Military Plaza, known historically as Plaza de Armas, functioned from Spanish colonial times as San Antonio's principal military parade ground and civic gathering space, situated adjacent to the Spanish Governor's Palace and near San Fernando Cathedral at the heart of the original villa. Its earliest function was administrative and defensive, serving as the drilling and assembly ground for presidio soldiers and as the civic center where royal proclamations and local governance business were conducted, reflecting Spanish colonial urban planning that paired a military plaza with a neighboring commercial plaza. Over the nineteenth century the plaza's function broadened into a bustling public marketplace, and it became famous for its outdoor food vendors, particularly the Chili Queens, Mexican and Tejana women who set up open-air stalls each evening selling chili con carne and other dishes to residents and visitors, turning the plaza into a lively nighttime social and culinary gathering spot that drew notice from travelers nationwide. This market and street-vending function continued into the early twentieth century before city officials phased it out for sanitation and traffic concerns. Today Military Plaza functions as a public civic plaza in downtown San Antonio, framed by City Hall, and is used for public gatherings, civic ceremonies, and community events, preserving its long-standing role as a central gathering place even as its specific military and marketplace functions have given way to modern civic use.