Daughters of The Republic of Texas - Saving The Alamo

Saving The Alamo

"A protest must be recorded here against the wanton mutilation of the sculpture of the Missions by thoughtless relic hunters. The shameful chipping of the beautiful carving has been going on for years."

By the late 1880s the historic San Antonio missions were falling into disrepair and becoming subject to vandals. Two dedicated DRT women stepped forward to restore and preserve the Alamo for future generations.

The public entrance known as the Alamo's mission chapel was already owned by the State of Texas, which had purchased the building from the Roman Catholic Church in 1883 and had given custody to the City of San Antonio. The city had made no improvements to the chapel structure, and ownership did not include the long barracks (convento).

In 1903, Adina Emilia De Zavala enlisted heiress and philanthropist Clara Driscoll to join the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and chair the De Zavala fund raising committee to negotiate the purchase of the long barracks (convento) that was owned by wholesale grocers Charles Hugo and Gustav Schmeltzer. The asking price was $75,000, most of which came out of Clara Driscoll's bank account.

In early 1905, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. drafted the Alamo Purchase Bill which included a provision that The Alamo be overseen by Daughters of the Republic of Texas. On January 26, 1905, the Texas State Legislature approved, and Governor S.W.T Lanham signed, the Alamo Purchase Bill for state funding to preserve the Alamo property. The state reimbursed Clara Driscoll and, on October 4, 1905, the governor formally conveyed the Alamo property, including the convento and the mission church, to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

A divide between two factions erupted over how the long barracks property was to be used. Driscoll and others believed it was not part of the original structure and should be turned into a park. Clara offered to raze the building at her own expense. De Zavala was adamant that the long barracks was part of the original building and where the major part of the battle had occurred. In 1908 De Zavala had a stand-off with authorities inside the structure. By 1911, Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt ordered the long barracks be restored to its original condition as it was in mission days. During the 1912 restoration, workers discovered foundation work that verified De Zavala's instincts that the structure had indeed been an original part of the Alamo.

In 1931, Clara again put up $70,000 of her own money to help the state legislature purchase more city property surrounding the shrine. In 1933, she backed down city engineers who wanted to purchase a portion of the Alamo property to widen Houston Street. By 1935, the persuasive Driscoll talked the San Antonio Fire Department out of putting a new fire station adjacent to the Alamo. As president of the DRT in 1936, she oversaw Centennial celebrations of the shrine.

When Clara died in 1945, her body lay in state in the Alamo chapel. Adina died in 1955 and her casket draped with the flag of Texas was carried past the Alamo one last time.