This little house is one of the few remaining in what was once a thriving residential community, founded by Irish immigrants in the 1830s.

The area they chose to settle was a flat bottom land bounded by Alamo Plaza and Houston Street on the south; Avenue C (now called Broadway) on the west; Sixth Street on the north (some claim 10th Street, and present day surveys mark the boundary as Interstate 35) and the ancient Acequia Madre on the east. The area was originally part of the Alamo farm land north of the mission. Although this area is in what we now consider downtown San Antonio, at the time it was considered a remote settlement, far from the heart of the city. The map to the left is taken from an 1873 map of San Antonio. Click on the map for a larger map showing the borders of Irish Flats.

There is some disagreement about the correct name for the area, although it is commonly called Irish Flats. Some sources we consulted maintain that it was called "The Flat" and was not called "Irish Flat" until a painting by Spanish artist José Arpa was given this title. There does not seem to be a record of how or why the name gained the "s" on the end. Lewis Fisher, in his book "Saving San Antonio" points out that newcomers sometimes think the term flats refers to a style of architecture; the British call an apartment a flat.

The streams of the acequia nourished the tall pecan trees and huisache, cosmos, crepe myrtles and the vegetable plots at every house.

The houses they built are considered unique, based on the homes the immigrants left in Ireland, adapted to the local conditions and with some ideas borrowed from their Spanish and German neighbors. The houses were generally flush to the street, with narrow front porches, low ceilings and thatch roofs. The thatch, reminiscent of Kilarney in Ireland, was eventually replaced by shingles in most homes, and then by tin, as now seen on the peaceCENTER's roof.

The thick walls were made from limestone and caliche. The soft limestone, called "tufa" stone, was available from Powder Hill Quarry, east of the city near Mission Conception. Sidney Lanier wrote in his historical sketch, San Antonio de Bexar, that the limestone was so soft when quarried that it could be cut with a knife; it hardened when exposed to the elements. Several of our sources say that after the Alamo fell, the rubble was scavanged and used as building material elsewhere. Since the Irish Flats neighborhood bordered the north side of Alamo Plaza, it is likely that some of the stone and wood from the mission found its way into the homes in the district.

The thick walls helped keep the houses cool in the summer and warm in the winter. As in the peaceCENTER, most of the houses had a large central corridor, with doors front and back to catch the breeze. Large windows would have sported green shutters.

Not counting the roofed patio in the back of the peaceCENTER, our building is about 1313 sq. ft., a typical size house for the neighborhood.

The homes were surrounded by stout post fences to keep out pigs and goats. Visitors said that the neighborhood had a quaint old-world European look, reminiscent not only of Ireland but also of Southern France, Alsace and Germany. Many of our sources claim that the Irish Flats houses are the only indigenous architectural style to have its origins in San Antonio.

There were some attempts to build cheaper versions of the Irish Flats houses out of adobe, but these houses did not withstand the weather.

Most of the articles we read mentioned the wonderful parties the Irish settlers gave when their houses were built, and some attribute the sometimes whimsically crooked construction to the Irish whiskey that was always flowing on these occassions. John Stevens, Jr., an Irish Flats resident and one-time postmaster of San Antonio, recalled "good old Monangahela rye sold at 20 cents a quart in those days." The whiskey also spurred brawling and fighting. These are traditions that the peaceCENTER skipped during its grand opening on January 29-31, but we did indulge in the third component of an Irish Flats housewarming party - friends making music together.

The Irish settlers were mostly Catholic and worshipped at St. Mary's Church, which was the first in San Antonio to offer masses in English. Most children would have attended parochial school in their parish.

Charles Ramsdell wrote in the September 11, 1949 edition of the Express-News Magazine that there was, for a time, an encampment of Indians on the banks of the Acequia Madre at Eighth Street, in the middle of a mesquite thicket that grew there. They would travel back and forth along Ave. E between their camp and an Army commissary which was located where the Gunter Hotel now stands. The road was lined with bois d'arc (Osage Orange) trees, which they would use to make bows. Bois d'Arc means bow wood in French, and is still considered the finest wood for making bows. For the string, they would get sinew from the butchers at the commissary. They would sell the bows to the boys living in Irish Flats for fifty cents.

In 1850, the population of San Antonio was only 3,500. By 1856, it had risen to about 10,000. During this period the U.S. government selected San Antonio as the headquarters for part of the frontier army, and more Irish people moved into the city to serve as teamsters, helping with the transportation of supplies to the frontier forts.

San Antonio prospered during the Civil War, as the Union blockade of the Gulf of Mexico made our city one of the major centers for Mexican trade with the Confederacy. After the war this market collapsed, real estate became worthless and there was no money for civic improvements. The city's fortunes rose again when the railroads were extended to Kansas City and money poured into San Antonio to provision the cattle drivers. In 1870, the population of San Antonio was 12,256, making it the largest city in Texas, a distinction it held until 1930. By 1890, the population had almost tripled, to 37,673. Many of the original Irish settlers became successful and moved to grander neighborhoods. A large contingent moved to the area around Fort Sam Houston, which was built in 1876. This migration was helped by the electrification of the street car lines, which made it easy for people to live in the suburbs and commute to their jobs downtown.

At the turn of the century, many of the still-solid houses were torn down to make way for commercial expansion. An article in the June 21, 1927 edition of the San Antonio Express-News was headlined "Quaint Buildings Mark Old Irish Flats" and laments that "All but a remnant here and there of the Old Irish Flats have passed into San Antonio history." In the boom years after World War II most of the remaining residences were either torn down or converted to commercial use.

Our peaceCENTER at 127 McCullough was last used as the headquarters for the Simms Fire Equipment Company. The house served as the office and storage area, while a large warehouse covered what is now the parking lot in the back. Simms, founded in 1916, made fire fighting equipment for cities throughout the area. Mr. and Mrs. Simms and their grown children attended the peaceCENTER grand opening and will be sharing some of their memories and memorabilia with us. Click on the fire engine to learn more about our building when it was used to make firefighting equipment.

As we learn more about Irish Flats we will post our findings to this web site. Thanks are due to the San Antonio Conservation Society for allowing us to use their archives.