Ammannsville Helps Save the Alamo
The hallowed Texas shrine, the Alamo, has always been in danger of being swallowed up since 1836. In 1903, the actions of schoolteacher Adina De Zavala, the granddaughter of the first Vice President of Texas, purchased the property along with heiress Clara Driscoll, (founders of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas) prevented it being razed for commercial development.
De Zavala believed that the schoolchildren of Texas should have the opportunity to physically see what their grandparents talked about and remembered. A movement was started in the Texas school system to teach the children about the Alamo and suggest their help in restoring it.
The February 4, 1904, edition of the La Grange Journal carried a story from the Ammannsville E.B. (Emergent Bilingual, English as a second language, Czech was first) school submitted by J.C. Juricek. He reported that the school has raised $2.30 ($35.46 today) for the Alamo fund. He reported that Ludmilla and Ivan Parma both donated 25 cents. While Louise Kossa, Anna, Mary, Julie, and John Zvesper, Emanuel and Leon Barta, Jerome, Albert, and Marcella Bohac, Emil Steffek, Marcella Vladimir, and George Bartos, Antonie Steffeck, and Peter Horak all donated 10 cents. Bozena, Vaclav, and Joseph Vacek donated 5 cents, as did Martha Sumbera.
Juricek reported that the enrollment of the school was sixty- six, average daily attendance about fifty-five, even though some of the pupils have a good distance to walk and the mornings are bitterly cold.
The second siege of the Alamo occurred when, in 1908, responding to under the table dealings by developers, De Zavala barricaded herself in the Alamo to prevent it from being occupied by hotel developers who wanted it razed. The siege lasted three days and the nationwide press coverage of the event caused the developers to back off.
The differing ideas on what to do with this iconic structure continue to this day. At this time, the General Land Office is the custodian of the Alamo complex, which is owned by the State of Texas.
