![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TexasCavaliersEducationCenter_AlamoPlaza_TeachingTexasHistory_AlamoTrust_07_05.06.2026_AmberEsparza..jpeg\")
Alex Rivard, director of education at the Alamo, describes the layout of a Lego model of the Battle of the Alamo on display at the new Texas Cavaliers Education Center on May 6, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\nA new facility now open on the Alamo grounds is about to change up the classic rite of passage a student field trip to the shrine of Texas liberty brings.<\/p>\n
The Texas Cavaliers Education Center at the Alamo, a state-of-the-art building featuring an auditorium and classroom space, is nearly complete and ready to welcome this year\u2019s summer campers and teacher workshops.<\/p>\n
When fully up and running, it is expected to serve 250,000 school-aged children a year.<\/p>\n
Situated behind the Alamo Church, the center opened recently as the second of three new buildings to open at the historic site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With clear views through expansive windows of the rear of the church, the facility is an adaptive reuse of the former events and meeting space, Alamo Hall, that originally served as the city\u2019s second fire station.<\/p>\n
Alex Rivard, director of education at the Alamo, describes the layout of a Lego model of the Battle of the Alamo on display at the new Texas Cavaliers Education Center on May 6, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
The $36.8 million center on state-owned property was designed, constructed and furnished through private donations, including $5 million from the Texas Cavaliers, a charitable organization that supports children\u2019s causes.<\/p>\n
The San Antonio architecture firm WestEast Design Group provided design services<\/a> for the project.<\/p>\n The education center, its terrazzo floors designed as a map of the San Antonio River and historic missions, features an orientation theater with tiered seating for 100 where students can watch an introductory video featuring Alamo staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n In classrooms and a lab space, students are able to connect with 300 years of \u201cThat\u2019s the first goal of the Alamo Plan \u2014 preserve our two remaining historic structures,\u201d said Director of Education Alex Rivard, one of the 10-member education department at the Alamo.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo there\u2019s a ton of lessons there that are maybe outside of your traditional secondary Texas history classroom lesson that we\u2019ve seen a huge demand for from our teacher community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A historically accurate Lego model of the Battle of 1836 made with 50,000 Lego by brickmaster Adam Bell is on display along with \u201cTexas Tree of Life,\u201d a massive piece of art designed with oil paint on carved birch plywood by artist Ricky Armendariz. A reading nook is stocked with books and comfortable furnishings.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a space that we anticipate doing a lot of that STEAM education,\u201d said Kate Carey, vice president of education at the Alamo. \u201cWe have used it for a teacher workshop. We will use it for summer camp. It\u2019s again a flexible space \u2026 where we can engage with a variety of different touch points.\u201d<\/p>\n For students who can\u2019t travel to the Alamo, a distance learning studio provides live broadcasts to schools, and for children under age 5, there\u2019s also an early learners hub with a small outdoor space.<\/p>\n Outside the center, a gathering space created under a century-old oak tree sits next to a rebuilt Crockett fountain, and water flowing through an irrigation acequia feeds vegetable gardens planted with peppers, basil and tomatoes.\u00a0<\/p>\n A communal adobe oven was built with support from the local chapter of Les Dames d\u2019Escoffier<\/a> to allow for cooking demonstrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cExploring food ways, whether or not it\u2019s how San Antonians hundreds of years ago grew their food, or how they cooked it, we\u2019ll be able to do all that with students,\u201d Rivard said.<\/p>\n Design consideration also was given to how students arrive at the Alamo. Now when they step off school buses, kids and teachers safely enter the grounds along Crockett Street directly, without having to cross any streets, where they pass a majestic oak and rainwater capture gardens into the center.<\/p>\n Aaron Johnson, who teaches U.S. history for local middle and high school students, visited the center recently as a member of the Alamo\u2019s educator advisory council.<\/p>\n The Alamo isn\u2019t \u201cjust a field trip destination,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can make lifelong memories that can change a student\u2019s trajectory. Being able to interact with history, in the actual location where it took place, is unique. The chapel has always been iconic; now it\u2019s\u00a0a centerpiece\u00a0to a much bigger story.\u201d<\/p>\n The education center project, a key piece of the larger $500 million Alamo Plan, was expected to be complete in early 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the added work involved in preservation, including matching floor tiles from the 1930s-era Works Progress Administration in the old hall, contributed to construction delays, Rivard said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, opposite the Alamo Church, two cranes hover over the construction site for the planned Alamo visitor center and museum.\u00a0<\/p>\n State officials and Alamo Trust leaders, including the recently ousted<\/a> executive director Kate Rogers, broke ground on the project in October 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n The final beam was installed in late March and the museum is expected to open in 2028. Hope Andrade now serves as the president and CEO of the Alamo Trust.<\/p>\n A complete redesign of Alamo Plaza<\/a>, the promenade and paseo has brought a mission gate and lunette<\/a> and pedestrian improvements to the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alamo history, plus art and science, from archaeology and architecture to physics and botany.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TexasCavaliersEducationCenter_AlamoPlaza_TeachingTexasHistory_AlamoTrust_15_05.06.2026_AmberEsparza..jpeg\")
A portion of the mural and art piece \u201cTexas Tree of Life\u201d by local artist Ricky Armendariz installed at the new Texas Cavaliers Education Center. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TexasCavaliersEducationCenter_AlamoPlaza_TeachingTexasHistory_AlamoTrust_02_05.06.2026_AmberEsparza..jpeg\")
The floors inside of the new Texas Cavaliers Education Center feature an inlay map of the five San Antonio missions and the surrounding rivers. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TexasCavaliersEducationCenter_AlamoPlaza_TeachingTexasHistory_AlamoTrust_29_05.06.2026_AmberEsparza..jpeg\")
The Alamo Church and chapel is seen undergoing construction at the Alamo Plaza on May 6, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/77134438-6dfc-9345-1df1-87e32427bab0.jpg\")
A rendering of the Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, which will be constructed utilizing the historic Woolworth and Crockett buildings on Alamo Plaza, and is scheduled to open in 2028. Credit: Courtesy \/ Alamo Trust<\/p>\n