The following is a timeline of the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

of the city of Austin,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, USA.

19th century

* 1839 ** Austin designated capital of the Republic of Texas. **

Waller Plan The 1839 Austin city plan (commonly known as the Waller Plan) is the original city plan for the development of Austin, Texas, which established the grid plan for what is now downtown Austin. It was commissioned in 1839 by the government of the Re ...

is developed as Austin's first

city plan Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

. ** December 27: Austin incorporated. * 1840 **

Edwin Waller Edwin Waller (November 4, 1800 – January 3, 1881) was an entrepreneur, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the first mayor of Austin, Texas, and the designer of its downtown grid plan. Texas independence He was born in Spotsyl ...

becomes first mayor. * 1841 **

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

-Austin coach begins operating. ** Austin Lyceum active. **

French Legation The French Legation is a historic legation building in eastern Austin, Texas, built in 1841 to represent the French government in the new Republic of Texas. It is among the oldest extant frame structures in Austin. The building and its surrounding ...

built. * 1842 - Texas seat of government relocated from Austin to Houston. * 1845 - Austin becomes part of the

new New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

U.S. state of Texas. * 1846 - Texas seat of government relocated back to Austin from Houston. * 1850 - Population: 3,841. * 1854 - Swenson Building and Ziller Building constructed. * 1855 **

Texas State Capitol The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and seat of government of the American state of Texas. Located in downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. Designed in 1881 ...

built. ** St. David's Episcopal Church consecrated. * 1857 - General Land Office Building constructed. * 1859 - Buaas's Hall (assembly room) renovated. * 1860 - Wharton College opens. * 1871 **

Houston and Texas Central Railroad The Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC), was an 872-mile (1403-km) railway system chartered in Texas in 1848, with construction beginning in 1856. The line eventually stretched from Houston northward to Dallas and Denison, Texas. with branch ...

begins operating. ** '' Democratic Statesman'' newspaper begins publication. * 1872 ** Connectional High School and Institute founded. ** Penn's Circulating Library in business. * 1873 - Austin Library Association active. * 1874 - St. Mary's Academy founded. * 1875 - Austin City Railroad begins operating. * 1876 -

International–Great Northern Railroad The International – Great Northern Railroad (I&GN) was a railroad that operated in the U.S. state of Texas. It was created on September 30, 1873, when the International Railroad and the Houston and Great Northern Railroad merged. The rail ...

begins operating. * 1877 ** Stuart Female Seminary founded. ** Tillotson College chartered. * 1878 - St. Edward's University founded. * 1881 ** November 9: State Capitol building burns down. **

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

established. ** Austin High School opens. * 1884 ** Congregation Beth Israel synagogue established. **

Servant Girl Annihilator The Servant Girl Annihilator, also known as the Austin Axe Murderer and the Midnight Assassin, was an unidentified American serial killer who preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, between 1884 and 1885. The sobriquet originated with the writer ...

murders begin (ending in 1885.) * 1885 -

St. Edward's College St Edward's College, England is a co-educational Catholic school with academy status in the UK located in the Liverpool suburb of West Derby. Founded in 1853 as the Catholic Institute, the college was formerly a boys grammar school run by the ...

established. * 1886 **

Driskill Hotel The Driskill, a Romanesque-style building completed in 1886,

in business. ** Hill City Quartet formed. * 1887 - Negro Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute opens. * 1888 -

rebuilt. * 1894 - Heart's Ease Circle of King's Daughters (women's group) founded. * 1895 -

Moonlight tower A moonlight tower or moontower is a lighting structure designed to illuminate areas of a town or city at night. The towers were popular in the late 19th century in cities across the United States and Europe; they were most common in the 1880s and ...

s installed. * 1900 ** April: Austin Dam failure. **

Samuel Huston College Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...

opens.

