Saving San Antonio (Fisher, 1996)

Lewis F. Fisher · 1996 · Texas Tech University Press (presumed; verify in-hand)

Cover image pending capture.

Bibliographic detail

• Title: Saving San Antonio: The Precarious Preservation of a Heritage (full subtitle TBD — verify in-hand)
• Author: Lewis F. Fisher
• Year: 1996
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press (presumed — Fisher’s standard publisher for SA preservation works; verify on title page)
• ISBN: TBD — verify in-hand
• Pagination: TBD — verify in-hand
• Format: Hardcover (presumed; verify in-hand)

Physical description

Lewis F. Fisher’s preservation-history of San Antonio; standard scholarly-popular trade publication. Cover style, dust jacket, and binding to be confirmed in-hand. Condition: unknown per the accession register. Fisher’s voice is straightforwardly narrative — preservation politics, building-by-building accounts, civic figures.

Provenance

Physically in-hand prior to formal library accessioning; registered to the library 2026-05-24 under the TODO-26 buildout. Original purchase date and source not separately recorded. Accessioned as HH-BOOK-2026-0011. The book had been carried as a resources/ entry prior to this consolidation.

Why it matters

Saving San Antonio is the canonical narrative of how San Antonio’s built environment survived (or didn’t) across decades of growth, neglect, and renewal. For H&H research, it functions as the civic backdrop volume explaining which downtown blocks were preserved, demolished, or rebuilt during the H&H operating decades and after.

Specifically valuable for:

1. The 601 Delaware Street area lifecycle — Fisher’s coverage of the downtown / near-downtown industrial blocks may discuss the Delaware Street corridor or the Mi Tierra / Market Square area where the Master Chef Coffee sign continues to be visible.
2. The 1223 W. Commerce / 307 N. Medina / 331 Burnett address sequence — H&H’s pre-Delaware addresses (1912–1923) sit in districts that figure in Fisher’s preservation narrative.
3. Period-specific preservation crises — when did specific blocks come under demolition pressure? Was H&H’s factory ever in a preservation fight? Fisher’s index would surface direct mentions.
4. River-adjacent property history — H&H’s water sourcing and proximity to the San Antonio River (San Pedro Creek?) sit in the same civic story.

Pairs in the library with Downtown San Antonio (Korte & Pech, 2013) (Arcadia visual timeline) and Historic Photos of San Antonio (Faulkner, 2007) (large-format photo book) as the SA preservation reference triple — Fisher provides the narrative, the photo books provide the visual.

Notable contents

• Building-by-building preservation accounts.
• Civic figures in the SA preservation movement.
• Period-specific preservation crises and outcomes.
• Maps of preservation districts and demolished landmarks (typical Fisher format).

Open questions

• Does the book index mention Hoffmann, Hayman, H&H, or any H&H address?
• What does it say about the Delaware Street / Market Square / Commerce Street corridors during the H&H operating decades?
• Does it document the preservation of the Mi Tierra / Cortez area where the Master Chef sign survives?

Related

• Downtown San Antonio (Korte & Pech, 2013) — companion SA visual reference.
• Historic Photos of San Antonio (Faulkner, 2007) — companion SA photo reference.
• The History and Mystery of the Menger Hotel (Williams, 2000) — same downtown commercial district context.
• resources/saving-san-antonio.md — citation-pointer page.
• places/601-delaware-street.md — H&H factory address.
• library/index.md — full library holdings.