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Aquarena stepping away from amusement park past
A $2.4 million project will remove the last vestiges from the Aquarena Center's time
as an amusement park and resort.
By Andrea Lorenz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 27, 2008
SAN MARCOS Ralph the Swimming Pig is long gone, but the aesthetics of Aquarena
Center haven't changed much, even as the mission and focus of the former amusement
park shifted toward education more than a decade ago.
New challenges underscore the need to restore the 90-acre center and surrounding
wetlands on Spring Lake north of downtown: The center's shops have flooded, the tram
ride has been deemed unsafe, and dilapidated structures, including the submarine
theater where visitors once watched Ralph and Aqua Maids swim, are hurting the
ecosystem.
An agreement last week between Texas State University's River Systems Institute,
which oversees the center, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will bring the
project to its closing stages. In the next three years, the corps will demolish
several structures, restore native grasses and build a park for $2.4 million, of
which the federal government will pay $1.5 million and the university about
$850,000.
For most of the 20th century, the Aquarena Springs Resort operated as an amusement
park. In 1928, Arthur B. Rogers built a hotel out of what is now the Texas Rivers
Center. In 1946, son Paul Rogers launched the first glass-bottom boat ride, and
Ralph took his first swine dive in 1969. The focus changed from enterta
inment to education and preservation in 1994 when Texas State bought the springs and
surrounding 90 acres for $7 million. The university kept Ralph and other attractions
until 1996.
"For an entire generation, it was the largest commercial tourism draw in the state,"
Andy Sansom , director of the River Systems Institute, said.
Today, the center offers tours, including a glass-bottom boat ride, with lectures on
the environment.
Spring Lake, where the San Marcos Springs bubble up from the Edwards Aquifer and
feed the San Marcos River, is home to eight endangered or threatened species.
Anthropological evidence shows humans have used the site for at least 12,000 years,
Sansom said.
"I've been working on preserving and protecting places all my life, and this may be
the single most significant environmental place I've ever worked on," Sansom said.
Ron Coley , the director of Aquarena Center, said the tram, submarine theater and
even the parking lot would be demolished in the next three years.
The old inn has already been renovated and will continue to be used for offices and
possibly a visitors center.
In addition to the money paid to buy the center and for the corps contract, the
university and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spent about $3.5 million to
renovate the inn.
Next, Texas State will develop a master plan of future projects, with estimated
costs, but all renovations should be complete by 2012, Sansom said.
"Whole generations of Texans had come here," Sansom said.
"I just can't imagine the word Aquarena not somehow being associated with this
place."
Aquarena stepping away from amusement park past
A $2.4 million project will remove the last vestiges from the Aquarena Center's time
as an amusement park and resort.
By Andrea Lorenz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 27, 2008
SAN MARCOS Ralph the Swimming Pig is long gone, but the aesthetics of Aquarena
Center haven't changed much, even as the mission and focus of the former amusement
park shifted toward education more than a decade ago.
New challenges underscore the need to restore the 90-acre center and surrounding
wetlands on Spring Lake north of downtown: The center's shops have flooded, the tram
ride has been deemed unsafe, and dilapidated structures, including the submarine
theater where visitors once watched Ralph and Aqua Maids swim, are hurting the
ecosystem.
An agreement last week between Texas State University's River Systems Institute,
which oversees the center, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will bring the
project to its closing stages. In the next three years, the corps will demolish
several structures, restore native grasses and build a park for $2.4 million, of
which the federal government will pay $1.5 million and the university about
$850,000.
For most of the 20th century, the Aquarena Springs Resort operated as an amusement
park. In 1928, Arthur B. Rogers built a hotel out of what is now the Texas Rivers
Center. In 1946, son Paul Rogers launched the first glass-bottom boat ride, and
Ralph took his first swine dive in 1969. The focus changed from enterta
inment to education and preservation in 1994 when Texas State bought the springs and
surrounding 90 acres for $7 million. The university kept Ralph and other attractions
until 1996.
"For an entire generation, it was the largest commercial tourism draw in the state,"
Andy Sansom , director of the River Systems Institute, said.
Today, the center offers tours, including a glass-bottom boat ride, with lectures on
the environment.
Spring Lake, where the San Marcos Springs bubble up from the Edwards Aquifer and
feed the San Marcos River, is home to eight endangered or threatened species.
Anthropological evidence shows humans have used the site for at least 12,000 years,
Sansom said.
"I've been working on preserving and protecting places all my life, and this may be
the single most significant environmental place I've ever worked on," Sansom said.
Ron Coley , the director of Aquarena Center, said the tram, submarine theater and
even the parking lot would be demolished in the next three years.
The old inn has already been renovated and will continue to be used for offices and
possibly a visitors center.
In addition to the money paid to buy the center and for the corps contract, the
university and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spent about $3.5 million to
renovate the inn.
Next, Texas State will develop a master plan of future projects, with estimated
costs, but all renovations should be complete by 2012, Sansom said.
"Whole generations of Texans had come here," Sansom said.
"I just can't imagine the word Aquarena not somehow being associated with this
place."
