The San Antonio Symphony Orchestra was established by musician and arts patron Anna Goodman Hertzberg and musical director Carl Hahn in 1905. The amateur ensemble performed regularly through the 1910s and 1920s under the direction of Arthur Claassen and Julien Paul Blitz, but was discontinued at some point. The revived San Antonio Symphony was formed by musical director Max Reiter in 1939. The ensemble quickly grew to be the only "major" professional orchestra in Texas. The Symphony was led from 1950 to 1976 by Victor Alessandro; during this time, the Young People's Concert series established and the symphony began recording performances with Mercury Records. Alessandro was succeeded as director by François H. Huybrechts (1978-1980), Lawrence Leighton Smith (1980-1985), Christopher Wilkins (1992-2000), Larry Rachleff (2004-2008), and Sebastian Lang-Lessing (2010-2020). The Symphony has suffered recurring financial difficulties from the 1980s through present day, including a bankruptcy cancelling the 2003-2004 season. Prominent musicians who have been members of the San Antonio Symphony include Robert L. Annis (clarinet, 1971-1973), Franz Benteler (violin, 1946-1947), Maximilian Dimoff (bass, 1990-1993), Julius Hegyi (violin, 1948-1951), Eugene Lacritz (clarinet, 1952-1958), Eric Rosenblith (violin, 1952-1955), Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio (violin, 1994-2007), Mark Sparks (flute, 1985-1987), Daniel Stolper (oboe, 1959-1964), Donald Wilerstein (violin, 1963-1964), and Clifton Williams (horn, 1949-1966).

Pat Ireland Nixon was born in Old Nixon, Texas, on November 29, 1883 to Robert Thomas and Fannie (Andrews) Nixon. He graduated from Luling High School in 1900, the Bingham School in Ashville, North Carolina in 1902, the University of Texas in 1905, and the John Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1909. Nixon married Olive Gray Read in 1912, and they had four sons.

Nixon opened his medical practice in San Antonio in 1911, and served patients in the city for more than fifty years. Nixon was an active member of the San Antonio community, serving on the San Antonio Board of Health, as president of the Bexar County Medical Association, and an active member of Laurel Heights Methodist Church. He was a frequent speaker for various San Antonio organizations. Nixon received an honorary doctorate from Trinity University in 1963.

In addition to his medical and community work, Nixon was an avid amateur historian. He authored five books: <i>A Century of Medicine in San Antonio</i> (1936), <i>The Medical Story of Early Texas</i> (1946), <i>A History of the Texas Medical Association</i> (1953), <i>The Early Nixons of Texas</i> (1956), and posthumously <i>Pat Nixon of Texas: Autobiography of a Doctor</i> (1979). He wrote numerous articles and essays as well. Nixon served as president of the San Antonio Historical Association, Texas State Historical Association, and the Philosophical Society of Texas, and received the Summerfield G. Roberts Award for best work on Texas history.

Nixon died on November 18, 1965.

Ursula Hall Lauderdale was born in Moberly, Missouri on July 29, 1872. She moved to Texas at a young age with her family, first residing in Gainesville and then Fort Worth. She moved to New York City and attended the Art Students League of New York and the Metropolitan Arts Studio. Her instructors included Michel Jacobs, William Devol, Robert Henri, Maurice Braun, and Frank Reaugh. She returned to North Texas and married attorney and Dallas county judge Edward Seay Lauderdale (1861-1930) around 1899. They lived in the Munger Place neighborhood of Old East Dallas and Highland Park. She was an art instructor at the Bush Temple of Fine Arts, a music conservatory, throughout the 1920s. During this time, she was most celebrated for the creation of a stained-glass window titled "Ruth" in the City Temple Presbyterian Church. Lauderdale was also involved in the Southwestern Chautauqua movement in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Lauderdale joined the faculty of Trinity University (then located in Waxahachie) as an art instructor for one year in 1928. She and Edward Lauderdale divorced in 1929, following her divorce she was briefly married to P.H. Rahl. They moved to San Antonio in 1930, and she set up a kiln and studio in the Menger Hotel, focusing on tile painting and oils. Lauderdale was part of the WPA Index of American Design Federal Arts Project, contributing several watercolor depictions of early American folk art. She was part of the first decade of studio artists in reimagined La Villita, setting up shop in 1946. In her La Villita studio she taught classes in portrait and china painting. She was a member of the Texas and National League of Pen Women and several art leagues. She passed away at the age of 95 in 1968. Lauderdale is considered to be an Texas impressionist painter, focusing on landscape and still-life, but is also identified as a “practical” folk artist working with wood, china, glass.

Henry Joseph Graham was born September 7, 1913 in Boerne, Texas. His parents were Joseph H. Graham, a lawyer, and Elizabeth Orynski Graham, a prominent preservationist in San Antonio. Henry had one sister, Wanda Graham, who married architect O'Neil Ford. Graham married Carolyn Hoon (1914-1976) in 1938; they had two children, William Henry (1942-1960) and Carolee Graham.

In 1936 Henry and Carolyn Graham purchased and renovated the Weyrich Building, the oldest extent commercial building in Boerne, before selling it to Elizabeth Graham in 1944. Henry worked as an editor for the Time-Life Corporation. In the 1960s, Henry was a central figure alongside his sister Wanda Ford in the opposition movement against the construction of the 281 freeway in San Antonio. As part of these efforts, he formed the Save Our City Organization.

Henry Graham died on September 21, 1997.