The Lavaca Neighborhood is the oldest existing neighborhood in San Antonio. It is bounded on the north by Durango Street, on the south by the Union Pacific Railroad Tracks, on the east by IH-37, and on the west by South St. Mary's Street. The Lavaca area is defined by its small 19th century vernacular houses built primarily by working class families beginning in the early 1870s. This was approximately the same time that affluent San Antonians were building much larger homes several blocks away in the King William neighborhood. The neighborhood's original residents included carpenters, stonemasons, shopkeepers, clerks, tailors, bartenders, teamsters and butchers. The houses are primarily 1-story with some 2-story buildings interspersed and range from the very simple to the highly decorated; notable styles are the vernacular soft limestone or caliche block "saltbox" cottage, Victorian cottage, two-story Victorian, Craftsman and a few Neoclassical.
