In 1989, San Antonio Conservation Society’s President, Peggy Tobin, published a look back to her family’s small 1930s home at Woodlawn Hills and its lake (former West End Lake) and reminisced about living in clutches of cozy cottages before urban sprawl. At the conclusion of her early memories, she admits that she never knew of a famous author, who grew up in her neighborhood, “Those of us who were children in the little houses on Huisache and Mulberry never heard of Katherine Anne Porter, who by the 1930s was conquering New York and Paris.” Yet in her last sentence, she reveals that other neighbors were noticed. “We were well aware of the Peacock Boys, mysterious swashbucklers marching in their drill yard.”
Welcome to Peacock Military Academy (PMA)! From its private school side to its very public persona, it was part of the fabric of San Antonio for eighty years. PMA was showcased when marching in the Battle of Flowers parade, and the performances of exotic sounding and very unique Zouaves and Monkey Drill teams, whose demonstrations brought hundreds out to the Woodlawn Lake school; you did not have to wait for the circus to come to town, as the advanced skills of horsemanship and drill marching were cleverly packaged by the quintessential military preparatory school. Over 15,000 cadets graced the halls of their sprawling campus from 1894 till its closing fifty years ago in 1973.
Join us on Saturday, March 18 at 10:00 AM, to learn firsthand about this iconic academy in a retrospective. Four of those former young cadets, along with Donna Peacock, the granddaughter of PMA founder Wesley Peacock, who grew up on the Peacock Military Academy campus, will share their adventures and memories @ 10:00 at the Boerne (Patrick Heath) Public Library’s the Community Room. Additionally, the library’s ground floor gallery will honor the Peacock Military Academy with relics and historical images. Please email any questions to Bryden Moon or call him at (830) 336-3375.