Alamo Monument. (original) (raw)

Texans have always tended to think big.

In 1912, a San Antonio group began raising money to build a monument to the defenders of the Alamo. But the memorial they wanted for Alamo Plaza would not be any run of the mill monument. It would be Texas-sized and then some, an architectural wonder.

The Alamo Heroes Monument Association had an architectural drawing prepared to use in the fund-raising process. Whether the association�s architect ever got as far as preparing detailed plans is a bit hazy after all these years, but his rendering survived.

As envisioned, the base of the monument would feature 30-foot statues of four Alamo heroes: The Big Three (William B. Travis, James Bowie and David Crockett) and William Bonham. The monument also would have a museum with displays from each of Texas� counties.

A giant white stone obelisk would tower above the museum, topped with what looks to a modern eye like a gilded Hershey�s kiss. Beneath the �kiss� was an observation area slightly reminiscent of the University of Texas tower in Austin but with a touch of the orient thrown in. In other words, while the planned monument could be called distinctive, some would say the distinction lay in its ugliness.

The monument�s aesthetic qualities might be called into question, but its scale would command attention. The association wanted the monument to stand 802 feet tall. Indeed, according to a Web site called emporis.com, the Alamo monument would have been the tallest structure in the United States in 1912 � rising eight feet higher than the Woolworth Building in New York City.

Not only would the monument have been the tallest manmade object in the nation, it would have been the second highest in the world. Only Paris� Eiffel Tower, built in 1889, would have exceeded it in height.

The Alamo monument also would have reigned as the tallest edifice in the U.S. for another 18 years. Not until 1930 did the building at 40 Wall Street in New York top 800 feet. In Texas, the Alamo monument would have been the tallest structure until 1982, when the 75-story JPMorganChase Tower opened in Houston.

Even today, the monument would have been the tallest in the world. As it is, Texans have had to settle for the 1936-1939 San Jacinto Monument, which rises 570 above the ground where Sam Houston routed Santa Anna�s army on April 21, 1836.

The Alamo monument would have cost an estimated $2 million to build in 1912. Unfortunately, the association did not succeed in putting together enough money to get the project off the ground.

In 1939, a monument to the Alamo finally rose across from the old mission, but impressive as it is, it�s puny in comparison with the 1912 plans. Designed by Pompeo Coppini, an Italian sculptor transplanted to Texas, the Alamo Cenotaph stands a mere 60 feet above the pavement.