UNIVERSAL CITY, TEXAS. Universal City is at the north gate of Randolph Air Force Baseqv on State Highway 78, Loop 1604, State Highway 218, and the Southern Pacific Railroad on the northern edge of San Antonio in northeast Bexar County. It was named by the developer, A. Milner, to designate the universal importance of the air base. Randolph Field opened on October 25, 1931, and the first business to open outside the gate in 1932 was a service station. Other businesses during the 1930s were Randolph Cleaners in 1932 and Kneupper's Garage in 1935. Pat Booker Road (SH 218), which is the main street and the entrance to Randolph AFB, was built in 1936 and named after Capt. Francis O. Booker, a pilot who served at Randolph and was later killed in an airplane crash at Montgomery, Alabama. The first restaurant, Beaty's, opened in 1939. Until 1960 the town grew slowly; the population after thirty years was only 1,800. The owner of Acme Lumber Company, Johnny Chuoke, began the first profitable development of Universal City in 1950. He built the first homes in the Rosegarden area, and other builders followed, but there was little concern for expansion until the transfer of the Air Force Manpower Personnel Center from Washington, D. C., in June 1963. The town has a newspaper called the Herald, and it was the first community in Bexar County to have cable television. In 1963 the city got its first bank, and in 1971 it finally received a post office. The population was estimated at 950 in 1964 and grew steadily. By the 1970s Universal City had 7,613 people, and in 1990 it had a population of 13,057 and 130 businesses. Universal City is 90 percent active and retired military. Coronado Elementary School was established in 1971, Olympia Elementary in 1980, and Kitty Hawk Junior High in 1976. These three schools are in the Judson Independent School District of Converse, Texas. Rose Garden Elementary opened in 1961, and North View (special and alternative education) began in 1956. They are in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District. Universal City has four parks and two annual civic events: the Veterans' Day parade, sponsored by the local veterans, and the annual Children's Christmas Party, sponsored by the Universal City volunteer fire department. There are churches of all denominations and a public library, which in 1990 had 18,000 books. The city was incorporated in 1960 under the general laws of the state of Texas. At the general election on April 1, 1972, citizens chose to be governed under a home rule charter which provided for a council-manager form of city government.qv Franklin Bless was the first mayor. The mayor in 1989 was the town's first woman mayor, Carmeline Squires. In 2000 the population was 14,849.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Economic Development Committee of the Randolph Metrocom Chamber of Commerce, Comprehensive Economic Profile of the Randolph Metrocom (1988). Universal City Herald, August 31, 1978.
Lawrence W. Duerson
