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A new YouTube video traces San Antonio history from the founding of the missions to the Spurs entering the NBA Finals this year.<\/p>\n
Josie Norris\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
San Antonians have no excuse for forgetting key local events after a YouTube channel recently posted an animated video chronicling 308 years of the city’s history.<\/p>\n
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The 18-minute video<\/a> \u2014 released last week by the account\u00a0ChronoCity, which\u00a0posts 3D time-lapses of different metros \u2014 span’s the Alamo City’s history from the construction of the first missions to the San Antonio Spurs’ return to the\u00a0NBA Finals this year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The video documents the city’s historic touchstones from 1718 to 2026, as upbeat music plays with the occasional interruption of the pop of gunfire or celebratory cheers.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: Texans speak differently on the phone based on where they live, study finds<\/a><\/p>\n The video begins with the construction of the Mission San Antonio de Valero in its original site when only 70 people were included in the city’s population count. Next appears Texas’ first civil town, Villa de\u00a0B\u00e9xar, founded by 16 families in 1731.\u00a0<\/p>\n The video zooms out when panning between the missions as they were erected, separated by expanses of green interrupted by the occasional river. As time moves on, more buildings dot the landscape, and increasingly large structures rise from the ground. By the time Mexicans took\u00a0B\u00e9xar from Spain, roads connect the buildings and homes around the Alamo, and the population ticks up to 2,500. The Battle of the Alamo<\/a> ignites the sparse town in a blaze.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Development gains speed after Texas becomes part of the United States in 1845, giving way to Germans building mansions in current day\u00a0King William<\/a> in 1870 and\u00a0San Fernando Cathedral<\/a> three years later. The rest of the 19th century sees more iconic sites appear across the area: Fort Sam Houston, the railroad,\u00a0the Battle of Flowers parade<\/a>, Pearl Brewhouse (returned to existence in 2015\u00a0when it became Hotel Emma<\/a>) and the\u00a0Bexar County Courthouse.<\/p>\n Rows of white tents dot Riverside Park, where former President Theodore Roosevelt trained his volunteer Rough Riders in 1898.<\/p>\n The video returns to Fort Sam Houston in 1910 for the first military flight of Lt. Benjamin Foulois.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Japanese Tea Garden<\/a> springs to life in 1918, followed a decade later by the\u00a0Milam Building<\/a> \u00a0\u2014 the country’s first air conditioned office tower \u00a0\u2014\u00a0and the Smith-Young Tower and Majestic Theatre.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The historic river through downtown was lined with stone paths and bridges in 1939, as the city’s population neared 300,000. Two years later, lit barges floated down the new River Walk for the first Fiesta River Parade<\/a>.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: Bush family’s support for Democrat, wedding venue’s settlement with bride topped week’s news<\/a><\/p>\n As Loop 410 ringed San Antonio in the 1950s and ’60s, suburban neighborhoods sprawled from\u00a0the city center.<\/p>\n The Tower of the Americas<\/a> shot into the sky in 1968, the same year that the Hilton Palacio Del Rio was constructed in a month and a half\u00a0by bringing in 485 rooms built off-site using a crane.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Spurs’ 1973 arrival to the city is punctuated with spotlights projected into\u00a0the air.<\/p>\n The video then pans to the West Side for the 1988 opening of the largest\u00a0SeaWorld, followed by Fiesta Texas and the 65,000-seat\u00a0Alamodome in 1992. The city’s population edges past 1 million, and fireworks burst into\u00a0the sky for the Spurs’ first championship win in 1999.<\/p>\n The video returns to the missions in 2013 when eight miles of restored river connected the missions. Two years later, the missions became the first Texas landmark to be\u00a0labeled a UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/a>, recognized for their historical value.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n