Austin’s Historical Context Before it was Austin, the future capital of the State of Texas was a small settlement named Waterloo on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River. In 1839, it became the capital of the Republic of Texas and was renamed in honor of the “Father of Texas”, Stephen F. Austin. Austin was selected as the capital city due to its steady water supply, hills, pleasant surroundings, and central location within the state. Already the seat of state government, Austin became an educational center in the 1880s with the establishment of the University of Texas. The government and educational sectors became mainstays of the local economy and began attracting people from across the state. Unfortunately our history also includes a story typical of many American cities: slavery followed by legally-enforced racial inequalities. Past land use planning contributed to the divide within Austin. The city’s 1928 “A City Plan for Austin Texas,” strongly reinforced racial Plan of the City of Austin, 1839
segregation by designating an official “negro district.” This district was created to address the “race segregation problem” by calling for: “All facilities and conveniences be provided the negroes in this district, as an incentive to draw the negro population to this area. This will eliminate the necessity of duplication of white and black schools, white and black parks, and other duplicate facilities for this area.” Almost 50 years after the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, we still have reminders of our segregated past in our residential patterns and economic landscape. The city we know today had its beginnings in the last half of the 20th century. Confronted with serious economic and environmental problems, the choices made to address these difficult issues transformed Austin. In the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, Austin experienced a population boom, growing more than 35 percent each decade. However, the city’s economy did not grow at the same pace. To address this disparity, Austin’s leaders strategized on how to expand the economy. This resulted in new directions that leveraged the city’s role as an educational center to attract high-tech employers such as IBM. Our new economic identity was a progressive one, dependent upon innovation and a highly-skilled and educated workforce. During the early 1970s, an overtaxed electrical grid caused a series of major brownouts. These brownouts, coupled with the rising price of natural gas and the national energy crisis pointed to the need for new electricity sources. To supply the needed electricity, coal-fired energy plants were constructed as an alternative to natural gas. Following a close election in 1973, voters approved the City of Austin’s participation in a partnership to construct a new nuclear power plant, the South Texas Nuclear Project. Major cost overruns and project delays, nuclear energy issues generally, and pollution caused by coal-fired power plants proved highly divisive. In 1981, Austin voters authorized the sale of the City’s 16 percent share in the project, though no buyers could be found. The issues associated with nuclear energy and the concerns over the pollution and greenhouse gas
20 | Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan
PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDED DRAFT - APRIL 2012