Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez
(1916 - 2000)
Native San Antonian Henry B. Gonzalez spent 45 years in elective public office (city, state, federal) doing what he liked most - serving the people of San Antonio. As his seniority in Congress grew, he developed a greater role in serving the entire country through a number of important committees, culminating in his election as Chairman of the House Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs - the only San Antonian in history to serve as a major congressional committee chairman. Although many of his efforts brought lasting growth and development to his city, his greatest contribution was his success after a six-year effort to bring a world's fair to downtown San Antonio. This accomplishment resulted in the development of facilities to make San Antonio competitive for large conventions, and greatly increased tourism to his city. It took congressional enactment of his national legislative package in Washington, DC before the world's fair headquarters in Paris, France would make HemisFair'68 the official world's fair for 1968.
Marker is at the intersection of Alamo Street and Market Street, on the right when traveling north on Alamo Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
