Dignowity Park is east of downtown on “Dignowity Hill” — land once owned by Dr. Anthony M. Dignowity, a Czech immigrant who made San Antonio his home in 1846. He stopped in San Antonio on his way to fight in the U.S.-Mexican War, and stayed after seeing that the city needed a doctor. Dr. Dignowity became a prominent physician and invested in real estate, mainly on the city’s east side. The land was not formally dedicated as a park, however, and was sold in 1948 for construction of Baptist Memorial Hospital. Three years later, the city repurchased it, and in 1952, the land was finally dedicated for “park and recreation purposes only” and officially named Dignowity Park.