The Alamo stands as one of the most iconic pieces of Texas history, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world who come to learn about true Texas history where it all began.
From its early days as a Spanish mission to the final moments in the Battle of the Alamo, right up until Coastal Bend native Clara Driscoll paid out of her own pocket to save the historic grounds, visitors can learn all about it in Alamo Plaza.
I spent two days walking the grounds with the Alamo's most knowledgeable historian, Ernesto Rodriguez.
"Good morning Coastal Bend. I'm Ernesto Rodriguez, senior curator, historian, and lecturer. Welcoming to you from the Alamo," Rodriguez said.
The Alamo is much different from what it was just a few years ago. Expansion and education is now the mission, and thanks to generous donations and state funding, the Alamo Plaza continues to grow.
"So the Ralston Family Collection Center has been open for about 2 years now, a little over 2 years, but it's a place where we are able to showcase part of our collection that we never were able to show before, and we're also able to say we have a spot to house our collection properly," Rodriguez said.
Alamo historians have been collecting artifacts for the past 120 years, and the Ralston Family Collection Center has hundreds of them on display. Visitors can view everything from items discovered on the grounds to others that were donated.
"For 2 years, we've actually grown substantially because we did a big push. The Alamo really never collected pop culture, right, which is movie items, television show items, posters, things like that about the Alamo. And with the new museum we need to be able to tell the full story and how do people come to our story," Rodriguez said.
Among the pop culture items included at the center is an original art poster from the 1960 film The Alamo starring John Wayne.
A major collection of true historical artifacts came from singer Phil Collins.
"So Collins donated an estimated 430 artifacts here to the Alamo at an estimated value of about $20 million," Rodriguez said.
While not native to our area, Phil Collins fell in love with Texas history thanks to the 1955 movie, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier.
"And that sparked his interest in the history and as he grew up he read more and and continued to read and research and so when you think about his collection, he doesn't start collecting until about 2004 and that's when he gets a gift of a document and it's a small piece of paper signed by John W. Smith. It's a saddle receipt," Rodriguez said.
The entire Phil Collins collection includes a rifle once owned by Davey Crockett himself, a Bowie knife, battle orders from General Santa Anna, and a cannon used by the Mexican Army.
On the second floor of the center, you'll find items donated by others, including a bell that was at Camp Alamo in Afghanistan and was used to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
"The men and women at Camp Alamo asked their friends if they could send an object that they could commemorate the events and always remember, and the people of New York sent them this bell and the bell is a very special bell because um all of the Alamonians got together and they put this bell in a plaza," Rodriguez said.
And this is just the start for the Alamo Plaza. There's a major expansion underway right now that will bring a larger interactive experience.
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.
