The last push to “reimagine the Alamo” came 23 years ago, when a newspaper columnist proposed razing or moving buildings on Alamo Plaza, rebuilding parts of the 1836 mission-fortress and replacing asphalt and flagstone with a park.

A plan conceived by San Antonio Express-News columnist David Anthony Richelieu for an “Alamo Park” included rental of the first floor of the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building to serve as an Alamo museum; reconstruction of cannon platforms and ramps on the Alamo’s southwest and northwest corners; and use of statues of historic figures from the Alamo and Mission San Antonio de Valero.

The plan was shown to local leaders and the public in 1994, when the city had a 24-member Alamo Plaza Study Committee examining ways to provide a more accurate, engaging experience for visitors. A similar movement is now underway.

One of the tasks of the committee in 1994 was to determine the best way to design closure of a small street, Alamo Plaza East, next to the Alamo’s mission-era church and Long Barrack, to traffic. The Inter-Tribal Council of American Indians, citing records indicating 1,000 or more indigenous mission inhabitants had been buried in and around the plaza, asked the city in January 1994 to permanently close it.

About the same time, the Express-News mailed a survey to community and business leaders, proposing what Executive Editor Jim Moss called “a more representational and historically accurate restoration of the Alamo and its adjacent Alamo Plaza.” The newspaper ran a series of Alamo articles from Feb. 27 to March 2, 1994, and republished them in a special section March 17.

“As part of the project, this columnist was given a green light to develop an overall plan from ideas about Alamo Plaza often touched on in my column,” Richelieu wrote in an article about his plan.

Richelieu, a colorful journalist who wore dark glasses inside and outside, spoke in a gravelly voice and wrote about preservation, urban affairs, downtown San Antonio and the local arts scene. He worked at the Express-News as an editor and later a columnist from 1970 to 2001, when he retired. He died in 2007 at age 63.

His plan sought to fulfill a vision of Clara Driscoll, an early member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who helped fellow preservation advocate Adina de Zavala save the Long Barrack from a hotel developer in 1903, securing the DRT’s role as the nonprofit lineage group that saved the Alamo church and Long Barrack from neglect and turned it into a historic site.

Driscoll wanted the Alamo, particularly the church, to stand out “free and clear” of the “unsightly obstructions that hide it away” as a result of San Antonio’s downtown development.

The DRT succeeded in acquiring property east of the church to develop today’s walled-in, state-owned historic complex. But 46 percent of visitors surveyed in 1994 mistakenly believed that the Alamo Gardens were part of the 1836 fortress, even though the heaviest fighting occurred in and around the plaza, Richelieu wrote.

“The battleground today is covered by noisy city streets busy with traffic, by raspa vendors and tour-bus promoters, by buildings with T-shirt shops and windows full of gaudy Alamo souvenirs,” he wrote.

Crediting preservation architect Richard “Dick” MyCue with helping develop the plan and projected costs, Richelieu proposed a plan that got a mix of reactions, from excitement or skepticism to dead silence.

“Even those who liked its direction predicted that, like earlier outlines, it was doomed to political and financial oblivion,” he wrote.

Perhaps the most controversial element of his plan was a proposal to demolish the Woolworth’s, Palace and Gibbs buildings on the plaza, as well as two other plaza structures and the Hyatt Regency Hotel garage, and relocate the 1882 Crockett Building “stone by stone.” The purpose of the move, he said, would be to provide a major entrance to the park from the west and a clear view of the church, or shrine, for approaching visitors.

“This vista is critical because, to millions, the shrine is the symbol of the Alamo,” he wrote.

Richelieu also proposed moving the 1930s Alamo Cenotaph just north of the park; reconstruction of the Alamo’s main gate, south wall and roofless ruins of the Low Barrack; partial reconstruction of the west wall and adjoining structures; and replication of the north wall cannon battery in the post office lobby of the federal building. This was where Alamo commander William Barret Travis was fatally shot.

Richelieu, who served on the Alamo Plaza committee, put the estimated cost to execute the plan at $32.6 million. In an October 1994 report, the panel recommended closing the plaza completely to traffic, acquiring buildings and removing curbs in the plaza, marking or delineating the historic compound and creating a major visitor center and museum. The committee opposed removal of existing structures but suggested rebuilding or interpreting “certain structural features of the compound … without interrupting the traffic patterns or major activities of the plaza.”

Although few of the study group’s suggestions were implemented, momentum to improve the Alamo area has resurfaced in recent years. In 2014, the city formed a 21-member Alamo Plaza Advisory Committee to write goals and vision statements for interpreting the plaza, updating some of the work done in 1994 to reflect new scholarship and changes in technology and culture.

In 2015, the Alamo was one of five San Antonio historic missions inscribed as the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas. A few months later, the Texas General Land Office, which assumed custodianship of the Alamo in 2011, purchased the Crockett, Palace and Woolworth’s buildings for $14.4 million. The Land Office, in a cooperative agreement with the city and nonprofit Alamo Endowment, is now developing an Alamo area master plan that seeks to close parts of Alamo and Crockett streets to traffic and to convert the three buildings to a museum.

Although a final plaza design has not been drawn, the city has begun a process to close the streets and move the Cenotaph. Officials say the church and Cenotaph both have structural problems. A $75 million allocation from the Legislature for the Alamo in 2018-2019 includes $31 million for the church and Long Barrack.

The plan’s development and execution have had financial support or commitments of $38 million from the city, which also will dedicate public rights of way, and $100 million from the state. The endowment intends to raise $200 million.

“Our first priority is to save the church,” George Skarmeas, lead designer on the plan, said at a public meeting in May.