A Brief History of Austin Geography & Architecture

Today, downtown Austin is home to dozens of high rise buildings, Interstate-35, nearly 100 nightclubs and bars and almost 6,000 residents, according to a City of Austin survey.

It is hard to image that only 140 years ago, the entire city of Austin consisted of today's downtown, a 14 x 14 block grid. The city's first perimeters stretched from 1st to 15th street and I-35 to West Avenue.

In 1838, as the Republic of Texas looked for a new capital, Vice President Mirabeau B. Lamar decided to move the government from Houston to the new settlement of Austin. By 1840, the town's population had grown to 850 people.

I could never do justice to detail for you the history of Austin's architecture and geography as much as pictures can. The following pictures are courtesy of the Austin Public Library and Austin Postcard.

1888 Austin:

1913 Austin:

1930 Austin:

1950s East Avenue location before I-35 was constructed:

1972 Austin:

As you can see, Austin has been rapidly growing and changing to accommodate a higher influx of residents since 1888. According to an Austin-American Statesman article, Austin is the nation's second fastest growing metro area between April 2010 and July 2011. Austin's metro population is now 1.78 million. If you think traffic is bad now, just wait until more people start arriving!