{"nrhp_refnum":"76002005","name":"Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Works","other_names":["Japanese Sunken Garden"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Brackenridge Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Antonio","county":"Bexar County","state":"TX","lat":29.460705294000036,"lon":-98.47702791699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Site of the Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Works in Brackenridge Park, San Antonio, Texas, founded in 1880 and now part of the city-owned Japanese Sunken Gardens. A tall smokestack, stone kilns and quarry pits remain.","why_significant":"The nomination argues this was the first portland cement works west of the Mississippi River, founded after William Loyd found cement rock near San Antonio. Its quarried stone was sold to the builders of the Texas state capitol. In 1917 the abandoned quarry and works were converted into a sunken garden.","narrative":"Brackenridge Park in San Antonio contains the remains of a cement plant that later became a garden. In 1879 William Loyd, an Englishman, noticed blue limestone on a hunting trip north of the city. Analysis showed it held the right proportions of lime and clay for portland cement, and the Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Company was incorporated on January 15, 1880. The first mill was small and built of timber, producing ten barrels a day. The company sold lime and building stone to stay afloat, expanded with a second kiln in 1881, and sold quarried rock for building the state capitol between 1883 and 1888. It moved in 1907 to a site with better railroad access. In 1917 the city converted the abandoned quarry into a sunken garden with a pagoda, using prison labor. The smokestack, kilns and quarry pits remain visible. The nomination calls it the first portland cement works west of the Mississippi.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"William Loyd","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"City-owned and occupied, used as a park; the works are described as reasonably preserved, with the smokestack, kilns and quarry pits visible within the sunken gardens.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.377929-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/73/9712/40971273/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/76002005.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002005/02a33df38c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002005/02a33df38c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alamo_cement_works_2011.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alamo_cement_works_2011.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"11000513","name":"Brackenridge Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/brackenridge-park-11000513/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971273","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001613"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bexar-county/alamo-portland-and-roman-cement-works-76002005/"}