Twenty-five years ago, designer Henry R. Muñoz III and a few colleagues were out for a walk along the San Antonio River when they came upon San Pedro Creek, a concrete-lined channel that served as a physical barrier between San Antonio’s west side and downtown and a symbolic one between its white and Latino populations. Although the creek held significance in San Antonio’s history—some say it was the original location of the Alamo—and technically acted as a drainage ditch for flood control, for as long as Muñoz, a San Antonio native, could remember, it was better known for reminding San Antonians of their differences.

Over the years, the creek had been channeled, deepened, straightened, and sometimes completely covered in an effort to mitigate flooding, but in recent years it had become virtually obsolete. Muñoz began to picture a project that would address those issues while revitalizing the area as an urban park, a gathering place that could tell the story of San Antonio and the families who had lived in the San Pedro Creek area. “San Antonio is a city of many cultures,” says Muñoz. “We became very interested in telling the story of a drainage ditch that divided the city while turning it into a place of unity through architecture, urban design, and artistic expression. A place that might say to the rest of the country—and, in fact, the world—that we’re better when we live up to the motto of our country, e pluribus unum —or ‘from many, one.’”

The location of the park, which is on schedule to be completed in 2020, once stood as a bleak reminder to San Antonians of their differences.

The $125 million San Pedro Creek Culture Park broke ground in 2015; by the time it’s completed in 2020, the park will span more than two miles of downtown and include 60,000 feet of new walls, four miles of walking trails, 11 acres of landscaping, eight restored and redesigned bridges, and murals and other forms of artwork from dozens of artists. Design embraces tenets of Latino Urbanism—a sensibility that calls on vibrant use of color and pattern, resourceful use of building materials, and walkability—and the hope is that it will encourage residential growth as well. Word art etched in limestone by author, filmmaker, and San Antonio native John Phillip Santos tells the story of the creek “as a crossroads of people,” says Santos, and of the city “from its primordial origins to current cosmopolitan state.” He adds, “I think the remarkable thing about this project is how it invites people to reflect on the city’s past but also on something even more profound, which is about being human.”

The two-mile park will include murals and other forms of artwork from dozens of different artists.

Phase one of the park opened on May 5, timed to San Antonio’s tricentennial, and the timing was entirely intentional. “There’s a mythology in the United States today that we’re a country of purity, founded at Plymouth Rock,” says Muñoz. “When in fact the oldest cities are St. Augustine, New Orleans, and San Antonio.” He hopes the park will offer guidance to other cities in dealing with rising populations while also making a statement that Latino-Americans are “not just immigrants,” he says. “We’ve been here for many centuries.”

Walkability and residential growth were key considerations in the overall design of the public spaces.

Indeed, although San Pedro Creek Culture Park was conceived long before the current administration began plotting border walls, Muñoz is happy to let the park’s message be political. “It’s a weird time,” he says. “I made my husband get up and watch the royal wedding; the day before, I woke up to the Santa Fe shooting. Both of those things have roots in racial tension. I’m hoping that projects like the San Pedro Creek Culture Park will help people think about who we are as Americans, particularly in the 21st century. And that maybe it’ll be a small step in helping us move towards cultural understanding rather than separation.”

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