A Rainy Day at the Austin History Center, Pt. I
As I review the resources I've pulled, I'll reference the related tags from Dr. Tretter and Dr. Holme's work below.
First, to establish a prevailing narrative, a de facto 'history of Austin' I'll reference some very general local histories, which tend to be more about marketing Austin, or in effect photo histories. Either way, this might represent a sort of prevailing consciousness about the way Austin is today, and how it came to be.
Flipping through "An Austin Album," by Audray Bateman from 1978 I found a curious photo of a smiling Andrew W. George, an African-American 'porter' in the Texas House of Representatives when "Pat Neff was speaker."
There is little effort at organization here. There is a photo of the 1928 Sam Huston College Basketball team, all African-American, juxtaposed with an 1899 all-white UT football team, featuring Captain James Hart.
It really was little more than a photo album.
A similar 'scrapbook' titled "Austin, Texas Then and Now," by Jeffrey Kerr from 2004 is in my hands.
The forward contends that the book will share "a brief history about how Austin developed," and about "why certain approaches to urban design and planning were taken."
Interestingly, Kerr has separated his book by Austin neighborhood region, beginning with the "land between the creeks," referring to Shoal and Waller Creeks, running East to West along the Colorado River.
The edges of this section were named East and West Avenue, respectively. East Avenue is the site of I-35 today.
Essentially, it seems Kerr prefers to compare side-by-side photos of key Austin areas (street intersections) from 'then and now.' Most interestingly to me thus far is an image of a 'pontoon bridge' build across the Colorado River on the foot of Brazos street, (pg. 56), and the 'fire department training tower, on West Cesar Chavez between Colorado and Lavaca Streets (pg. 84), and a nod to the building I'm in right now, (pg. 101).
Section II, or East Austin, cites from the 1928 Master Plan for the City of Austin, which described the rationale for a "Negro" district which would "draw the Negro population to this area."
There's even some conscious references to racism, as "early white citizens disliked and distrusted Hispanics," (pg. 116).
"In 1854, Austin Mayor Rip Ford led a "Vigilance Committee" on a march to the encampment of Mexican-Americans to issue an ultimatum. The Mexicans must leave or be forcibly evicted. Most left," (pg. 116).
There's reference to a 1919 incident where NAACP white worker John Shilladay was "publicly beaten by a group which included County Judge Dave Pickle. Pickle defended the attack with the claim that Shilladay received, "a good thrashing on general principles."," (pg. 116).
Referencing the 1928 plan is a notice that services would be withheld from blacks not living in East Austin.
"East 11th street developed into an unofficial dividing line between Hispanics to the south and blacks to the north," (pg. 117).
Also some attention is given to Clarksville.
Hyde Park is referred to as Austin's "first suburb," (pg. 174). Here reference is given to Monroe Shipe. The land "would be sold only to whites," (pg. 175).
Pictures of a "moonlight tower" still standing in 2004 highlight Shipe's desire to provide modern amenities, (pg. 182-183).
Also notable is a section on 'around the 40 acres' which notes Scholz Garden as an 1866 Germanic Beer Garden, (pg. 224). Notable because we had an education department happy hour here!
The author does express a sense of the significance of all persons to the history of Austin, including "the 200 anonymous laborers who built the first log structures along Congress," and "the enslaved African-Americans who built many of the early streets and houses in the city," (pg. 238).
I'll pause here (30 minutes before closing) to redirect my attention to the more in-depth primary sources before my attention.
