Italian immigrants began arriving in San Antonio in the 1870s. By 1890 a number of families had established an Italian neighborhood northwest of downtown. In April of that year a small group gathered together in a fruit store at the corner of Commerce Street and Plaza de Armas to organize a benevolent association. They obtained a charter for the Christopher Columbus Italian Society on May 14, 1890.

Meeting in a variety of locations, the society conducted a fund-raising campaign and in 1926 purchased property at the corner of Morales (now Piazza Italia) and Concho (now Columbus) streets. Part of the land was conveyed to the Catholic Diocese of San Antonio for the construction of San Francesco Di Paola Church, and the Christopher Columbus Society Hall was built next door the following year.