San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden
The San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens (also known as the Sunken Gardens) in the U.S. state of Texas were developed on land donated by George W. Brackenridge, president of the San Antonio Water Works Company, to the City in 1899, in an abandoned limestone rock quarry used since the mid-1800s. Between July 1917 and May 1918, City Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert used prison labor to shape the quarry into a complex that included walkways, stone arch bridges, an island and a Japanese pagoda.
At the entrance to the gardens, Mexican-born artist Dionicio Rodriguez (1891-1955) replicated a Japanese Torii gate in his unique style of concrete construction that imitated wood. 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. Kimi and Miyoshi Jingu maintained the gardens, lived in the park, and raised eight children until they were evicted with the rise of anti-Japanese sentiment of WWII.
The gardens were renamed the Chinese Tea Gardens, and a Chinese-American family, Ted and Ester Wu, opened a snack bar in the pagoda until the early 1960s. In 1984, the city restored the original “Japanese Tea Garden” designation in a ceremony attended by Jingu's children and representatives of the Japanese government.
The Gardens have since been neglected and fallen into disrepair. Former Mayor Lila Cockrell and former City Councilwoman Bonnie Conner, affiliated with Friends of the Park and the San Antonio Parks Foundation, have created a master plan to oversee restoration of the site using public and private funds.
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.
Location
Northwestern edge of Brackenridge Park, near the San Antonio Zoo:
- 3853 N. St Mary's Street
- San Antonio, Texas 78212
No admission charge.
See also
References
- Walls, Thomas K. The Japanese Texans. University of Texas. Institute of Texan Cultures. San Antonio, 2002. ISBN 0-86701-021-5.
External links
- Russell, Jan Jarboe. Return to Glory? San Antonio Express-News. Oct 24, 2004 San Antonio Columnist describes history of Gardens
- City of San Antonio Parks & Recreation Department. A History of the Japanese Tea Garden
- San Antonio Convention and Visitor's Bureau Description of the Gardens
- Listing in Texas Historical Commission Source Listing of the Gardens by the THC
- Arkansas Sculptures of Dionicio RodriguezThe Artist who designed the entrance gate
- Handbook of Texas Online Article describing Dionicio Rodriguez