The Spanish Governor’s Palace was constructed in the early 18th century and restored in the 1930s. This National Historic Landmark represents the last visual remnants of the Presidio San Antonio de Béjar. The Presidio was established as the result of a rivalry between Spain and France in the early 1700s for dominance of the territory that is now a part of the southwestern United States.
To protect his claim against French encroachment, King Philip V of Spain ordered the governor of Coahuila and Texas, Don Martín de Alarcón, to build a mission and presidio at the headwaters of the San Antonio River and San Pedro Creek. On May 5, 1718, Alarcón established the Presidio San Antonio de Béjar to protect the newly established Mission San Antonio de Valero (later known as the Alamo).