A clash over remembering the Alamo Richard Webner, The Washington Post May 8, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail Members of the Sons of the Republic of Texas, a lineage society for descendants of the state's founders, gather beneath the Cenotaph monument on Alamo Plaza in March 2020.Photo by Tamir Kalifa for The Washington Post SAN ANTONIO - The Alamo needs a makeover; on that, at least, everyone agrees. Plaster is flaking off the walls of the nearly 300-year-old former Spanish mission, the most revered battle site in Texas history. Its one-room exhibit space can hold only a fraction of key artifacts. And the surrounding plaza is a tourist circus, packed with novelty shops and a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum.