HemisFair ’68 and The Homes on Goliad Street
About this five-part series: During the early 1960’s, San Antonio was poised for urban renewal, which eventually brought a world’s fair and new municipal buildings to this economically-stalled South Texas city. When construction began for HemisFair ’68, only 22 of 300 historic homes were saved from the neighborhood once called Germantown. This series strives to help restore the sense of community enjoyed by the diverse residents who made their homes a short walk from the Alamo.
It is said that women didn’t typically hold property rights in the 1800’s, but that wasn’t the case when James Sweeney bought the lot on Goliad Street in 1866 from widow Mary Francis Howard for $1,200 in gold. Howard had authority to manage her own legal matters and was named executor of her husband’s will. Later, Sweeney made sure that his wife Mary owned their one-story caliche block and stucco home, selling it to her for $5. When both James and Mary died, the home was left to their daughter Mary Kate, who later married Edward W. Tynan, partof a prominent Irish family in San Antonio.
This lot and the neighboring one originally belonged to Wilson Irvine Riddle, another prominent Irishman in the city who owned 18 other lots in Germantown. Riddle’s daughter, Sally Riddle Eagar, is memorialized with another remaining home in HemisFair Park along South Alamo Street in Yanaguana Gardens.
Immigrating to the United States, Building a Prosperous Life
James Sweeney immigrated from Kilkenny, Ireland, working in both real estate and banking in South Texas. He also worked as an agent for Milmo & Co., representing this mercantile firm in Mexico. In 1866, Sweeney bought a block of four lots; two on Goliad Street and two fronting South Street in Germantown. He married Mary Johnson, a San Antonio resident of English and Irish descent who came to South Texas with her parents from Ohio in 1848.
This Sweeney family found prosperity in San Antonio, building their 2,000 square foot home at 117 Goliad Street in 1868, just three years after the Civil War ended. The Sweeney’s had four children who were born in this home: Thomas Johnson and Anthony (both died young), Mary Catherine, born in in 1871, and Charlotte (nicknamed Carlotta), born in 1874. Sadly, their parents died when the girls were 10 and 7. Sweeney’s will left his estate in trust to Daniel Milmo (his former employer) for his minor daughters, and it’s believed the girls went to live in Laredo, Texas in Milmo’s care until they came of age or married. 21-year-old Carlotta married Leonard Garza on May 15, 1895, while Mary Kate married Edward W. Tynan (one of the brothers who built the home) on February 1, 1899 when she was 28-years-old.
Building a Home Using Local Materials
The Sweeney home is a rare surviving example of mid-19th century pre-railroad “Irish Flats” design, constructed of local building materials instead of wood. Many also refer to this architectural style as “Tidewater South” with one-deep rooms and a shed extension to the rear. The home features a wide front porch for shade during intense summers, large windows for light and ventilation, and a symmetry pleasing to the eye. It also boasts a central hallway, flanked by adjoining rooms, each with a fireplace.
Records show this home was built by brothers and contractors Walter K. and Edward W. Tynan about 1868. They also built another home, believed to be at 121 Goliad Street, since Mary Kate inherited the home at 117 Goliad Street, and records reveal that the Carlotta and family lived next door at 121 in the home built by and for the Garza’s who were attorneys and owned real estate.
Edward Tynan is said to have lived with the Garza’s before marrying Mary Kate; this was obviously a close-knit community. Prior to living on Goliad Street, Tynan lived with his father on South Presa, and was a clerk in P.G. Dunn & Co’s Mercantile Agency. By 1897, Tynan was living at 121 Goliad (with the Garza’s) and clerking at a different store. In 1907, the family moved to Goliad Street with their five children: Edward, Leo, Kathryn, Mary and Harold, each born two years apart beginning in 1898.
Leaving the Family Home
Mary Kate Sweeney Tynan lived in the home from 1907 through 1917, when it became a boarding house and the family moved to a house on East Huisache Street. By 1936, the home was sold by court order to pay debts, finally becoming the property of Virgillio and Martha Zei in 1941. The Zei family retained the home, selling it to the Urban Renewal Agency in 1964.
The Sweeney home was recognized as one of the historic homes worth saving in 1965. Before HemisFair ’68, the home was carefully restored and became Pierre’s Interlude, a restaurant in the Plazas del Mundo area, serving Cajun cuisine to fair goers, and also functioning as an arts and crafts gallery. The home sits just behind the Schultze Store near Goliad and South Alamo Streets, near the Gate 1 entrance to the world’s fair.
In 2016, the Sweeney — Tynan family hosted a reunion and toured the historic home, which one day will be brought back to its 1800’s condition to serve as a historical landmark of the Irish population who helped grow San Antonio into today’s thriving community.
Conclusion
This series about the homes along Goliad Street grew out of my need to complete an applied project for a masters degree in Liberal Studies, and my passion for family history. My paternal grandparents immigrated from Yugoslavia through Ellis Island in 1902, and I’m heartbroken that I didn’t engage them in conversation about their life’s journey of immigration to the United States, or the successful lives they built here. I can only imagine that I was too young to take note, and when I did gather information about our family, it was from my elderly aunt, the last surviving member of her large family of Serbian-speaking, Orthodox-worshiping immigrants from the old country.
Learning about the historic homes remaining in Hemisfair park has brought me closer to my adopted community of San Antonio, and for this I am forever grateful. I’m also thankful to be asked to serve on Hemisfair Conservancy’s Development Board. We are tasked with raising awareness about our “new” city park, and the beauty it brings to downtown San Antonio, for tourists and locals alike. Please join me in supporting Hemisfair Conservancy’s work to preserve these historic homes by donating to the Conservancy through this website: https://hemisfair.org/donate/
Twenty-nine percent of donations are used for historic preservation.
Copyright Notice: The unauthorized use of images from Hemisfair Conservancy, San Antonio Conservation Society Foundation, University of Texas at San Antonio, or the author is prohibited without prior consent from these entities.
