AUSTINRemembers

Ellen YauJessica Wackenhut LomeliJoshua PlattnerChanghsin (Roger) YuChen (Terence) TaoLyndi VaughanChristine Dang

PROJECT BY

PPD 533 GROUP 7September 27, 2012

Austin remembers land use 1ei m ll ususs 1111A s

RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS

1918 1928 1938 1948

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok6xoBQxb68

Rich Heyman. "Race." Contemporary Cultural Geography. University of Texas - Austin, Austin. 2011. Lecture.

1970194019101890

None Found

No African-Americans

Only Caucasian

All Subdivisions

Legend

http://www.birdseyeviews.org/zoom.php?city=Austin&year=1873&extra_info=

A Sanborn map of Austin even before the construction of the University of Texas campus.

Austin was planned as a one square-mile capital city consisting of 14-blocks.1 Much of the original 1893 Austin plan can still be seen in the city’s center, yet many policies and direct plan-ning decisions have dictated the shape and form of Austin. By the mid-1870s, the train system had reached Austin through Houston & Texas Central Railroad’s connection of tracks from Giddings to the capital. Sixth Street became an important location for business offi ces and warehouses because of its proximity to that new railroad station.2 Despite eff orts to keep Aus-tin within the original 14-block grid, Austin now encompasses more than 270 square miles. As there became more and more Austinites, laws put into place to control growth of certain populations came in the form of restrictive racial covenants. Albeit the 1917 U.S. Supreme Court decision to outlaw racial zoning in Buchanan v Warely, racial covenants were upheld in the 1926 decision of Corrigan v Buckley.3

On the one hand the maps from 1918, 1928, 1938, and 1948 show the expanded implementation of restrictive racial covenants. African-Americans were progressively excluded from purchasing homes in more and more zones. On the other hand the maps of 1890, 1910, 1940, and 1970 show the locations of African-American households. As more restrictive covenants were put into place as well as other policies, almost all African-American households moved to the East Side of Austin. The concentration of African-American households is apparent in the 1970 map.

Jones-Correa, Michael. “The Origins and Diff usions of Racial Restrictive Covenants.” Political Science Quarterly Winter 115.4 (2000-2001): 541-68. JSTOR. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <www.jstor.org/stable2657609>.

2Austin remembers social planning

designed by Ellen Yau ::: data collected from http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Planning/Demographics/city_of_austin_profile_2010.pdf & ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/planning/compplan/community_inventory_Demographcs_v1.pdf*missing ethnicity data total

population

Anglo

African-American

Latinos

Asian

Other

2000

2010

1900* 1910* 1920* 1930* 1940* 1950* 1960* 1970*1980*

1990

The Growth of a Capital CityLEGEND

founder, Harold McMillian described it as “One of the things that segre-gation did for black folks was provide some amount of insulation so that they knew what was going on in the community, and their institutions were granted respect [...] part of it was that’s the only place they could do business in Austin, but that had its advantages culturally.”1

More recently, Austin has embraced its unique collection of cultures. Through the musical talents of both its local artists and artists who come to Austin to perform, Austin has started the process of knitting together its fragmented communities. Since 1987, South by Southwest (SXSW) has taken the Austin music scene and made it an international icon. Austin’s music scene dates back to Mexican and colonial times. It has then grew to include big names such as Willie Nelson, Janis Joplin, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It wasn’t until SXSW though that the music scene went global attracting bands and people from around the world creating “The Live Music Capital of the World.”2

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth17436/m1/1/sizes/xl/?q=african%20american%20school%20austin

Group of students at Blackshear Elementary School in East Austin. The school was opened to provide free education for its African-American youth. (1950)

http://www.inc.com/guides/creating-sxsw-buzz.html

SXSW Austin

Beyond the physical form of the city, the people of Austin play a major role in the city’s development, history, and future.Urban renewal projects of the 1920’s accelerated many of the social changes the city was hoping to see by directing the movement of specifi c racial populations. For example, after the closing of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Austin’s downtown, several Mexican-American families moved to East Austin because of the city’s off er to provide a site for their congregation. Many others though moved to South Austin to start a new congregation. Even with restrictive covenants (refer to Land Use) which placed strains on certain communities, places like East Austin cultivated their own culture. Diverse Arts

Austin remembers transportation 3

http://www.texasfreeway.com/austin/historic/photos/austin_historic_photos.shtml

The view of East Avenue as a thoroughfare before the the 1950s and the construction of I-35.

http://www.texasfreeway.com/Austin/photos/i35/i35.shtml

I-35 was constructed over East Avenue, Austin’s original eastern border.

http://www.austinpostcard.com/pclist.php?list=photosos.shtml

An electric streetcar trolley on Congress Avenue.http://www.austinpost.org/boom-town/rails-highways-and-back-rails

A mule-drawn streetcar of 1876 by the railroad tracks.

