San Antonio Express-News"Though there has been speculation that the lighthouse dated back to the 1890s development of the manmade lake and surrounding subdivision — originally called West End Town — the evidence is that it was installed in 1936 as part of a federally funded improvement project intended to make the lake more attractive and usable as a municipal recreation area.
Since the early 1930s, says an announcement by Works Progress Administration (WPA) officials in the San Antonio Light, Dec. 11, 1935, it had been an “unsightly lake bed,” with a water level averaging about four feet and much less in hot or dry weather. With funds from the Depression-era federal agency combined with some of the proceeds from a city bond issue, the lake’s basin was excavated, channels to its Alazan Creek source were extended and a drain was rebuilt, with the intent of bringing the water level to an “ideal uniform depth” of six feet.
Made of concrete on a base of native stone, usually submerged by surrounding water, the lighthouse was budgeted at $847.42 — by far the lowest cost of any of the items in the project, which included a concession stand, two bridges, landscaping, improvements to the tennis courts, construction of parking lots and sidewalks for a total of more than $200,000.
Originally the property of the West End developers, Woodlawn Lake had been city property since 1928. As a sullen, untended puddle, it was more of a liability to the community than an asset. Over the next couple of decades, the lake and surrounding park were promoted successfully for swimming, boating and fishing; pageants, concerts and celebrations were held there, and the lighthouse often may be seen in the background of photographs.
Although the lighthouse — “a floodlight in the form of a realistic beacon,” according to a project update in the San Antonio Express, March 1, 1936 — was part of the mid-’30s redevelopment from its inception, it doesn’t seem to have been intended for the traditional purpose of such structures, placed along coastlines to warn ships off of rocks and shallows. If Woodlawn Lake ever had any rocks, they were removed during multiple dredgings, and the whole lake was only 35 acres across, with the lighthouse placed in the center. It was painted in candy stripes — usually red on white — in the traditional pattern to make the tower visible against a daylight sky, but there was no missing the Woodlawn lighthouse, always conspicuous in photographs taken of the lake from every direction.
Sometimes referred to in press accounts as “decorative” or even “diminutive,” the lighthouse was never touted as a safety feature, and it had its critics. “That island in Woodlawn Lake is what ladies call cute,” columnist Frank Laro declared in the San Antonio Light, Feb. 3, 1937. “But the lighthouse is what one might describe as a gross anachronism (like a brassiere on the Venus de Milo).”
The lighthouse — which has lasted longer than most of the other 1936 improvements — is part of many San Antonians’ memories of summer fun. During the early-to-mid-1950s, Linda Persyn remembers, “The family would load up on weekends and head to Woodlawn Lake to watch the regattas. The small sailboats would race to the lighthouse, circle it and return to the starting point.”
A decade or so later, “We used to float out to it and climb the knotted gym rope secured to the ladder inside the door,” says Michael Thompson, who lived across the street from the lake during the 1960s. “It just hung there, inviting us to get in the door and then up the ladder to the top, where there was a drop platform so you could stand.”
Remaining steadfast through successive renovations during the ’60s and ’80s, the lighthouse is still in good shape, and the light still works, says Kelly Irvin, Parks and Recreation spokesperson. The lights are on a timer that turns on at 7:30 p.m. and off at 11 p.m. “It isn’t used for safety purposes,” says Irvin, “but rather (as) pleasing aesthetics for the lake.”
An older cousin of this column put it most succinctly: “What is the lighthouse in Woodlawn Lake for?” asked reader Jeff Wicks of the Action Line column in the San Antonio Light, March 3, 1967. “To be picturesque,” answered the unnamed columnist, “which it is.”