No place in San Antonio has drawn generations of family weekends like Woodlawn Lake. Flip through any S.A. family photo album, and chances are there's a snapshot or two of toddlers feeding ducks, teens lazing on the pier and granddads fishing.The vision of 19th century real estate developers, Woodlawn Lake was built to attract residents to what was then a subdivision on the rural west side of San Antonio. Through the years, it featured vaudeville acts and outdoor movies, added fishing piers, boat docks, running trails and raspa trucks. Woodlawn Lake is now considered one of San Antonio’s urban core neighborhoods, but when it was first developed in the late 19th century, it helped create a new frontier for the city’s growth. The neighborhood, on the near Northwest Side, was among the first subdivisions built outside San Antonio’s city limits when three investors laid its groundwork in 1887 through their company, the West End Town Company. The area, which was at the end of a streetcar line, was known then as “West End."