20th century

1900s-1940s

* 1902 - Nixon-Clay College and

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1902 to provide pastors for the rapidly growing Presbyterian Church in the frontier Southwest. Thonton Rogers Sampson was the first president. ...

established. * 1908 - Confederate Woman's Home opens. * 1910 -

Congress Avenue Bridge The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge (formerly known simply as the Congress Avenue Bridge) crosses over Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. Before construction of the Longhorn Dam was completed in 1960, the bridge crossed the Colorado Ri ...

rebuilt. * 1911 - Texas Fine Arts Association and

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...

Local 205 established. * 1917 - University of Texas' School for Military Aeronautics opens. * 1918 - State Office Building constructed. * 1921 - Austin Civic Theatre founded. * 1923 - KNOW

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

begins broadcasting. * 1926 ** Council–manager form of government effected. ** University Airport in operation. * 1928 **

1928 Austin city plan The 1928 Austin city plan (also known as the 1928 Austin master plan) was commissioned in 1927 by the City Council of Austin, Texas. It was developed by consulting firm Koch & Fowler, which presented the final proposal early the next year. The maj ...

is delivered to City Council. * 1929 - Howson Community Center established. * 1930 ** Municipal Airport opens. ** Population: 53,120. * 1933 ** Austin Public Library

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...

opens. ** State Highway Building constructed. The Tower, University of Texas at Austin (ca 1980)

* 1934 ** O. Henry House museum opens. *
Junior League of Austin
organized. * 1935 **

Texas Federation of Women's Clubs Headquarters The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs Headquarters, now referred to as simply "The Mansion," or "The Fed," is a Georgian Revival mansion located on the southwest corner of 24th Street and San Gabriel Street in Austin, Texas, United States. The buil ...

built. ** Flood. * 1937 ** UT Tower built. ** KTBC

begins broadcasting. **

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

becomes

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for Texas's 10th congressional district. * 1938 - Montopolis Bridge built. * 1941 - Austin Daily Tribune Building constructed. * 1942 ** Bergstrom Army Air Field established. ** Lamar Boulevard Bridge built. * 1947 -

Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin The Diocese of Austin ( la, Dioecesis Austiniensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church comprising 25 counties of Central Texas in the United States. The diocese includes 123 parishes and missions and six ...

established.

1950s-1990s

* 1950 –

Population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

: 132,459. * 1952 ** KTBC-TV (

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

) begins broadcasting. ** Burnet Drive-In cinema opens. * 1953 **

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

br>of Austin
chartered. ** Travis High School opens in South Austin;

McCallum High School A. N. McCallum High School is a public high school in Austin, Texas, United States. McCallum, the second oldest high school in the Austin Independent School District (formerly known as Austin Public Schools prior to desegregation in 1971), open ...

opens in North Austin. * 1956 - Ballet Academy founded. * 1958 **

Goodwill Industries Goodwill Industries International Inc., often shortened in speech and writing to Goodwill (stylized as goodwill), is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides job training, employment placement services, and other community-bas ...

br>of Central Texas
established. ** Town & Country Food Stores in business. * 1959 -

Palmer Auditorium The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue located along Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, Texas. The Long Center is the permanent home of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Opera and Balle ...

opens. * 1960 –

: 186,545. * 1961 — Lanier High School opens. Its name was changed to Juan Navarro High School in 2019. * 1962 - Austin Aqua Festival begins. * 1963 -

Jake Pickle James Jarrell "Jake" Pickle (October 11, 1913 – June 18, 2005) was a United States Representative from the 10th congressional district of Texas from 1963 to 1995. Pickle was born in Roscoe, Texas and brought up in Big Spring. He acquired h ...

becomes

for Texas's 10th congressional district. * 1965 ** ''The Citizen'' newspaper in publication. ** Reagan High School opens. Its name was changed to Northeast High School beginning in the 2019-2020 school year. * 1966 - August 1: Whitman shootings. * 1967 ** Vulcan Gas Company music venue active. ** Fair Housing Ordinance established. * 1968 ** Crockett High School opens. **

Sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

relationship established with

Saltillo Saltillo () is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. Mexico City, Monterrey, and Saltillo are all connected by a major railroad and highwa ...

