Beauty, prejudice, and hard-won restoration all run through the story of the Japanese Tea Garden, one of the most serene public spaces in San Antonio. The site was originally a quarry that supplied the Portland cement used to build many of San Antonio's early twentieth-century sidewalks and buildings. When the quarry was exhausted around 1908, the city was left with a dramatic 20-foot-deep rock pit.
In 1917, Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert saw potential and began transforming the pit into a sunken garden, adding koi ponds, footbridges, pagodas, and lush plantings. Japanese immigrant Kimi Jingu and his family moved into the former cement factory on-site and operated a tea room serving visitors through the 1920s and 1930s. The garden became one of San Antonio's most beloved attractions.
Then came Pearl Harbor. In 1942, amid wartime anti-Japanese hysteria, the city renamed the garden the 'Chinese Tea Garden,' removed the Jingu family from the property, and essentially erased their contribution. Decades passed before the city restored the Japanese name in 1984 and formally recognized the Jingu family's role.
Today, the ponds and stone paths are as beautiful as they have ever been. Walk slowly here — this place earned its tranquility.