Celebrations have been going on downtown this past week, all to recognize 50 years of history.
The Tower of the Americas opened its doors to the public 50 years ago Wednesday.
"San Antonio is 300. The tower is 50. If you go into the tower there's six historical panels of how Texas became Texas," Jennifer Boland, spokesperson for the Tower of the Americas
The tower was built as the theme structure of the 1968 World's Fair, which was celebrated for six months.
Sarah Gould, the lead curator for the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures, says one of the exhibits shows some of the original sketches of the tower.
"When the tower was built it completely transformed our skyline," Gould said, "and until this day it is the tallest building downtown and there's actually an ordinance it's by law the tallest thing here."
The name Tower of the Americas was picked out of hundreds of names submitted in a contest.
"I think was chosen because it connected to the theme of the fair, which was a confluence of civilization and the Americas," Gould said. "The idea of the name recognizing all of the Americas and the connections between the Americas really tied into the theme."
She's hoping people will take this time to reflect and learn from our history.
"In 1968, when we hosted Hemisfair, it was a time of great social change of social turmoil in a sense," Gould said. "50 years later, I think we 're still dealing with a lot of those issues that we were dealing with in 1968, so I hope this is the time for us to reflect on what we can do better."