Home › Cities › Major Cities
San Antonio
A historic Texas city on the edge of the Hill Country
San Antonio grew up around the springs of the San Antonio River, where the Texas coastal plain meets the Balcones Escarpment and the limestone Hill Country begins. Spanish missionaries founded a settlement and a string of missions here in the early 1700s — among them the Alamo — making it one of the oldest cities in Texas. The reliable spring water in an otherwise dry region fixed its location.
The seventh-largest U.S. city sits at the southern edge of the Hill Country, where the Edwards Plateau's springs feed the river that winds through downtown as the famous River Walk. The surrounding land shifts from the wooded, spring-fed hills to the flat, dry brush country of South Texas. Military bases, tourism, and a strong Mexican-American heritage define the city.