San Antonio on Wheels: The Alamo City Learns to Drive

A host of previously unpublished photographs and a wealth of new information bring together the story of a region’s transition from horses, oxen and mules to bicycles and then horseless carriages, transforming the way people move around. Also shown is the evolution of streetcars, fire engines, buses and trucks.

Horseless carriages came to the Alamo City in 1899, though they took a little practice. Following a series of mishaps, in 1910 the city council set speed limits at 8 miles an hour within a mile of San Fernando Cathedral and 15 miles an hour beyond. Also told of are the struggles to drive to places like Kerrville and Corpus Christi and soon to the rest of the nation, first on a rugged highway known as the Old Spanish Trail that became the general route of Interstate 10.