It is the location of a Payaya Indian village known as Yanaguana,[2] and is the original site of the city of San Antonio.

[2] Spanish Franciscian priest Damián Massanet led the first European contact with the area, a military expedition in 1691.

In his diary, Espinoza described the springs in detail and noted they had named it Agua de San Pedro (Waters of Saint Peter).

[2] Based on the original Spanish land grant, the city of San Antonio's first surveyor Francois P. Giraud defined the park's boundaries in 1851.

[9] In 1860, Sam Houston stopped here to deliver a two-hour speech opposing the proposed Texas secession from the United States.

Duerler developed the park with landscaping, a garden, picnic areas, a zoo and aviary, a music pavilion, and even a racetrack.