SAN ANTONIO – Kayakers were recently given a rare opportunity to paddle through the business district of the San Antonio River Walk and it got us thinking - what did it look like to travel along the River Walk in years past?
Well, thanks to some historical photos from the University of Texas at San Antonio, we’re able to see just how it looked to travel down the famed San Antonio River Walk as far back as the 1940s.
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The preferred method appears to have been a canoe but there’s also a photo of Tom Frost, former San Antonio Mayor Walter W. McAllister and James M Gaines who was the then-president of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce riding in a gondola.
Below, two soldiers are seen in a canoe with the A.B. Frank Company in the background and a view of the Smith-Young Tower.
In this photo, people can be seen traveling along the upper arm of the river bend between Navarro and St. Mary’s Streets with a pedestrian bridge in the background.
Here, two boys can be seen paddling a canoe down the river with a rustic cedar light post on the right-hand side of the photo.
The photograph below shows flat-bottomed boats and a canoe circa 1948.
Want to see more photos from San Antonio’s history? View the articles below: