History of Medina Crossing School in San Antonio, Texas explored again.

Medina Crossing School was one of the many forgotten schools of San Antonio and Bexar County next to Berg’s Mill School and San Juan School along with several other schools. Not too much is known about Medina Crossing School. What is known is that Medina Crossing School was a rural school located way out in the county in San Antonio, Texas. Many historians have not covered this school nor has it been written in books. Many citizens of San Antonio seemed to have forgotten about this school’s existence or its presence.


Medina Crossing School was named after the Battle of the Medina River and Garza’s Crossing. This made since as the area was know as Medina. The community was called “Medina” or “Rancho Blas Herrera” in early records. Garza’s Crossing was one of five known river crossings used by either republican or royalist forces. Garza’s Crossing was also one of several campsites utilized by the Mexican Army during its approach to San Antonio before the Battle of the Alamo. (Ref: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrgjz, Garza’s Crossing)

“The battle of the Medina River was fought on August 18, 1813, between the forces of the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition under Jose Alvarez de Toledo, who had succeeded to the command of Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara, and a Spanish royalist force under Joaquin de Arrendono.

Toledo's 1,400 men, in one Mexican and one American division were lured into an ambush by Ignacio Elizondo, who had the Spanish forces on the west bank of the Medina. The battle lasted several hours. Americans were defeated. 300 hundred survivors fled towards Louisiana.”

(Ref: Battle of the Medina, The Handbook of Texas.)


Miguel Gonzales and other members of the Medina/Von Ormy community successfully petitioned for a community school to be named Garza's Crossing School in May 1900. Miguel was a proponents of education. (Ref: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85103461/miguel-gonzales)

Medina Crossing School was established as Garza's Crossing School in the summer of 1900 by Spanish settlers on Somerset Road. Medina Crossing School was located on a ranch owned by Adolf Herrera and the Ripps family. The school had a small number of students. The school was first known as Garza's Crossing School and later became Medina Crossing School in the late 1920s. (Ref: https://www.sanantonio.gov/portals/0/Files/HistoricPreservation/Blas_Herrera_NR_Nom.pdf)


The school was known as the Medina Crossing in 1928. So the name of the school was changed to Medina Crossing School. The name of Medina Crossing School was changed again to Medina School sometime in the 1940s or 1950s. Exactly when is unknown. (Ref: https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p15125coll4/id/1624)

According to the San Antonio Express, the last time Medina School had operated was in 1962. Medina School was part of District I aka District 1 in Bexar County. No reports of Medina School operating past 1962 have been found. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Page 31, Saturday, January 27, 1962)

The exact date of when Medina School closed in unknown. Traces of Medina School had all but disappeared by 1963. All that was left was a vacant field of grass on an empty lot. This could have meant the school building was either demolished, relocated, or sold to a private homeowner.

Medina Crossing School was located on 12311 Somerset Road, Von Ormy, Texas, US 78073. The other address for Medina Crossing School was 12311 Somerset Road, San Antonio, Texas, US 78073.