How San Antonio neighborhoods got their names

As one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the nation, San Antonio is sprawling with many neighborhoods and subdivisions. Click ahead to see how some of them got their names. As one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the nation, San Antonio is sprawling with many neighborhoods and subdivisions. Click ahead to see how some of them got their names. Photo: Darren Abate, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Darren Abate, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 41 Caption Close How San Antonio neighborhoods got their names 1 / 41 Back to Gallery

As one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the nation, San Antonio is sprawling with many neighborhoods and subdivisions. Developers continually manufacture divisions with pastoral, inviting street names to attract a seemingly endless cycle of homeowners.

While developers have long guided how San Antonio's residential areas evolved, a look at the city's older neighborhoods lends some perspective on how prominent residents — farmers, bankers and doctors — influenced the areas, and how they attracted homeowners as the city grew.

For example, in his book Place Names of San Antonio, David P. Green points out that neighborhoods attached names to words like "Heights" or "Hill" to indicate that the area was safe from flooding and frequented by cooling breezes.

This wasn't always the case, however; residents of Monte Vista threw a contest to name its neighborhood.

Drawing from Green's research and information gathered from neighborhood associations, the gallery above tells the story of how some of the most enduring neighborhoods in the city got their names.

More on the origins of San Antonio's suburbs is elaborated in this blog post 'From the Vault.'

jmscott@mysa.com