Presidio San Antonio de Béxar / The Alamo

The site of Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo) was founded in 1718 by Martín de Alarcón; the adjacent Presidio San Antonio de Béxar and civilian settlement were established the same year. Spanish colonial authorities laid out the early pueblo around a Plaza de Armas that served as the reference point for lots and streets in the town of San Antonio de Béxar. The original surveyed townsite corresponds to present-day Alamo Plaza and the surrounding blocks, and those early layout decisions shaped the historic downtown street grid.