This could be Alamo story's opening chapter

City Archaeologist Kay Hindes points to artifacts found on property owned by the Christopher Columbus Italian Society. City Archaeologist Kay Hindes points to artifacts found on property owned by the Christopher Columbus Italian Society. Photo: Lisa Krantz / San Antonio Express-News Photo: Lisa Krantz / San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close This could be Alamo story's opening chapter 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO – A small treasure of broken pottery, rosary beads and other simple items could mark the site of the city's earliest Spanish mission, dating back 300 years.

Archaeologists have found possible remnants of the original 1718 Mission San Antonio de Valero on land owned by the Christopher Columbus Italian Society downtown, just north of Piazza di Colombo Park.

“We're not saying 100 percent that it's the site. But there's evidence that it could be,” said City Archaeologist Kay Hindes, who spearheaded an investigation on the society's 3-acre property.

If proven through further research, the discovery would be a major breakthrough in local history, revealing the first location of the city's most famous mission, which later moved twice before serving as a fortress known as the Alamo.

Officials declined to publicly pinpoint the site where artifacts were unearthed.

The local Italian community is attempting to reclaim its own, more recent heritage with planned improvements to the area near San Pedro Creek.

The project, known as Little Italy San Antonio, seeks to celebrate the history of the local Italian community, which established a neighborhood in the late 1800s and chartered the Italian society in 1890.

Hindes, in response to plans for some tree-planting, asked the Italian society early this year if she could inspect part of the property, where residences and shops are planned near San Francesco di Paola Catholic Church and the society's banquet hall.

She found some old wrought nails and ceramic shards in February, prompting the San Antonio Conservation Society to provide a $5,000 grant for work by the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Excavated items included blue rosary beads, part of a corroded horseshoe, lead-glazed wares and pieces of majolica, or Spanish pottery, that may be from the mysterious 1718 site on the west bank of San Pedro Creek.

But Hindes said she'd like to do more investigative studies that might reveal definitive artifacts, such as a type of majolica known as Puebla Polychrome, which predates 1725, to prove the site with certainty.

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“The evidence is really good,” and may corroborate 18th century diaries that placed the first mission in the area, she said.

Steve Tomka, director of the UTSA center, said researchers excavated three square 1-meter units, and would like to return to the area for another professional dig.

Sue Ann Pemberton, president of the conservation society, said her group may need to raise funds for excavations “to answer the maybes.”

Historians have said Father Antonio Olivares built the original mission south of San Pedro Springs, though the exact location hasn't been clear. The mission has been described as composed of jacales, or temporary hut structures.

Hindes said the mission relocated in 1719 or 1720 to the east bank of the San Antonio River.

Some have said Olivares put the second site in the area of today's St. Joseph Catholic Church, by Rivercenter mall, because it had better topography for irrigating nearby fields.

After the second mission was destroyed by a hurricane in 1724, plans were started for a third mission about two blocks to the north.

By 1745, a convento, including the walls of today's historic Long Barrack, as well as adobe huts to house the indigenous mission inhabitants, a granary, shops and a farm were on the grounds.

The first church there collapsed, and the second one was not completed before the mission was secularized in 1793.

The mission, later renamed the Alamo by Spanish cavalry forces, was occupied by Spanish and later Mexican troops before the Texians captured and refortified it prior to the 1836 siege and battle.

Frank Monaco, chairman of Little Italy San Antonio, said his group is excited about the Italian heritage project revealing another layer of history tied to the founding of San Antonio.

“The old timers really think this is a significant find,” he said.

shuddleston@express-news.net