala each led warring factions in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
ping
Hey! She’s pretty hot!
Not anymore, I imagine. LOL.
That’s not who you think it is. The picture posted is Clara Driscoll, not Adina Emilia De Zavala.
she is quite attractive. Its amazing how pretty women can be when they don’t pluck, shave, paint themselves into a caricature. Note the natural eyebrows. Now she would have thin, ultra arched brows, or have them plucked completely and painted back on.
The spirit of my ancestor Thomas Miller of Gonzales, Texas thanks her, I’m sure.
He’s not the only one, I’m sure.
Did your ancestor once serve as mayor of that beautiful little Texas town?
*Ping*
Thanks for the ping!
I wonder what she would think of the Tattoo Kiosk(it is the painted kind on not the needle kind)in the back of the Alamo complex under the shaded area by the restrooms.
And Yes it is in the Alamo complex inside the wall not out on the Square in front.
One of the kids told me that, due to that event, Ozzy is prohibited by law from ever setting foot in the state of Texas again.
not exactly true
Yes he did urinate on the Alamo
He has since apologized and has come back to San Antonio to do a concert.
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