More Than Two Decades After The City Named The Facility After George Whitfield Jr., His Once-Prominent Name Has Shrunk From View, Prompting A New Plaque Compromise
For more than two decades, the building at 719 S. Santa Rosa has carried the name of George Whitfield Jr., the longtime city employee credited with transforming how San Antonio preserved and retrieved its public records.
His name is still there. But today, you may have to walk up to the building or even squint your eyes to find it.
A photograph from the 2002 dedication shows “GEORGE WHITFIELD, JR.” displayed in large letters across the brick facade, directly above the words “Municipal Records Facility.”
Today, that prominent lettering is gone. In its place is a large map-style sign identifying the Municipal Archives & Records Center, with Whitfield’s name printed in considerably smaller lettering near the top.
The change came amid a broader renovation of the Municipal Archives & Records Center. State project records show the city undertook an approximately $2 million renovation of the facility beginning in September 2024, with work scheduled for completion in August 2025. The project included renovations to roughly 12,500 square feet of office and warehouse space.
Just months later, in November 2025, the City Clerk’s Office held a ribbon-cutting at the facility to open the new San Antonio Municipal Archives Museum, a public exhibition space featuring documents, photographs, artifacts and other materials spanning more than 300 years of city history.
While Whitfield’s name remains in the city’s official designation for the property and his photograph is still displayed inside the facility, the difference outside is unmistakable.
That change has troubled Joseph Randle, a former city employee who worked under Whitfield in the 1990s and remained his longtime friend, continuing to champion the work Whitfield and his staff did to modernize San Antonio’s records system.
From A Name Across The Building To A Name 20/20 Vision Can Miss
Within weeks of the new Municipal Archives Museum opening, Randle began contacting local news outlets about a change at the facility. George Whitfield Jr.’s name was no longer displayed across the exterior wall as it had been for more than two decades.
Initially, Randle believed the name had been removed altogether, though an Observer visit to the facility found that was not technically the case. Whitfield’s name had instead been incorporated into the new sign but at a fraction of its former prominence.
Randle described the change more pointedly, saying Whitfield’s name had been “greatly deprecated” from the recognition it once received. He continued, saying the presentation does not reflect what Whitfield contributed to San Antonio or the significance of the City Council’s decision to name the building for him more than 20 years ago.
He said Whitfield should have “pride of place” at the facility he helped make possible.
Randle also pointed to other city government buildings whose names remain prominently associated with the people they honor, including the Frank D. Wing Municipal Court Building and the Cliff Morton Development and Business Services Center.
The contrast, he said, makes Whitfield’s diminished exterior recognition harder to ignore.
Whitfield Changed How San Antonio Kept Its History
The significance of the dispute becomes clearer when considering Whitfield’s history with the city.
Born and raised on San Antonio’s East Side, Whitfield joined the City of San Antonio on Nov. 1, 1960, and spent more than four decades in municipal service before retiring Jan. 30, 2002.
George Whitfield Jr., San Antonio’s longtime municipal records manager, surveys the condition of records stored at the former San Antonio Municipal Courts Building as part of his work to improve and centralize the city’s records system. Video: Joseph Randle via YouTube.
He became San Antonio’s first municipal records manager and helped replace an outdated box-and-file approach with an organized records management system that eventually incorporated computer technology.
Whitfield took his vision for a centralized records operation, clearing the way for the establishment of a records division under the City Clerk’s Office.
The operation ultimately developed into a facility capable of holding enormous quantities of public documents, including police and fire records, city documents, vital records and other materials that preserve the institutional history of San Antonio.
Whitfield often credited those accomplishments to his staff, which included Randle.
The records operation managed tens of thousands of cubic feet of printed documents and millions of microfilmed records while developing retention schedules for city departments.
The work earned recognition well beyond City Hall. The Observer reported in 2002 that Whitfield’s leadership helped the city complete an inventory and retention schedule for municipal departments and earn state and professional recognition for its records management program.
Randle Asked The City For Answers
After getting little clarity from the City Clerk’s Office, Randle eventually turned to the Texas Public Information Act.
The Municipal Archives & Records operation falls under San Antonio’s Office of the City Clerk, which is responsible for preserving official city records and maintaining the city’s archives. Its holdings include City Council minutes, ordinances, resolutions, maps, photographs, audio and visual materials and other records documenting the work and history of city government. Municipal Archives & Records staff also oversee the city’s records management and retention program.
The office is currently led by City Clerk Debbie Racca-Sittre, who was appointed to the position in May 2022.
In an open records request, he asked the city for records explaining the removal of Whitfield’s original lettering, associated work orders and costs, the status of framed displays honoring Whitfield inside the facility and documents connected to the original renaming. His request argued that diminishing Whitfield’s recognition appeared inconsistent with the intent of the City Council action that originally honored him.
The Office of the City Clerk responded to Randle’s request Jan. 27, 2025, saying it had conducted an “extensive, good faith effort” and located only two responsive records, a contract involving a Municipal Archives and Records Center sculpture and correspondence concerning power washing and sealing of the building’s exterior walls.
Video slideshow from the 2002 ceremony honoring George Whitfield Jr. show the Municipal Records Facility after it was renamed in recognition of his decades of service to the City of San Antonio. Video: Joseph Randle via YouTube.
What Randle says he never received was the answer he was looking for or an explanation for why Whitfield’s original, prominent name display was replaced with lettering so much smaller.
However, he said discussions since his public records request have produced in his words a “compromise” involving a plaque with recognition for Whitfield near the flagpole outside the facility instead of replacing the sign.
According to Randle, Whitfield has informed him that the new plaque has been agreed to and that it is scheduled to be unveiled at the municipal records building September 15 at 9 a.m.
More than 24 years after San Antonio first placed Whitfield’s name prominently across the building, the dispute over its diminished visibility has raised a broader question about how the city preserves the people behind its institutions — and, in this case, has prompted an effort to restore some of that recognition.
