In 1858, a Texas family began holding ranchland that developers later wanted for 3,500 houses; in 2016, the family backed a plan to preserve 204 acres for a San Antonio park worth nearly $10 million -...
A century-and-a-half-old family ranch in northern San Antonio became the focus of a major conservation effort in June 2016, when the Classen-Steubing family agreed to sell 204 acres of largely undeveloped land to the city for a future park and protection of the Edwards Aquifer. The proposal, reported by Texas Public Radio and the San Antonio Express-News, offered an alternative to a residential development that could have brought as many as 3,500 homes and apartments to the site.