1998 TMS Annual Meeting: Destination Information

The 1998 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition will be held February 15-19, 1998 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. The meeting will feature continuing education opportunitites, an exhibition, invited honorary lectures, student activities, social functions, and a technical program developed by TMS's technical divisions, the Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials Division; Extraction & Processing Division; Light Metals Division; Materials Processing & Manufacturing Division; Structural Materials Division; TMS Education Committee; TMS Young Leaders Committee; Materials Science Critical Technologies Sector of ASM International.

San Antonio captures the spirit of Texas. Now the ninth largest city in the United States, San Antonio has retained its sense of history and tradition, while carefully blending in cosmopolitan progress. The city has always been a crossroads and a meeting place. Sounds and flavors of Native Americans, Old Mexico, Germans, the Wild West, African-Americans, and the Deep South mingle and merge. Close to seven million visitors a year delight in the discovery of San Antonio's charms.

Here are some highlights that the area has to offer:

Sequestered 20 feet below street level, in the busy metropolitan downtown area, lies one of San Antonio's jewels the Paseo del Rio. Better known as the "River Walk." These cobblestone and flagstone paths border both sides of the San Antonio River as it winds its way through the middle of the business district.

For history buffs, San Antonio is a mecca. The actual founding of the city came in 1718 by Father Antonio Olivares, when he established Mission San Antonio de Valero, which became permanently etched in the annals of history in 1836 as the Alamo, where 189 defenders held the old mission against 4,000 Mexican for 13 days. The cry "Remember the Alamo" became the rallying point of the Texan revolution against Mexico. Located in the heart of downtown, today the Alamo is a shrine and museum.

Yanaguana Cruises, the river's floating transportation system, provides a novel method of sightseeing and people-watching in downtown San Antonio. Groups can also dine aboard open-air, candle-lit cruisers as they wind their way along the scenic waterway. River taxis deliver visitors to the Rivercenter, a dazzling three-level glass shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, and to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

Other downtown attractions are the Japanese Tea Gardens, IMAX Theatre, Tower of the Americas, and King William Historic District. Just outside the city you will find two major theme parks Sea World of Texas, the world's largest marine life park, and Six Flags Fiesta, Texas, the town built just for fun.

With over 300 days of sunshine annually and an average temperature of 68.8 degrees Fahrenheit, visitors to San Antonio will find an abundance of outdoor sports and recreation to challenge them. The first public golf course in Texas was built in San Antonio in 1916, and today their are more than 25 courses within a thirty minute drive of downtown. San Antonio also offers a wide variety of spectator sports the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA, San Antonio Dragons of the International Hockey League, and the San Antonio Missions minor league baseball team.

Other historical highlights of San Antonio include:

• La Villita, one of the original settlements, was comprised of Spanish soldiers and their families
• The Spanish Governor's Palace, which was the seat of government when San Antonio was the capital of the Spanish Province of Texas
• The San Fernando Cathedral, whose construction was started in 1731 by Canary Islanders
• The Jose Antonio Navarro State Historical Park, home of Navarro, a central figure in the formation of Texas
• Market Square, the largest Mexican marketplace outside of Mexico
• Steves Homestead, a mansion open to the public in the King William Historic District