Photos provide a rare look into the San Antonio Light archives, 25 years after the last issue

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Springtime means less than nothing to Miss Vivian Geyer, above. She is one of several hundred S.A. boys and girls who are doing some extra studying in summer schools. While it is mighty hot to be staying indoors these days, Miss Geyer says summer school is made bearable by an ice cream cone or two. Published in the San Antonio Light June 11, 1928.

There'll be a big splash in the old swimmin' hole when this bunch of youngsters reaches Camp Laf-a-Lot, near Comfort. Miss Maxine Hall took the first carload of children up. They will stay at the camp, maintained by Elks, three weeks and then other groups will have their turns. Published in the San Antonio Light June 4, 1928.

Billy Allen, 11 (from left), J.P. Harmon, 15, and Merrill Snyder, 14, pose at juvenile ward of the Bexar County Jail. The boys ended up there after piloting the Nancy Lee, a 12-foot, flat-bottomed boat, from Corpus Christi to Portland Thursday. From there, they boarded a truck that took them to Three Rivers, and then another that brought them to San Antonio. The boys then decided to sleep in a Missouri Pacific boxcar, where Radio Patrolmen A.D. Saucedo and Charles Meadows found them snuggled down in the loose hay trying to forget empty stomachs. The boys will be returned to Corpus Christi Friday. Published in the San Antonio Light Feb. 11, 1938.

Mrs. Jack Foster (left) and Mrs. William Wyatt take advantage of windy days to go kite-flying — even as do the youngsters these afternoons. Published in the San Antonio Light Feb. 4, 1938.

Susan and Dorothy Crawford escape the heat at Woodlawn Pool. Published in the San Antonio Light May 10, 1953.

"Away in a manger —," Jean, John and Stephen Halbert learn of the birth of the Little Lord Jesus in the Christmas story read by their mother, Mrs. John Halbert. The family is here from Mexico City to spend the holidays with Mrs. Halbert's mother, Mrs. Edward G. Brittingham. Published in the San Antonio Light Dec. 23, 1962.

The first baby of the New Year 1973, Michael A. Scott, sleeps close to his mom, Mrs. Keith Scott, at Wilford Hall Air Force Hospital. The eight pound, one ounce boy was born at 12:06 a.m. Published in the San Antonio Light Jan. 1, 1973.

Bexar County Sheriff's deputies put handcuffs on Richard Obregon, 18, after he was arrested Friday in Southeast Bexar County. Obregon is charged with assault to murder and robbery by assault in connection with the shooting and beating of Sherry Korzekwa, 19. Officials say Obregon, an unemployed laborer, shot his one-time high school sweetheart Korzekwa in the back, neck, and possibly the finger at her office in the 100 block of Seale Road Friday morning. Korzekwa also had two head lacerations caused by hammer blows. Published in the San Antonio Light Jan. 13, 1973.

These three San Antonians display the "peace sign" Saturday as the Vietnam cease-fire went into effect. Their excitement and happiness was shared by thousands of residents who participated in celebrations across the city marking the end of the war. Published in the San Antonio Light Jan. 28, 1973.

A solemn procession of mourners files past the casket containing the body of President Lyndon B. Johnson at the LBJ Library in Austin. Johnson was pronounced dead on arrival at San Antonio International Airport Monday en route to Brooke Army Medical Center, where he had been headed for emergency treatment. Published in the San Antonio Light Jan. 24, 1973.

Outspoken oilman Bill Rudman gestures animatedly while describing the plight of Texas wildcatters. Rudman, 62, says wildcatters will be "drummed out of business" by 1980 if the federal government does not curtail petroleum imports from the Middle East. Published in the San Antonio Light Jan. 19, 1973.

Mrs. Hector M. Acosta holds a photo of her husband beside her Christmas tree still laden with gifts in the family's living room. Mrs. Acosta was notified Sunday by an official at Brooks AFB that her husband, a first lieutenant in the Air Force who was missing in action since his aircraft was downed over North Vietnam last Dec. 9, is on a new prisoners of war list. Published in the San Antonio Light Jan. 30, 1973.

Twenty-Five years ago the media scene in San Antonio changed forever when the last issue of the San Antonio Light hit the streets Thursday, Jan. 28, 1993.

After more than a hundred years, and many decades of being part of a two-paper city, Hearst turned out The Light after purchasing the rival paper, the Rupert Murdoch owned San Antonio Express-News.

RELATED: 1993 - The year the Light went out

Hearst operations in San Antonio were transferred to the Express-News and some Light employees were hired onto the Express-News staff. So journalists who had just days before been heated competitors, were now forced to integrate and get along.

Twenty-five years later, more than a few of those Light/Express-News employees — once part of that rivalry and sometime testy integration — still bust their backs (but never deadline) to bring San Antonio its news.

Part of that mashing together of brands and news philosophies was a photo archive that had doubled in size.

READ ALSO: Photos show life in San Antonio 30 years ago in 1988

In looking at those archive photos we have discovered a visual history of San Antonio.

From early labor struggles of the 1930s in downtown and visits from Babe Ruth and presidents, to the very first animals at the San Antonio Zoo and San Antonio's first recorded big snowfall in 1949, you will be enthralled with these photos.

Stay turned onto mySA.com throughout the year as we search and bring you more photos, and memories, from the San Antonio Light archives.