page_title: History of Austin, Texas
section_title: Capital City of A New Republic
hierarchical_section_title: History of Austin, Texas / Beginning / Capital City of A New Republic
caption_attribution_description: Version of Image:Old_map-Austin-1873.jpg with color enhancement, cropping, and reduction in pixel dimensions. Original upload comments on that image were:Austin, Texas in 1873. Bird's Eye View of the City of Austin Travis County Texas 1873, 1873. Lithograph (hand-colored), 19.7 x 28.1 in. Published by J. J. Stoner, Madison, Wis. Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin. (The University of Texas didn't start being built until 10 years later.)
context_page_description: The recorded history of Austin, Texas, began in the 1830s when Anglo-American settlers arrived in Central Texas. In 1837 settlers founded the village of Waterloo on the banks of the Colorado River, the first permanent settlement in the area. By 1839, Waterloo would adopt the name Austin and become the capital of the Republic of Texas.
  Austin's history has also been largely tied to state politics and in the late 19th century, the establishment of the University of Texas made Austin a regional center for higher education, as well as a hub for state government. In the 20th century, Austin's music scene had earned the city the nickname "Live Music Capital of the World." With a population of over 800,000 inhabitants in 2010, Austin is experiencing a population boom. During the 2000s Austin was the third fastest-growing large city in the nation.
context_section_description: By 1836 the Texas Revolution was over and the Republic of Texas was independent. That year was also characterized by political disarray in Texas. In 1836, no fewer than five Texas sites served as temporary capitals of the new republic (Washington-on-the-Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia), before President Sam Houston moved the capital to Houston in 1837.
  Shortly after the election of President Mirabeau B. Lamar, the Texas Congress appointed a site-selection commission to locate an optimal site for a new permanent capital. They chose a site on the western frontier, after viewing it at the instruction of President Lamar, who visited the sparsely settled area in 1838. Lamar was a proponent of westward expansion. Impressed by its beauty, abundant natural resources, promise as an economic hub, and central location in Texas territory, the commission purchased 7,735 acres (3,130 ha) along the Colorado River comprising the hamlet of Waterloo and adjacent lands.
  Because the area's remoteness from population centers and its vulnerability to attacks by Mexican troops and Native Americans displeased many Texans, Sam Houston among them, political opposition made Austin's early years precarious ones. However, Lamar prevailed in his nomination, which he felt would be a prime location that intersected the roads to San Antonio and Santa Fe.
  Officially chartered in 1839, the Texas Congress designated the name of Austin for the new city. According to local folklore, Stephen F. Austin, the "father of Texas" for whom the new capital city was named, negotiated a boundary treaty with the local Native Americans at the site of the present-day Treaty Oak after a few settlers were killed in raids. After the republic purchased several hundred acres to establish the city, Lamar renamed it in honor of Stephen F. Austin in March 1839. The city's original name is honored by local businesses such as Waterloo Ice House and Waterloo Records, as well as Waterloo Park downtown.
  Lamar tapped Judge Edwin Waller to direct the planning and construction of the new town. Waller chose a 640-acre (260 ha) site on a bluff above the Colorado River, nestled between Shoal Creek to the west and Waller Creek (which was named for him) to the east. Waller surveyed a grid plan on a single square-mile plot with 14 blocks running in both directions. One grand avenue, which Lamar named "Congress", cut through the center of town from Capitol Square down to the Colorado River. The streets running north–south (paralleling Congress) were named for Texas rivers with their order of placement matching the order of rivers on the Texas state map. The east–west streets were named after trees native to the region, despite the fact that Waller had recommended using numbers. (They were eventually changed to numbers in 1884.) The city's perimeters stretched north to south from the river at 1st Street to 15th Street, and from East Avenue (now Interstate 35) to West Avenue. Much of this original design is still intact in downtown Austin today.
  In October 1839, the entire government of the Republic of Texas arrived by oxcart from Houston. By the next January, the population of the town was 839. During the Republic of Texas era, France sent Alphonse Dubois de Saligny to Austin as its chargé d'affaires. Dubois purchased 22 acres (8.9 ha) of land in 1840 on a high hill just east of downtown to build a legation, or diplomatic outpost. The French Legation stands as the oldest documented frame structure in Austin. Also in 1839, the Texas Congress set aside 40 acres (16 ha) of land north of the capitol and downtown for a "university of the first class." This land became the central campus of the University of Texas at Austin in 1883.
caption: An 1873 illustration of Austin
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