In June of 1921, F. W. Woolworth Company opened a new 5, 10, and 15 cent store on the corner of E. Houston and Alamo Streets, where the Maverick Bank Building once stood. The popular national discounter first came to San Antonio in 1912, prospering enough to erect its new three-story building "on San Antonio's most prominent corner" ("F.W. Woolworth Co."). The newspaper ad announcing Woolworth's formal opening boasted that, "We have added a number of features to our service - but the one which you will appreciate most is our soda fountain and lunch counter." This lunch counter later catapulted San Antonio into Civil Rights history. Facing sit-in protests by the local NAACP, the Alamo Plaza Woolworth's became one of seven downtown stores to voluntarily desegregate its lunch counter on March 16, 1960 ("More Lunch Counters Integrate"). Seveneteen-year-old Mary Lillian Andrews organized the integration effort and U.S. Army private Richard Hunt, already a noted sculptor, became one of the first African Americans served at Woolworth's counter. Unlike many other Southern cities, where the African American quest for equality met with violent resistance, San Antonio integrated peaceably (Mooreland, p. 6-9).
"F.W. Woolworth Co." San Antonio Light (San Antonio, TX), June 2, 1921.
"More Lunch Counters Integrate." San Antonio Express (San Antonio, TX), October 19, 1960.
Morland, Kenneth. "Special Report - Lunch-Counter Desegregation in Corpus Christi, Galveston, and San Antonio, Texas." May 10, 1960.

1) View of the north facade with orginal signage, facing Houston Street. Woolworth's closed in 1997.

Courtesy of San Antonio Conservation Society Foundation