ALAMO VILLAGE. Alamo Village is six miles north of Brackettville on the Shahan Angus Ranch in Kinney County. This replica of an old Texas town was first a set for a Western movie on the battle of the Alamo, but it remains a tourist attraction. The idea for the complex was developed by James Tullis (Happy) Shahan after he was elected mayor of Brackettville in 1950. The town's economy had been ailing since the army deactivated Fort Clark in 1946. Shahan persuaded Paramount Studios to film Arrowhead at Brackettville in 1951. Two other movies followed before John Wayne filmed The Alamo on Shahan's ranch near Brackettville. From December 1957 to September 1959, when the filming of The Alamo was begun, the Batjac Company preproduction crew supervised a $12 million building program that involved up to 400 workmen at one time. Artisans from Mexico made adobe bricks as they were made three centuries ago. More than a million bricks were used to construct 200,000 square feet of permanent buildings. The Alamo replica was based on careful research that included obtaining plans sent to Spain by the Catholic priests who built the mission. There were no "false front" streets. Electrical and telephone wiring was concealed in more than ten miles of underground casing.
After production of The Alamo Shahan acquired the set, which houses a cantina and restaurant, a trading post, an Indian store, a church, a jail, a blacksmith shop, museums of western artifacts, and a gallery of celebrities who have performed on the dusty streets of this little village. Alamo Village is filled with antique tools and vehicles. A herd of longhorn cattle contributes to the Old West atmosphere. Although several movies, television shows, documentaries, and commercials have been made on the set since The Alamo was filmed, Alamo Village today operates primarily as a tourist attraction. From Memorial Day to Labor Day live entertainers are hired to perform country and western music, western melodramas, and stage shoot-outs. Horseback and stagecoach rides are available. The activity of the summer months culminates in the Labor Day Horse Races, which draw the largest annual crowds to Alamo Village. All of the buildings and facilities are open to the public year-round.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mike Blakely, "Alamo Village," Texas Highways, May 1985. New York Times, October 4, 1959. Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin (Brackettville).
