Res 2026-017 Approving the City of San Marcos Historic Preservation Plan

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COMPLEMENTARY PROJECTS PUBLIC HISTORY PROJECT AQUARENA SPRINGS AMUSEMENT PARK, 1998-2009 In 1994, Texas State purchased Aquarena Springs Amusement Parka nd the surrounding 90 acres with an objective to restore Spring Lake and establish The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment. As they removed the majority of the park's amenities, Dr. Cynthia Brandimarte and her students undertook an extensive Public History Aquarena Springs Project four years later. The public history collection covers the history of the San Marcos area, tourism, and other information related to the park. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY & HISTORIC PRESERVATION THE MEADOWS CENTER FOR WATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT, 2002 Texas State University's The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment is connected to the Spring Lake Natural Area and is the former site of the Aquarena Springs Amusement Park, which was the subject of a Texas State Public History Project. While underwater archaeology has been ongoing since 1978, the historic amusement park hotel eventually as The Meadows Center. NATURAL AREA CONSERVATION SPRING LAKE NATURAL AREA AND CONSERVATION LANDS, 2007 The Spring Lake Natural Area features meadows and woodlands typical of the Edwards Plateau ecoregion and is part of the Sink Creek Watershed. It is at the headwaters of the San Marcos River, its upper portion extending nearly 4 miles through the city. Half of the area is in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. The San Marcos Springs flows from Edwards Aquifer in Austin and includes more than 200 outflows into Spring Lake. The water source has attracted inhabitants for over 12,000 years. Spring Lake was created when Edward Burleson built a dam across the San Marcos River in 1849. In the twentieth century, A. B. Rogers operated Aquarena Springs Resort at the site. Over half a century later, Texas State University acquired the Aquarena Springs amusement park and later sold 252 acres for residential development. Through bonds, grants, and donations the city was able to purchase the land in 2007. HISTORICAL CONTEXT T REAL MERMAIDS OF SAN MARCOS, 2013 Hunter Oatman-Stanford, a senior producer at Collectors Weekly, authored an article on the history of Spring Lake centered on the sites tourism development and the real life mermaids that were part of Aquarena Springs attractions. The article uses historical research and interviews with Peggy Sparks, a former ----------- Ac-inarena mermaid and the great-aunt of the article's author. OCUMENTARY ABANDONED AMUSEMENT PARK SLOWLY BECOMES NATURE PRESERVE IN TEXAS, 2023 Architect and Historian Scott Dailey produced an eight -minute video on YouTube presenting a brief history of Aquarena Springs. The video discusses the development of Spring Lakes from colonization to the closure of the Aquarena Springs Amusement Park. STORY MAP SAN MARCOS MERMAID STATUES GIS staff produced a StoryMap of San Marcos' mermaid statues in 2024. The interactive map features ten mermaid statues. Each statue includes its location, creator, a brief description of the statue, a photograph, and its pinned location on a map. SAN MARCOS HISTORIC PRESERVATION PLAN (2026)