(http://www.texas4000.org/tribute/home)

TEXAS 4000Starting from Austin, teams of 42 students bike across America to Anchorage, Alaska totaling 4500 miles and $800,000 for cancer research. Created by a University of Texas student, Texas 4000 for Cancer has become

“the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.

(http://www.utexas.edu/inside_ut/texas4000/feature.php)

1871 - Houston & Texas Central Railroad built the fi rst railroad into Austin that connected the capitol to the city of Giddings.1

1874 - streetcar tracks to be laid on internal main streets for mule drawn cars1891 - electric streetcars introduced; eventually was mobilized on over 20 miles of track1940 - deemed loud and ineffi cient, electric streetcars were disbanded in favor of automobiles2 1950s - construction of I-35; designed north south to restrict growth 3

1970s - I-35 expanded into two decks 4

1990s through today - further expansion of I-35

4Austin remembers urban design

One of Austin’s great historical pieces, the Moonlight Towers, were originally erected in 1895 in part to protect the city from the infamous “serial killer known as the ‘Servent Girl Annihilator’.” These towers are still in use today to light the city and protect the citizens.(www.kvue.com/news/local/I-Wonder-Moonlight-towers-120988919.html)

MOONLIGHT TOWER

http://www.austinpostcard.com/pclist.php?list=photos

Prior to the early 1960s, Lake Austin, previously Lake MacDonald, was nothing more than stubby bushes and eroded soil due to the plague of fl oods that constantly swept through the area1. The waters that would eventually become Lake Austin were fi rst harnessed in the 1890s with the construction of the Austin Dam, which was created both for protection from fl ooding and as a promising power source for burgeoning Austin. However, the collapse of the dam fl ooded the city and ended hope of taming the river.2 In 1940, Austin built the Tom Miller Dam, again, to try to control fl ooding, but it would be another twenty years before they would construct the Longhorn Dam, creating Town Lake (eventually Lady Bird Lake), permanently controlling fl ooding, and allowing for the creation of Town Lake Park.3 Lady Bird Johnson along with Mayor Roy Butler launched the Town Lake Beautifi cation Committee in 1971.4 Funding was raised for trees and plants for the newly created park,

and the Capital Improvement Program donated to what would become Auditorium Shores and Festival Beach, parts of the Town Lake Park area, and future home to many civic spaces, festivals (including

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok6xoBQxb68

The collapse of the McDonald Dam, known as the Great Granite Dam failure, fl ooded the city.

Leung, Nicole, and Rich Heyman. “Perceptions of Nature at Lady Bird Lake.” Contemporary Cultural Geography. University of Texas - Austin, Austin. 2011. Lecture.

Lady Bird Johnson on the coast of Town Lake, which was created by the Tom Miller Dam.

famous South by Southwest), and the heart of Austin’s green spaces.5 Another key urban design feature of Austin is the im-portance of Congress Avenue. As the hub of political, economic (through both local and later tourism shops), and physical center of Austin, Congress Avenue and its development was incredibly decisive in the direction Austin took6. (See Economics for further readings)

5Austin remembers economic development

The Colorado River began to be a fi nancial benefi t to Austin as far back as 1833 when William Barton established a canoe ‘ferry’ to get to his spring and the south bank, often requiring a small fee.1 The River again fi lled an economic purpose with the creation of the Austin Dam – an electric power machine that enabled Austin to develop a number of civic proj-ects such as street lamps and eventually electric trolleys once again boosting Austin’s economic worth.2 Eventually, the River was tamed, and a new type of economic stronghold took over: green planning. The creation of Town Lake Park and its subsequent sister parks created the heart of Austin’s urban green core.3

Another hub of economic activity was Congress and South Congress Avenues. Originally connected by the ferries, bridges were eventually constructed to connect these two spaces: the former the civil and business side of town.4 With the advent of the car, tourism in South Austin boomed, and land use shifted from daily-life businesses to tourism.5 Busi-nesses left Congress slowly allowing small shops and artists to move in.6 Eventually this eclectic grouping attracted a new kind of crowd making it a shopping destination for tourists and locals alike.7

Austin has become a center for technol-ogy. Beginning with the University of Texas Balcones Research Center, Austin gathered major technological players such as “Tracor (1950s), IBM (1967), and Texas Instruments

Shortly after the Congress Avenue Bridge construction in the 1980s, Austin became home to a large bat colony. That colony has grown to be the largest urban bat colony in the world, attracting 100,000 tourists from around the world and grossing more than $8 million dollars yearly. (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_1411.pdf)

BAT DOLLARS

http://relocationaustin.com/2012/07/22/about-those-bats/

http://www.lcra.org/newsstory/2010/austindam110thanniversary.html

The destruction of the Austin Dam in 1935.

(1969)”.8 In 1993, Dell Inc. set up shop in the Austin-Round Rock area cementing Austin’s claim on technology.9 Dell has also continued to grow Austin’s status as a green, sustainable city with the creation of Dell Children’s Hospi-tal, the fi rst LEED Platinum hospital.10

http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/streets/images/C00615lg.jpg

Congress Ave in 1950s