Austin, Texas

The City of Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Austin has a population of 656,562 people, making it the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 16th largest in the United States. A 2004 U.S. Census estimate placed the population of the city at 681,804. Austin is the county seat of Travis County and is situated in Central Texas. The Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing in the United States and is home to an estimated population of 1.4 million as of 2003.

History

Early settlers

For several hundred years before the arrival of European settlers, the area around present-day Austin was inhabited by a mixture of Tonkawa, Comanche, and Lipan Apache Indians, who fished and hunted along the creeks, including present-day Barton Springs.

Related Topics:
European - Tonkawa - Comanche - Lipan Apache - Barton Springs

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In the late 1700s the Spanish set up temporary missions in the area, later moving to San Antonio.

Related Topics:
Spanish - San Antonio

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Anglo-American settlers

The first Anglo-American settlers arrived in the area in the 1830s when Texas was still part of Mexico. They founded the village of Waterloo along the banks of the Colorado River. According to local folklore, Stephen F. Austin, the "father of Texas", negotiated a peace treaty with the local Indians at the site of the present day Treaty Oak after several settlers were killed in raids. According to local legend, Austin also negotiated a boundary treaty with the Indians that laid out the fledgling town's limits.

Related Topics:
Mexico - Stephen F. Austin - Treaty Oak

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Republic of Texas

In 1839, Waterloo was chosen to become the capital of the new Republic of Texas, and the town was renamed Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin.

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A grid plan for the new capital's streets was surveyed by Judge Edwin Waller (after whom Waller Creek was named). The grid survives nearly intact in present-day downtown Austin. The north-south streets of the grid were named for the rivers of Texas, following an east-west progression from Sabine Street to Rio Grande Street (Red River Street being "out of order" to the west of Sabine Street). The exception was the central thoroughfare Congress Avenue, which leads from the far south side of town over the river to the foot of the hill where the new Texas State Capitol was to be constructed. The original north-south grid was bookended by West Avenue and East Avenue (now Interstate 35).

Related Topics:
Grid plan - Judge Edwin Waller - Waller Creek - Sabine - Rio Grande - Red River - Congress Avenue - Texas State Capitol - Interstate 35

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The east-west streets of the grid followed a progression uphill from the river and were named after trees native to the region, with Pecan Street as the main east-west thoroughfare. The east-west streets were later renamed in a numbered progression, with Pecan Street becoming Sixth Street. The original tree-named streets survive in nostalgic names, including Pecan Street, which is the name of a locally-produced beer.

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In October 1839, the entire government of the Republic of Texas arrived by oxcart from Houston. By the next January, the population of the town was 839.

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Also in 1839, the Congress of the Republic of Texas set aside 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land near downtown Austin for a "university of the first class". This land would later become the central campus of the The University of Texas at Austin.

Related Topics:
Republic of Texas - The University of Texas at Austin

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In 1842, Austin almost lost its status as capital city during the Texas Archive War. President Sam Houston had tried to relocate the seat of government from Austin to Houston, and then to Washington-on-the-Brazos. In the dead of night on December 29, 1842, a group of men was sent to take the archives of Texas from Austin to Washington-on-the-Brazos. Angelina Eberly fired a cannon at the men, who made their escape, only to be caught by another group of men who returned the archives back to Austin.

Related Topics:
Texas Archive War - Sam Houston - Washington-on-the-Brazos - December 29 - 1842 - Angelina Eberly

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1845 to 1899

After Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845, two unsuccessful statewide elections were held that attempted to move the capital elsewhere.

Related Topics:
Texas - Union

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1861 to 1865, Texas was part of the Confederacy.

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In September 1881, the city schools admitted their first public school classes. That same year, the first institution of higher learning, the forerunner of Huston-Tillotson College, opened as the Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute.

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In 1882 construction began on the The University of Texas at Austin campus with the placement of the cornerstone of the Main Building. The university formally opened in 1883.

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The Texas State Capitol was completed in 1888 on the site specified in the 1839 plan. At the time it was billed as the "seventh largest building in the world."

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In 1891, the neighborhood of Hyde Park was developed north of the University of Texas as a streetcar suburb.

Related Topics:
Hyde Park - Streetcar suburb

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In 1893, the Great Granite Dam on the Colorado River was constructed, stabilizing the river's flow and providing hydroelectric power.

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1900 to 1969

In 1910, the concrete Congress Avenue Bridge across the Colorado River opened, fostering development along South Congress Avenue. The Littlefield Building at 6th and Congress downtown also opened this same year.

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In 1911, a streetcar line was extended into South Austin, allowing for the development of Travis Heights in 1913.

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In the 1930s, the Great Granite Dam was replaced by a series of seven dams built by the federal government, which created the string of reservoirs that now define the river's course through Austin. Lyndon Baines Johnson, then a member of the House of Representatives, was instrumental in getting the funding authorized for these dams.

Related Topics:
Lyndon Baines Johnson - House of Representatives

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On August 1, 1966, Austin was terrorized by Charles Whitman, who shot and killed 16 people with a high-powered rifle from the clocktower of the Main Building of the University of Texas. The event is considered the most traumatic in the city's history.

Related Topics:
August 1 - 1966 - Charles Whitman

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1970 to 1989

In the 1970s, Austin became a refuge for a group of Country and Western musicians and songwriters seeking to escape the music industry's corporate domination of Nashville. The best-known artist in this group was Willie Nelson, who became an icon for what became the city's "alternate music industry." The Armadillo World Headquarters gained a national reputation during the 1970s as a venue for these anti-establishment musicians as well as mainstream acts. In the following years, Austin gained a reputation as a place where struggling musicians could launch their careers in informal live venues in front of receptive audiences. This ultimately led to the present-day moniker the city uses — "live music capital of the world."

Related Topics:
Country and Western - Nashville - Willie Nelson - Armadillo World Headquarters

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During the 1970s and 1980s, the city experienced a tremendous boom in development that temporarily halted with the Savings and Loan collapse in the late 1980s. The growth led to an ongoing series of fierce political battles that pitted preservationists against developers. In particular the preservation of Barton Springs, and by extension the Edwards Aquifer, became an issue which defined the themes of the larger battles.

Related Topics:
Savings and Loan collapse - Edwards Aquifer

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1990 to present

In the 1990s, the boom resumed with the influx and growth of a large technology industry. Initially the technology industry was centered around larger, established companies such as IBM, but in the late 1990s, Austin gained the additional reputation of being a center of the dot-com boom and subsequent dot-com bust.

Related Topics:
IBM - Dot-com boom - Dot-com bust

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In 2000, Austin became the center of an intense media focus as the headquarters of presidential candidate and Texas Governor George W. Bush. Interestingly, the headquarters of his main opponent, Al Gore, were in Nashville, thus re-creating the old country music rivalry between the two cities.

Related Topics:
George W. Bush - Al Gore - Nashville

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