Main Street and the Central Square: An Examination of Spatial Decision-Making and the Frontier Narrative in the Alsatian Towns of Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper examines the role of spatial decisions in acts of community place-making and identity construction on the built landscape. In particular, I look at these decisions within the broader context of the making and re-making of frontiers – plural in the sense that a frontier is never simply a boundary or geographic location, but a set of contested and constantly constructed ideas about space, progress, and nation-building. The research discussed here examines spatial decision-making in two Texas towns of Alsatian and German migrants, both of which emerged in the 1840s from an effort by the Republic of Texas to settle and secure the contested lands to the west of San Antonio. The towns share similar origins within a frontier narrative but have made divergent decisions about their town plans, access to resources, and approaches to heritage through time. As a result, the residents of the towns have created, challenged, or maintained ideas of the frontier in different ways. In this paper, I draw from oral history, historical and contemporary maps, and archaeological maps to discuss how these decisions about organizing space on the built landscape correspond to broader narratives about identity and belonging, from Alsace to the American West.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25965