The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States.

It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, a pivotal event of the Texas Revolution in which American folk heroes James Bowie and Davy Crockett were killed.

[4] Today it is a museum in the Alamo Plaza Historic District and a part of the San Antonio Missions World Heritage Site.

Originally named the Misión San Antonio de Valero, it was one of the early Spanish missions in Texas, built to convert American tribes to Christianity.

Ten years later, it became a fortress housing the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras military unit, who likely gave the mission the name Alamo ("cottonwood trees").

During the Texas Revolution, Mexican General Martín Perfecto de Cos surrendered the fort to the Texian Army in December 1835, following the Siege of Béxar.

In 1849, several years after Texas was annexed to the United States, the U.S. Army began renting the facility for use as a quartermaster's depot, before again abandoning the mission in 1876 after nearby Fort Sam Houston was established.

Adina Emilia De Zavala and Clara Driscoll successfully convinced the state legislature in 1905 to purchase the remaining buildings and to name the DRT as the permanent custodian of the site.

The isolation of the missions—the nearest Spanish settlement, San Juan Bautista, Coahuila was over 400 miles (644 km) away—made it difficult to keep them adequately provisioned.

Alarcón, acting in his capacity as "General of the Provinces of the Kingdom of the New Philippines," formally entrusted the mission on May 1 to Father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares in a foundation document, still preserved.

[12] In 1724, after remnants of a Gulf Coast hurricane destroyed the existing structures at Misión San Antonio de Valero, the mission was moved to its current location.

[15] The new commandant general of the interior provinces, Teodoro de Croix, thought the missions were a liability and began taking actions to decrease their influence.

He mentioned the Alamo complex: "An enormous battlement and some barracks are found there, as well as the ruins of a church which could pass for one of the loveliest monuments of the area, even if its architecture is overloaded with ornamentation like all the ecclesiastical buildings of the Spanish colonies.

A shot from the 18 lb (8.2 kg) cannon destroyed the barricades, and Mexican soldiers entered the building after firing an initial musket volley.

[52][53][54] This would represent about one-third of the Mexican soldiers involved in the final assault, which historian Terry Todish stated was "a tremendous casualty rate by any standards".

[56] Pieces of the debris were sold to tourists, and in 1840 the San Antonio town council passed a resolution allowing local citizens to take stone from the Alamo at a cost of $5 per wagonload.

Its wall is overthrown and removed, its dormitories are piled with military stores, its battle-scarred front has been revamped and repainted and market carts roll to and fro on the spot where flames ascended ... over the funeral pyre of heroes".

Shortly before the turn of the 20th century, Adina de Zavala convinced Gustav Schmeltzer, owner of the convent, to give the DRT first option in purchasing the building if it was ever sold.

[71] In response to de Zavala's actions, on February 12, Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell ordered that the superintendent of public buildings and grounds take control of the property.

[73] Driscoll offered to donate the money required to tear down the convent, build a stone wall around the Alamo complex, and convert the interior into a park.

The movie was re-edited in response to the complaints, but the controversy grew to the point that many activists began pressuring the legislature to move control of the Alamo to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).

[84] In response to pressure from Hispanic groups, state representative Orlando Garcia of San Antonio began legislative hearings into DRT finances.

Shortly after that, San Antonio representative Jerry Beauchamp proposed that the Alamo be transferred from the DRT to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

[86] Several years later, Carlos Guerra, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, began writing columns attacking the DRT for its handling of the Alamo.

Guerra claimed that the DRT had kept the temperature too low within the chapel, a situation which caused the formation of water vapor, which when mixed with automobile exhaust fumes damaged the limestone walls.

At the same time, State Senator Gregory Luna filed a competing bill to transfer oversight of the Alamo to the Texas Historical Commission.

[90] In 2010, the office of the Texas Attorney General received a complaint that the DRT had been mismanaging not only the site, but the funds allocated for its management, and an investigation was begun.

[92] During the course of the investigation, a state law was passed in 2011 and signed by governor Rick Perry to transfer custodianship of the Alamo from the DRT to the Texas General Land Office (GLO).

While the DRT initially objected to the Attorney General's report, and even went so far as to file a lawsuit to prevent the transfer, the organization eventually vowed to work with the Texas GLO to preserve the Alamo for generations to come.

[94] Visitors may tour the chapel, as well as the Long Barracks, which contains a small museum with paintings, weapons, and other artifacts from the era of the Texas Revolution.