Area History: Salado Creek
The San Antonio River may have been an artery of transportation, with groups traveling long distances in canoes. The first Spanish visitors spent seven years in Texas between 1528 and 1535. Later, members of the Lipan Apache, Comanche, and Tonkawa tribes roamed the region. They often camped along Salado Creek, which runs through Phil Hardberger Park. Eventually, Spanish missions and forts were established across South Texas and in present-day Bexar County. Native groups lived and worked in the missions, leading to the assimilation of many groups after the secularization of the missions in the early 19th century.
Photo courtesy of Institute of Texan Cultures/Vic Fritze
For over 30 years, Los Patios has been a premier destination for hospitality delivered in a preserved, natural setting.
The most surprising thing to first time visitors is that we’re here at all. Twelve unblemished acres, hundreds of majestic trees, the cool water of Salado Creek, all tucked into the middle of the City.
the History of Los Patios
The site of Los Patios was once inhabited by nomadic Indians drawn to the shade and water of Salado Creek. The settlers of the early 1800’s owned all of the land north of Loop 410 including the airport land to Wetmore, north to Huebner and west to Perrin Beitel. The prominent family at the time were the Pape family. We know for a fact that an descendent of Conrad Pape, lived on the land where The Inn at Los Patios now stands, and amazingly enough this ancestor actually lived here at The Inn in her senior years. She often told us stories of growing up on the Salado Creek, and her family trying to be nice and cautious with the Indians, always letting them steal a chicken or what not. She told us of riding on horseback from our area all the way to New Braunfels.
In 1968, Los Patios as we now know it was founded by geologist and naturalist John Spice. Los Patios Restaurant area was designed to be an oasis for visitors and native San Antonin’s alike. Only minutes from downtown and the San Antonio International Airport, and included the included and heavily wooded twelve acres where the Inn at Los Patios stands today.