, Mexico. * 1970 **

Armadillo World Headquarters Armadillo World Headquarters (The 'Dillo or Armadillo WHQ) was an influential Texas music hall and beer garden in Austin at 525 Barton Springs Road – at South First Street – just south of the Colorado River and downtown Austin. The 'Dillo fl ...

music venue active. ** University of Texas'

LBJ School of Public Affairs The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs (or LBJ School of Public Affairs) is a graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin that was founded in 1970 to offer training in public policy analysis and administration for students that ar ...

established. **

: 251,808. * 1971 - Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum dedicated. * 1973 **

Austin Community College The Austin Community College District (ACC) is a public community college system serving the Austin, Texas, metropolitan area and surrounding Central Texas communities. The college maintains numerous campuses, centers, and distance learning opt ...

and regional Austin Transportation Study established. ** L.C. Anderson High School (Mesa Drive) and Aquarius cinema open. * 1975 - Austin Community Gardens created. * 1976 - ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...

'' television music program begins national broadcast. * 1978 - Sister city relationship established with

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...

, Lesotho. * 1979 ** Austin Public Library new main branch building opens. ** Austin Shambhala Center founded. * 1980 **

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...

in business. **

: 345,496. * 1981 *
Capital Area Food Bank of Texas
and Le Chef College of Hospitality Careers established. ** ''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'' and ''Austin Press'' newspapers begin publication. ** Sister city relationship established with

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

, Peru. * 1982 **

National Wildflower Research Center The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin is the state botanical garden and arboretum of Texas. The center features more than 900 species of native Texas plants in both garden and natural settings and is hom ...

and La Peña arts group founded. **

Pennybacker Bridge The Percy V. Pennybacker Jr. Bridge in Austin, Texas, is a through-arch bridge across Lake Austin which connects the northern and southern sections of the Loop 360 highway, also known as the "Capital of Texas Highway." The road is widely consid ...

opens. * 1983 **

Austin History Center The Austin History Center is the local history collection of the Austin Public Library and the city's historical archive. The building opened as the official Austin Public Library in 1933 and served as the main library until 1979, when library fu ...

active. ** Austin Children's Museum established. ** Sister city relationship established with

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Australia. * 1984 - St. Michael's Catholic Academy established. * 1985 **

Austin Film Society The Austin Film Society (AFS) is a non-profit film society based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 1985 to exhibit independent, experimental, foreign and various other non-mainstream art films, the film society has grown from just film exhibition to fos ...

organized. ** Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival begins. * 1986 **

Austin Lyric Opera Austin Opera, formerly known as the Austin Lyric Opera, is an opera company based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1986. Its key personnel include Annie Burridge as general director, and Timothy Myers as artistic advisor. In January 20 ...

founded. ** Sister city relationship established with

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

, Taiwan. * 1987 ** South by Southwest music festival begins. **

Lamar Smith Lamar Seeligson Smith (born November 19, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States House of Representatives for for 16 terms, a district including most of the wealthier sections of San Antonio and Austin, as ...

becomes

for

Texas's 21st congressional district Texas's 21st congressional district of the United States House of Representatives serves the area north of San Antonio and a significant portion of Austin in the state of Texas. Towns entirely or partially in this district include Boerne, Fre ...

. * 1988 ** Dell Computer Corporation in business. ** Bowie High School established. * 1990 ** Sister city relationship established with Ōita City, Japan. **

: 465,622. * 1991 - Sister city relationship established with Koblenz, Germany. * 1992 **

Austin Convention Center The Neal Kocurek Memorial Austin Convention Center is a multi-purpose convention center located in Austin, Texas. The building is the home of the Texas Rollergirls, and was also home to the Austin Toros basketball team, until their move to the Ce ...

opens. ** Hyde Park Theatre founded. * 1993 - Sustainable Food Center and Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association chapter founded. * 1994 ** Um-Al-Mumeneen-Sayeda-Khadija Mosque built. ** Goodwill Computer Museum founde

* 1995 **

Lloyd Doggett Lloyd Alton Doggett II (born October 6, 1946) is an American attorney and politician who is a U.S. representative from Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented a district based in Austin since 1995, currently numbered as ...

becomes

for Texas's 10th congressional district. ** Ordinary Mind Zen Group formed. ** City website online. * 1997 - Sister city relationship established with

Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna, Sibsongbanna or Sipsong Panna ( Tham: , New Tai Lü script: ; ; th, สิบสองปันนา; lo, ສິບສອງພັນນາ; shn, သိပ်းသွင်ပၼ်းၼႃး; my, စစ်ဆောင်� ...

