CEMENT MANUFACTURING A PROMINENT RESULT OF SAN ANTONIO'S GEOLOGY

Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Company 1880 kiln, c. 1880

San Antonio is celebrating its 300th anniversary in 2018, and the San Antonio Express-News is exploring various aspects of the city's history.  One of those is San Antonio's geology and how it shaped the economy and culture of the region.  It's location at the crossroads of the Edwards Plateau and the prairies and plains of Central and South Texas have made it a hub for farming, ranching, energy development, limestone quarrying, and, of course, cement manufacturing.  The article traces the roots of each of these industries, and notes that the historic 1880 Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Company kiln, located at the Japanese Tea Gardens in Brackenridge Park (which originally served as the kiln's source of limestone for cement production), was the second cement plant built in the United States.  Now the Balcones Escarpment is home to five cement plants between San Antonio and Austin, two within the city limits.  It also notes that the quarries and cement plants have been integrated into the community fabric as productive and beautiful public spaces, as operations have progressed to new areas.  Besides the Brackenridge Park site, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, the Alamo Quarry Market, the Quarry Golf Club, and the South Texas Area Regional Soccer Complex are all transformed quarries and cement facilities.  For more information, see "Geology Guided San Antonio's History," by Brendan Gibbons, San Antonio Express-News, April 2,2017.