Balcones Heights, Texas is unique among San Antonio's suburban cities. Its wooded homesites were promoted during the Depression as affordable for families of moderate means. Its residents incorporated in 1948 to gain zoning protection only to find themselves having to rely on revenue from traffic offenders to run the city. Then two new interstate highways intersected at Balcones Heights, making it a major crossroads. A regional shopping mall and other businesses soon filled half the city's territory, bringing sales tax revenues that funded a host of municipal services. Having marked its first half century, Balcones Heights now deals with issues of urban renewal and long-range planning to enhance its strategic setting mid-way between downtown San Antonio and fast-growing affluent suburban areas to the northwest.
Balcones Heights: a Crossroads of San Antonio, a history of the City by Lewis F. Fisher