, China. * 1998 - Linh-Son Buddhist Temple established. * 1999 **

Austin–Bergstrom International Airport Austin–Bergstrom International Airport, or ABIA , is a Class C international airport in Austin, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Located about southeast of downtown Austin, it covers and has two runways ...

opens. ** Dell Foundation an
Foodways of Austin
club established. * 2000 **

Akins High School Akins High School is located in South Austin, Texas, United States. The school is named after William Charles Akins, the first black teacher to work at a high school after desegregation in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Akins wa ...

established. ** George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000 headquartered in Austin. ** Area of city: 251 square miles. ** Population: 656,562. ** Sister city relationship established with Orlu, Nigeria.

21st century

* 2001 - Sister city relationship established with Gwangmyeong, South Korea. * 2002 -

Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...

headquartered in city. * 2003 **

Texas Rollergirls Texas Rollergirls is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Austin, Texas. Founded in early 2003 and widely credited as the league that started the modern roller derby movement, the Texas Rollergirls were the first flat-track league in ...

founded. **

Frost Bank Tower The Frost Bank Tower is a skyscraper in Austin, Texas, United States. Standing 515 feet (157 m) tall with 33 floors, it is the fifth tallest building in Austin, behind The Independent, The Austonian, Fairmont Austin, and the 360 Co ...

built. * 2005 -

Austin Film Critics Association The Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) is an organization of professional film critics from Austin, Texas. Each year, the AFCA votes on their end-of-year awards for films released in the same calendar year. A special award, the Austin Film ...

founded. * 2009 ** May: Austin mayoral election, 2009 held. ** ''

Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternati ...

'' headquartered in city. ** Sister city relationship established with Antalya Kepez, Turkey. * 2010 ** February 18: 2010 Austin suicide attack. ** Capital MetroRail begins operating. ** ''Austin Bulldog'' begins publication. ** Area of city: 297.90 square miles. ** Population: city 790,390;

megaregion A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...

19,728,244. * 2011 - Sister city relationship established with

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

, France. * 2012
Austin Food & Wine Alliance
established. * 2013 - Population: 885,400. * 2014 ** November 28: Larry Steven McQuilliams, 49, fired at least 100 shots at several government buildings and a police station before dying of a gunshot wound."Shooter targets federal courthouse, APD"
/ref> ** Sister city relationship established with Hackney,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. * 2018 - In March, a series of explosions centered in Austin killed two civilians and injuring another five.

References

Bibliography

Published in 19th c.

* * *

Published in 20th c.

* * * * * * Stuart MacCorkle, Austin's Three Forms of Government (San Antonio: Naylor, 1973). * * Austin Human Relations Commission, Housing Patterns Study: Segregation and Discrimination in Austin, Texas (Austin, 1979). * * Paul D. Lack, "Slavery and Vigilantism in Austin, Texas, 1840–1860," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 85 (July 1981). * David C. Humphrey, Austin: An Illustrated History (Northridge, California: Windsor, 1985). * Anthony M. Orum, Power, Money and the People: The Making of Modern Austin (Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1987). * David C. Humphrey, "A 'Muddy and Conflicting' View: The Civil War as Seen from Austin, Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 94 (January 1991).

Published in 21st c.

* * * *

External links

*
Items related to Austin, Texas
various dates (via

Digital Public Library of America The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a US project aimed at providing public access to digital holdings in order to create a large-scale public digital library. It officially launched on April 18, 2013, after two and a half years of dev ...

) * * {{Texas year nav austin

19th century

20th century

1900s-1940s

1950s-1990s

21st century

See also

References

Bibliography

Published in 19th c.

Published in 20th c.

Published in 21st c.

External links