Recent testing confirms that limestone from a San Antonio Zoo construction site matches limestone used in the 1700s to build the walls of the Alamo.
The discovery came after the Alamo’s Head Conservator, Pamela Jary Rosser, and the preservation team drove past an excavation area for the zoo’s new gorilla habitat.
Since records indicate the Alamo walls were built from a quarry north of downtown, Rosser and her team wondered if recently unearthed limestone might be a potential match.
Kate Rogers, executive director of the Alamo Trust, Inc., says three rounds of testing confirmed the match. “This is a really important discovery,” Rogers said in an Alamo Trust, Inc., video.
Tim Morrow, zoo president and CEO, agreed. “The San Antonio Zoo, which has been part of our community for over a century, is honored to play a role in uncovering this important piece of Texas and world history,” Morrow said in a news release.
Originally established in 1718, Mission San Antonio de Valero, which became known as the Alamo, moved to its current site in 1724. It was constructed using locally sourced limestone.
The discovery comes as the Alamo undergoes a $550 million redevelopment scheduled for completion in 2027.
“The timing could not be better,” Rogers said. “Because just as we start beginning this (preservation) work, we are starting to find voids where we need replacement stone. Now we have an accurate and authentic source of that stone.”
