Native Americans originally lived near the San Antonio River Valley, in the San Pedro Springs area, calling the vicinity Yanaguana, meaning “refreshing waters”.
In 1536, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a shipwrecked captive of Native Americans, visited the interior of what would later be called Texas. He saw and described the river later to be named the San Antonio.
In 1691, a group of Spanish explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Native American settlement (located in the area of present-day La Villita) on June 13, the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padova, Italy, and named the place and river "San Antonio" in his honor.
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