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San Antonio is a truly fascinating place to visit with all of the history wrapped up in this beautiful city. As we visited Mission San José and Mission Concepción on the trolley tour, we also stopped off in the King William Historic District to have lunch and walk through several blocks of beautiful, old, historic homes.
You’ll find the King William Historic District south of downtown San Antonio, along the banks of the San Antonio River. The District, with all of its current lots and streets, originated in the 1860’s. At this time, many German immigrants began to settle in the District, building large beautiful homes and creating an impressive neighborhood. The name King William was given to the District in honor of King Wilhelm I of Prussia.
It’s interesting to note that during World War II when we were at war with Germany, the name was changed to Pershing Avenue; it was changed back to King William after the war. After many of the original homeowners passed on in the early 1900’s, the District became more of an “apartment” neighborhood, until 1950 when restoration and preservation became a priority for a group of individuals. In 1968, the King William Historic District was designated as an actual historic district.
The history of this place drew us in and made us want to walk blocks and blocks of beautiful, historic homes, both large and small. Picket fences, wrought iron fences, and stone walls gave this neighborhood a quintessential feel.
Some homes had a Victorian air about them.
One home, in particular, had the beautiful front porch areas with ceiling fans and blue ceilings. They had me dreaming of a covered porch area or lanai.
The landscaping was gorgeous. And the trees…. so beautiful!
We even noticed small concrete steps outside some of the gates to these homes, and we decided these must have been carriage steps. Couldn’t you just imagine a grand lady stepping up into her carriage from these very steps?
Details for Your Visit to the King William Historic District
25 blocks…. that’s how many blocks the King William Historic District spans. The best part is that it costs you nothing to walk down through these beautiful homes. Of course, I highly recommend catching the trolley through City Tours; you can hop off and on as you please amongst the Missions, the King William Historic District, and more popular spots in San Antonio. Tickets were affordable for our family of four, as well, costing less than $60 altogether.
If planning to visit all of the King William Historic District, I would recommend planning at least 4-5 hours around this, so you can fully explore and enjoy your time. I also recommend using the restroom beforehand (as this is a neighborhood and there are no facilities) and taking a bottle of water, especially if visiting in the summer. And, of course, you’ll want to stop and eat at The Guenther House, an amazing restaurant on the edge of the King William Historic District. More to come on the wonderful eats and treats of The Guenther House in an upcoming post….
47 comments
I love this! I am completely addicted to majestic historical homes and am kicking myself for not doing this tour when I visited San Antonio last year. Thank you for sharing so many incredible pictures:)
Lisa, thank you so much!
What beautiful porches on those homes!! Love it! It reminds me of Savannah Georgia, one of my favorite places.
Megan, the porches were gorgeous. I’d love to visit Savannah some day! I’ve heard it’s beautiful.
YOUR PICTURES ARE STUNNING! I’VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF THIS NEIGHBORHOOD! I LOVE TO VISUALIZE – LIKE I THINK YOU DO TOO – WHO LIVED THERE BEFORE AND WHAT THEY DID! THANKS FOR SHARING!
Caroline, thank you so much! Yes, I love to visualize who might have lived here…. so much history!
This post makes me feel like I am in a movie. I have never seen houses like these and would love to visit sometime!
Cat, that’s almost what it felt like, that any one of those houses could have been a movie set.
We love in person history lessons! We need to get on planning our TX visit!
We do too, Beth! Thank you!
Wow, how gorgeous! I’m definitely adding this to my bucket list of places to visit!
Thank you, Melissa! For sure!
I totally love this. I would enjoy going to see this with my family. I know that my husband and daughter would enjoy it. I’m not so sure about my boys. Thanks for the beautiful pictures.
Thank you, Crystal!
Positively beautiful homes. Wouldn’t mind taking a tour of some of those lovely homes.
Digna, thank you! Wouldn’t that be something, to be able to tour the inside?
Ohhhh I was just in San Antonio last week for the first time – fell in LOVE with the place! We stayed at the Riverwalk Omni – GORGEOUS! These pictures make me wish I had had more time to explore! I hope to go back – so so beautiful!
Agreed, Lynsey! I’m hoping to make it back sometime this summer. Definitely want to explore more.
I absolutely love San Antonio! My favorite place is the riverwalk.
Emily, the Riverwalk was really beautiful.
What a gorgeous area. All those houses are stunning.
Thanks, Toni!
I would love to see these homes when my family heads to San Antonio, but I’m thinking it’s an activity best geared for my husband and I. The kids are a bit picky sometimes about what they want to see and I’m pretty sure two of the three wouldn’t be appreciative. :)
Well, I hope you can visit, Tonya. You would fall in love with the area.
What a wonderful experience—I want to go!
Thank you, Sarah! Yes, you should!:)
Wow, those homes are beautiful! That’s one thing that I hate about living in Vegas is that this city is still very new so we lack all of the historical looking homes.
Thanks, Shell! That’s true; I hadn’t thought about that with Vegas.
OH my gosh, I want to go, I want to go!!!! I would totally love this so much! The carriage steps are awesome!
Liz, when we figured out what those steps were, it made the neighborhood even more stunning. I know, I want to go back!
It’s a really beautiful area. I didn’t know that part about the neighborhood changing during the war. That’s wild. Next time you’re headed down this way — let me know!
;-)
Traci
Traci, for sure! Thank you. We’ve been talking about it, so we may plan a long weekend. I could definitely use some more San Antonio time.:)
Great pictures, the houses are so beautiful! I love taking a tour of historic homes like these, I’ll have to check it out if I’m ever in the area.
Thanks so much, Michelle! Definitely.
Beautiful place, looks like a great place to visit!
Thanks, Michelle!
Wow. This is gorgeous. I know this sounds bad, but I never think of Texas as being so lovely and historic – usually I think hot and desert. These pictures are absolutely stunning and really make me want to take a visit.
Madaline, we were surprised too; it was such a beautiful area. We definitely want to go back to San Antonio.
Those homes are gorgeous! This is definitely on my to-do list when we visit San Antonio
Jessica, thank you! Yes, definitely.
Gorgeous photos! I would love to wander around this area and look at houses–it’s always so fun to see historic buildings, especially when they are this pretty! I will definitely have to add this to my list for when we eventually visit San Antonio–thanks!
Jenna, thank you!
Some of those houses are absolutely amazing. What a fun walk and visit! I have lived in SA, but we never saw stuff like this.
Trisha, isn’t that funny? I know, places we’ve lived before have been that way; people who visited would tend to find the most interesting places, and we had no idea they were there. Now that we live in AR, I’m determined to get to know the area, all the little nooks hiding away.
How amazing and beautiful are these? There is a certain charm about old homes. They are beautiful and really well preserved too.
Thanks, Tiff! I agree, old homes have a story to tell.
All types of wrought iron garden gates.