History of area near Babcock/Huebner pre-2000's? (San Antonio, Mart: mobile home, neighborhoods)

[makiten]

I moved to this area a few months ago, and while I don't much care for it (though it is convenient so that I can take the bus instead of driving to get around), I'd like to know my about the area.

I've only been about 2 times to the Babcock & Huebner intersection before I visited the area to check out residences--about 7 years ago and several months before the new HEB opened (I actually had to stop in the now-closed HEB in that shopping center), but don't know much about this area except how it is now. Some other thread have eluded to age being a reason the area doesn't look so great, others also point to money.

Has this section really been "completely" developed by the 90's? Some residential areas claim that they've started development in the 80's but didn't finish until 20 years later. Some of the places (primarily north of Huebner) look fairly decent, but west of Babcock and south of Huebner, it feels like you have some new developments, but same old nonsense that led to its decline? What was this area like around 1980-2000?

[Willsatx]

I used to live in the area (grew up there) and it has changed in the last 25+ years, the HEB I would say if I can remember opened in the early to mid 80's (It moved from Bandera-Huebner). But most of the subdivisons have been there about that time.

[OzzyRules]

I can remember eating at a Mexican restaurant near where the Martha's is now back in the early 80's. It might have been Martha's but I'm not certain. There was not much else around there, surprisingly. It seemed like a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

[The Black Irish]

Used to be a burger place called Dundees a lil past there towards Medical. Also the stretch from Huebner towards Fredricksburg used to be wide open spaces. Now it is congested as balls over there.

[LindaGrace]

My sister moved to San Antonio in 1987 and she lived in that area. There wasn't much out there - it was still a lot of pastures and fallow land. Lots of cow grazing going on out there back then. It really started to become more populated in the mid-'90s with a lot of neighborhoods thrown up fast and cheap in the late '90s and early 2000s.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by OzzyRules

I can remember eating at a Mexican restaurant near where the Martha's is now back in the early 80's. It might have been Martha's but I'm not certain. There was not much else around there, surprisingly. It seemed like a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

In the 80's Martha's was in a mobile home on the westerly side of Huebner Rd. It's still owned by the same family, our favorite server there always tells me she remembers me when I was a young boy working across the street and down a ways at Bluebonnet Ranch.

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by The Black Irish

Used to be a burger place called Dundees a lil past there towards Medical. Also the stretch from Huebner towards Fredricksburg used to be wide open spaces. Now it is congested as balls over there.

Yes Dundees was next to the Stop N Go (Now Valero) at Babcock and Eckhert. I used to love that place they had another location on San Pedro before it turned into 281.

[Willsatx]

I remember the Burger King (Now tink a taco) opened in 1987, and there was not much out there but the shopping center.

[OzzyRules]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

In the 80's Martha's was in a mobile home on the westerly side of Huebner Rd. It's still owned by the same family, our favorite server there always tells me she remembers me when I was a young boy working across the street and down a ways at Bluebonnet Ranch.

The one I ate at seems more like the new place. But maybe it was just the area on the left after you walked in. I can remember booths like in a small diner. Maybe they just expanded it after that? Also, when I went it was in a regular storefront building, like it is now.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by OzzyRules

The one I ate at seems more like the new place. But maybe it was just the area on the left after you walked in. I can remember booths like in a small diner. Maybe they just expanded it after that? Also, when I went it was in a regular storefront building, like it is now.

I left SA in '87 for the military and I think it moved during that time, so pretty sure it's the same place.