Uncovering the Alamo Quarry Market's supposed haunted history
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The Quarry Market's flagship building. Photo: Madalyn Mendoza/Axios
Look closely while strolling through the Alamo Quarry Market and you'll catch glimpses of its past — smokestacks, photos wallpapering the theater lobby, machinery relics and maybe even whispers of a ghost or two.
Why it matters: While the landmark smokestacks hint at the Alamo Heights area's industrial past, its full history remains less well-known — plus, who doesn't love a good ghost story on Halloween?
Flashback: The Alamo Cement Company moved its operation there in 1924, back when it was a remote spot.
- Because the plant was 2 miles from the nearest streetcar stop, the company established Cementville, a close-knit village in what's now the Quarry Golf Course and Lincoln Heights, to support its employees, according to the Express-News.
- The predominantly Hispanic community had cottages, a pool, a school and more.
- Though most of the buildings were demolished when the company moved in the 1980s, many San Antonians still recall growing up in Cementville.
The latest: TikTok account Vela Cultura recently spotlighted this history, focusing on lesser-known rumors of haunting.
- Reports of mysterious kicks on the seats of the building's Regal movie theater, eerie laughter and ghostly apparitions are frequently tied to the building.
- The theater, Gold's Gym and a few shops are housed in a building that was once a shed for clinker, a key cement ingredient, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
What they're saying: TikTokers shared similarly creepy encounters in the video's comments.
- The account for Learning Express, a business next door to the theater, chimed in to share quippy lore of a "toy store ghost."
- Others joked that the theater's scariest feature is its lack of reclining seats.
The bottom line: Cement worker specters or not, the Quarry Alamo Market has an intriguing history and is a living reminder of the city's cement industry, which is one of its oldest and largest.
- It was thought to be the first plant west of the Mississippi River for portland, a type of cement that uses limestone.
- "There's a lot of history of concrete and cement in San Antonio," Jan Prusinski, executive director of the Cement Council of Texas, told the Express-News in 2016 as the city celebrated Belknap Street's recognition as the oldest concrete street in Texas. "San Antonio is the birthplace of the cement industry west of the Mississippi."