Alamo Roman & Portland Cement Company, Brackenridge Park, San Antonio, Bexar County, TX

Significance: Organized on January 15, 1880, the Alamo Roman and Portland Cement Company claims to be the first manufacturing establishment to produce true Portland cement west of the Mississippi River. The manufacturing plant was established at this site and, from the cement rock taken from the adjacent quarry, began producing cement in 1880 at the rate of ten barrels a day. Although local acceptance of this new building material was slow to develop, the company continued to expand and in 1897, after being reincorporated as the San Antonio Portland Cement Company, introduced an advanced manufacturing process: a rotary kiln using powdered coal as fuel. In 1908 a new site was selected and a new plant erected thereon which is today one of the Southwest's largest producers of Portland cement. Although the original frame factory buildings are not extant, the ruins of the three kilns that remain are significant objects in the history of building technology in the Southwest.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-174

Survey number: HABS TX-3173

Building/structure dates: ca. 1880 Initial Construction

National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 11000513

san antonio tex alamo roman alamo roman portland cement portland cement company brackenridge brackenridge park san antonio bexar bexar county texas history of rome portland cement cement industries cement kilns cement plants limestone ruins alamo roman and portland cement company charles w barrow charles baumberger les beilinson bexar county historical survey committee william h edwards w r freeman john c garner larry d hermsen historic american buildings survey george h kalteyer william loyd susan mccown dewey g mears san antonio conservation society san antonio portland cement company wesley i shank photo manufacturing plants manufacturing architectural diagrams library of congress national register of historic places

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

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