1793
Mission San Antonio de Valero (“The Alamo”) secularized by decree.
1918 – World War I
Mayor Bell is in receipt of the first letter delivered here by airplane. In fact, there were two letters, one from W. E. Anderson, city manager of Brownsville and the other from M. Rickey, mayor of San Benito. The letters were brought in my Major Decker of the U.S. Aviation Corps, who flew to San Antonio from Brownsville, stopping at both San Benito and Kingsville.
1927
Shortly before 7 p.m., an F5 tornado hits the town of Rocksprings, Texas. Nearly one mile wide, the monster tornado demolished Rocksprings, destroying 235 of the 247 buildings in the town, killing 74 people and injuring 205 – almost one-third of the population. If a proportional disaster hit San Antonio today it would mean the deaths of almost 100,000 people.