San Antonio

The Tower Life Building dominates the skyline above the San Antonio River Walk in San Antonio, Texas. During my brief trip to San Antonio, I was intrigued by the tall building just across the River Walk from where I was staying. It’s size made the building difficult to ignore, after all. So I looked it up and discovered that the building was built in 1929 as the Smith-Young Tower. At the time, its height of 404 feet tall made it the tallest building in San Antonio, a distinction that it held until 1968. It is still the tallest eight-sided building in the United States. The Smith-Young Tower was later renamed the Transit Tower, and it is now known as the Tower Life Building for its current owner, Tower Life Insurance Company.

Recently, I went on a quick business trip to San Antonio, Texas. And by “quick” I mean that I was there for less than 24 hours. Most of that time was spent either in meetings or sleeping. However, I did find a few moments to check out the San Antonio River Walk. The hotel I stayed at was right on the San Antonio River Walk. So after an early breakfast at the hotel, I went outside and was immediately on the River Walk. I went for a nice morning stroll to check out the scenery, and I ended up walking about a mile by the time I had doubled back to the hotel. In that time, I only saw a small portion of the River Walk, but it was definitely worth the time. As you can see, the views are pretty nice all along the river.