The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004 Page: 241
660 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Romantic Rhetoric of the Spanish Governor's Palace
Society, and author of a book on the History and Legends of the Alamo and
Other Missions in and Around San Antonio, published in 1917.2
As a member of the DRT she became deeply involved in the first his-
toric preservation battle in Texas: the effort to preserve the remains of
Mission San Antonio de Valero, known around the world as the Alamo.
After the Texas Revolution the Republic of Texas gave the old mission
back to the Catholic Church; in 1877 the church sold the convento ad-
joining the mission chapel to merchant Honord Grenet. The State of
Texas purchased the chapel in 1883, and three years later the Grenet es-
tate sold the convento to grocers Hugo & Schmeltzer. At some point in
the early 189os Hugo and Schmeltzer promised Miss Adina's group that
they would have an option to buy the building before anyone else. How-
ever, Miss Adina and the Daughters were unable to raise the funds. In
1903 Miss Adina met Clara Driscoll, a wealthy heiress from Corpus
Christi, and quickly persuaded her to join the De Zavala Chapter. The
next year Driscoll purchased the Hugo & Schmeltzer building and gave it
to the state of Texas. In 1905 the state made the DRT the custodians of
the Alamo.
Almost immediately two factions developed, with Driscoll leading one
and De Zavala the other. At the heart of the dispute was the age and sig-
nificance of the Hugo & Schmeltzer building. De Zavala's faction claimed
that the building incorporated the remains of the eighteenth-century
mission convento, while the Driscoll faction claimed that it was largely a
creation of the 187os, long after the Battle of the Alamo, much less the
era of the missions. The Driscoll faction also claimed that the chapel was
the only aesthetically significant part of the complex remaining; De
Zavala's response was to draw up a plan to restore the convento with a
two-story arcade-echoing the convento of Mission San Jos--framed by
towers also borrowed from SanJos6. Such a proposal had little to do with
the original form of the Alamo convento, but a great deal to do with a
beautiful reconstruction, which might appeal to the general public. For
three days in February 1908 De Zavala barricaded herself inside the con-
vento to protest its impending demolition. Although she secured a prom-
ise from Texas governor Oscar B. Colquitt that the convento would re-
main, the Driscoll faction succeeded in demolishing the upper floor of
the building in 1913. (Subsequent research has suggested that De Zavala
was correct not only in claiming that the building was the convento, but
2 Richard R Flores, "Adina De Zavala and the Politics of Restoration," in Adina De Zavala, His-
tory and Legends of the Alamo and Other Masszons In and Around San Antonso (San Antonio: Adina De
Zavala, I917; reprint, Houston: Arte Pubhco Press, 1996).
3 Robert Ables, "The Second Battle for the Alamo," Southwestern Histoncal Quarterly (cited here-
after as SHQ), 70 (Jan., 1967), 372-413-2003
241
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004, periodical, 2004; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101224/m1/285/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.