Chili Queens, Hay Wagons, and Fandangos: The Spanish Plazas in Frontier San Antonio by Lewis F. Fisher (review)

Lewis F. Fisher presents a well-illustrated chronicle of San Antonio’s plazas during their frontier era. His work highlights Military, Main, and Alamo Plazas. Fisher acknowledges that it was the coming of the railroad during Reconstruction that beckoned tourists to flood the city of San Antonio and transformed it into a modern urban area. However, it was the plazas of the early nineteenth century, which represented the old Spanish model for city development, and their cultural and ethnic heritage and diversity that originally prompted people to migrate to the area. The activities in these plazas also provided fodder for curious spectators and subsequently encouraged professional photographers and artists to record them.

The book begins with Military Plaza. This typical open-air market received its name from the Spanish gathering of soldiers in the square. It withstood a number of disasters from fire to political strife, but it also served as a place where visitors and residents held fandangos, which drew people from the region to buy or sell their wares. The plaza contained a number of chili queens who waited on their customers from early morning to dusk, delivering meals and encouraging additional spending by entertaining their patrons with songs and dance.

The next section of the book discusses Main Plaza, anchored by San Fernando Church and the Casas Reales, or administrative center. Main Plaza hosted a number of celebrations throughout the years, from horse racing and bullfights to religious commemorations. Some of the most significant events were the ceremony for peace with the Apaches in 1749 and announcement of Texas’s secession from the United States in 1861. Main Plaza also had a nefarious side, with the establishment of saloons and gambling areas enticing many infamous outlaws to its center.

Fisher ends his book with Alamo Plaza, which was attached to the Mission San Antonio de Valero. Alamo Plaza almost fell into ruins, but with the coming of the cavalry from Alamo de Parras it experienced a rebirth. However, with the fall of the Alamo a cloud fell over the area which lasted through the Civil War, when the Confederates commandeered the compound. After the war, however, Alamo Plaza blossomed, evolving into an entrepreneurial enterprise that led to further urbanization of the region.

Fisher offers an abundant amount of evidence for the uniqueness of the plazas and how they encouraged the growth of San Antonio. His use of historical photographs, sketches, and paintings from various archives and depositories document the city’s development, while the use of receipts, letters, and newspaper stories reveal the people who walked, lived, and worked in these spaces. This coffee table picture book enhanced by primary source material should appeal to those interested in Texas and urban history as well as San Antonio’s history.