programming on america is history every weekend. follow us on twitter at c-span history for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. >> the c-span cities tour , exploring country the american story. -- been11, we and more to more than two hundred cities. our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. next, a look at one of our city tour visit. we are standing on the historic part of the san antonio river walk, which has developed into one of the worlds great parks. it is not something that started out to be this. back into the 1700s when san antonio was first established, this was the major source of water for the residents of the city. there were various irrigation

ditches that came from it and furnished water to the growing community. as the city grew, the railroad came in the 1870's and the population exploded, gravity driven water systems were not working. they couldn't get water to run over a hill, so a new water system was established with artesian wells. which, when drilled into the ground and when lowered into the ground, they lowered the water table. so the san antonio river was frequently going dry. at that point, in 1914, the city created a park through downtown along what was to be the riverwalk. a park and plantings, not too much else. which was here for about 25 years, until with the wpa, a project was initiated to develop the riverwalk.

an architect by the name of robert husband, came up with a design that would give a fanciful appearance to the area. it would include shops and boats and colorful walkways that would dress up the rivers. which did all right, except that nobody came down to the riverwalk. it became dangerous. it was not until san antonio's world's fair in 1968, that enough hotels were built on the riverwalk to generate a strong pedestrian traffic, strong enough to support businesses, which happened and all of a sudden there was a lot of commercial development and the riverwalk became successful as we know it. by being below the level of the street, it is warmer down here. we have essentially a

semitropical botanical garden in the plantings along the riverwalk. those not the cold breeze as you have above. plants thrive that could not thrive at street level. another hallmark of the riverwalk are the cypress trees which are planted along the banks. these have roots that go down and hold the soil. they also get very tall. and so, as the hotels are built along the riverwalk, the cypress 's give a sense of scale. they keep the tall buildings from overwhelming the riverwalk itself. so you get a sense of being in a very different environment. the part of the river we are on now, the riverwalk, is two miles. this was originally a loop that actually headed east and then south and west again. and it was connected by a flood control channel so the water

would not have to come all the way around. this is the historical part of the riverwalk in the 1930's. about 10 years ago, the riverwalk was expanded, to the north, in an area called the museum reach because there are several museums there, and there has been commercial devout meant -- development to the north. it was also extended south so the length of the riverwalk is now 15 miles. the advantage to the starts and stops we have had along the way, is the buildings have evolved and the surroundings have evolved in almost a haphazard way, which does not give the appearance of the place which was suddenly created in one stroke. to be what it is. it gives a sense of the passage of time and variety of interest, that is much of the charm of the riverwalk.

and other watch this programs on the history of communities across the country c-span.org/citiestour. announcer: 60 years ago this fall, massachusetts senator john f. kennedy and incumbent vice president richard nixon met for their second televised debate. the candidates took questions from a panel of journalists on u.s. policy towards cuba, relations with the soviet union, combating the spread of communism, and civil rights in america. senator kennedy defeated vice president nixon in a close general election, with less than 1% of the popular vote separating the two. the hour-long debate took place in washington, d.c. mr. mcgee: this is frank mcgee, nbc news in washington. this is the second in a series of programs unmatched in history.