Gps Coordinates / 29.461561,-98.4770043
Japanese Tea Garden Fish Waterfall Park Tourism Locations
3853 N St Mary's St, San Antonio, TX 78212, United States
In 1899, the San Antonio Water Works Company, through its president, George W. Brackenridge, donated 199 acres to the City of San Antonio for a public park. This tract comprises the largest portion of the park that today bears Brackenridge's name. After some improvements were made, the park officially opened to the public in 1901.
Gps Coordinates / 29.4606197,-98.4773243
At that time, there was still an operating rock quarry west of the park on City-owned property. The quarry had been leased by the City to stone cutters since the mid-1800s and in 1880, Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Company (later called Alamo Cement Company) began to use the quarry. When the company needed rail lines to expand production, it purchased a new site and closed its Brackenridge Park operation in 1908.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link -98.476669 / Gps Link -98.4767151 / Gps Link -98.477118 / Gps Link -98.4771598
Gps Coordinates / 29.4608758,-98.476669 / 29.4609165,-98.4767151 / 29.4616563,-98.477118 / 29.4613518,-98.4771598
In 1926, at the City's invitation, Kimi Eizo Jingu, a local Japanese-American artist, moved to the garden and opened the Bamboo Room, where light lunches and tea were sold. After Mr. Jingu's death in the late 1930s, his family continued to operate the tea garden until 1942, when they were evicted because of anti-Japanese sentiment during World War II. A Chinese-American family operated the facility until the early 1960s, and it was known as the Chinese Sunken Garden. In 1984, the area was rededicated as the Japanese Tea Garden in a ceremony attended by the Jingu's children and representatives of the Japanese government.
Gps Coordinates / 29.4610634,-98.4770633
In recognition of the Tea Garden's origin as a rock quarry that played a prominent role in the development of the cement business, as well as its later redevelopment as a garden, the site is designated as a Texas Civil Engineering Landmark, a Registered Texas Historic Landmark, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
