time: 1.5 hours
distance: 3 miles

San Antonio continued to grow and prosper in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Many new residents moved to the city after the Civil War, and the United States Army established a permanent post east of the river on a rise known locally as Rattlesnake Hill; this post is now known as Fort Sam Houston.

Rapid growth forced the city council to consider public works projects to improve the city's quality of life. One of those projects -- the water works -- would be the catalyst that ultimately transformed the wooded land on the east and west sides of the San Antonio River into Brackenridge Park.