History · Austin

Austin has 205 places on the National Register, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks

More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #45 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Dated to 1835 (Wikidata), with 2% of its homes built before 1940 and 35 historic districts holding 4,586 contributing buildings. Most of Austin was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, the census since 1850, and every listing on the Register.

1835founded

205on the National Register

2%homes built before 1940

10old photos & papers

20famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Austin’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Austin began

When was Austin founded?

1835

Austin dates its founding to 1835 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 629 in 18502020 census: 961,855191 years

How historic is Austin?

B⁺

More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1839.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Austin’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Austin is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #45 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Austin’s overall grade.

Founding era1835, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 19402.2% of homes (±0.2) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%C⁻National Register205 listings, 4,586 historic buildings, 46.8 per 10,000 residents · typical TX town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 74%

NewerOlder

Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 93%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Austin ranks #156 on History.

Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Austin’s 46.8 sits above most of its state (94% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 4,586 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.

Newer cities are common at Austin’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A+. The pre-1940 share (±0.2 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1835. A citywide figure averages neighborhoods that differ a lot.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Austin’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark205 places on the National Register, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Old West Austin Historic District takes in 1,589 historic buildings.Lost villages12 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Austin, and 33 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1885 to 1922, drew every building in Austin.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

205 listings protect 4,586 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

205

National Historic Landmarks

Texas State Capitol

historic buildings protected

4,586

each building in a district counts

first listed

1969

Driskill Hotel

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Victorian27

Queen Anne16

Greek Revival12

Classical Revival9

International Style8

Eastlake7

★ Landmark

Texas State CapitolRenaissance · Built 1885

★ Landmark

Governor's MansionGreek Revival · Built 1854

Driskill HotelRomanesque Revival · Built 1886

French LegationBuilding

Old BakeryBuilt 1876

Bremond Block Historic DistrictVictorian

Battle HallMediterranean Renaissance

Carrington-Covert HouseBuilding

All 206 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Austin’s post office has been open since 1839. 12 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Austin

1839–today

Case's

1852–1853

Pond Spring

1854–1880

Onion Creek

1867–1881

Oak Hill

1870–1910

Fiskville

1873–1901

Saint Elmo

1875–1902

Del Valle

1878–today

Dessau

1886–1901

McNeil

1888–today

18301930today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AbercrombieAnderson MillColtonCoxvilleDeckerDel ValleDessauEubank AcresFord OaksFour PointsGreenshoresIglehartJollyvilleKincheonvilleKings VillageMarshall FordMcNeilMontopolisOak HillOnion CreekPershingPleasant HillPond SpringsRiver Hills

Gone or out of use

Austin Executive AirparkairportBergstrom Air Force BasemilitaryManchaca Volunteer Fire Department Station 2buildingRobert Mueller Municipal AirportairportSeton HospitalhospitalTreaty Oaklocale

24cemeteries and burying grounds inside Austin

AssumptionAustin Memorial ParkAustin State HospitalBethanyBurdett PrairieCook - Walden Capital Parks Cemetery and MausoleumDecker Free ChurchEvergreenFiskvilleForest Oaks Memorial ParkJollyvilleMcNeilMemorial Hill ParkMount CalvaryOak HillOakwoodOakwood Cemetery AnnexPlummersPond SpringsRhodesRogers HillSlaughterTexas StateWilliamson Creek

See all 24

Assumption Cemetery · Austin Memorial Park Cemetery · Austin State Hospital Cemetery · Bethany Cemetery · Burdett Prairie Cemetery · Cook - Walden Capital Parks Cemetery and Mausoleum · Decker Free Church Cemetery · Evergreen Cemetery · Fiskville Cemetery · Forest Oaks Memorial Park · Jollyville Cemetery · McNeil Cemetery · Memorial Hill Park · Mount Calvary Cemetery · Oak Hill Cemetery · Oakwood Cemetery · Oakwood Cemetery Annex · Plummers Cemetery · Pond Springs Cemetery · Rhodes Cemetery · Rogers Hill Cemetery · Slaughter Cemetery · Texas State Cemetery · Williamson Creek Cemetery

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Austin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Austin.

Read it all →

Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of human habitation since at least 9200 BC. The area's earliest known inhabitants lived during the late Pleistocene (Ice Age) and are linked to the Clovis culture around 9200 BC (over 11,200 years ago), based on evidence found throughout the area and documented at the much-studied Gault Site, midway between Georgetown and Fort Hood. Excavations at the French Legation in downtown Austin revealed a site utilized during the Archaic period of North America, about 5,000 years ago. Artifacts dating to the Paleo-Indians period show possible use as early as 9,000 years ago.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Austin, 1876–1885

Passages that mention Austin, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The success which Austin has made as a manufacturer of this line of goods, is of the most substantial character, and it is doubtful if the products of any other point in Texas can compete with those turned out here, either in the home market or abroad. As an evidence of this fact and also of the ma… — **Historical and descriptive review of the industries of Austin, 1885**1885 · page 39Read the page →
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The success which Austin has made as a manufacturer of this line of goods, is of the most substantial character, and it is doubtful if the products of any other point in Texas can compete with those turned out here, either in the home market or abroad. As an evidence of this fact and also of the magnitude of the industry at Austin, one of our establishments alone does a business to the amount of half a million dollars per annum, having branches in no less than six of the most prominent points in the State, and commanding a trade that reaches throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and extends
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

liell. Jesse Grimes, Martin Allen and Abner Kuykendall, sindicos. Henry Cheeves and Rawson Alley, a selection, which lor inteligence and character of its members has not been surpassed since. The town of San Felipe de Austin was a village of two or three hundred inhabitants, but in this small settl… — **An historical and descriptive sketch of Austin County, Texas**1876Read the page →
Read the text
liell. Jesse Grimes, Martin Allen and Abner Kuykendall, sindicos. Henry Cheeves and Rawson Alley, a selection, which lor inteligence and character of its members has not been surpassed since. The town of San Felipe de Austin was a village of two or three hundred inhabitants, but in this small settlement there was more intelligence and high character than can be found at present in any community of similar number. The circumstances of the colony affording, as
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

published here goes regularly to thousands of readers scattered in every city and town in the United States — still, here was their birth-place, it was Austin that fostered and encouraged them, giving them their first prestige, and to Austin they continue to look for the approbation that insures fu… — **Historical and descriptive review of the industries of Austin, 1885**1885 · page 41Read the page →
Read the text
published here goes regularly to thousands of readers scattered in every city and town in the United States — still, here was their birth-place, it was Austin that fostered and encouraged them, giving them their first prestige, and to Austin they continue to look for the approbation that insures future success. THE STATESMAN is the leading daily journal, being issued every morning except Monday, with a weekly edition appearing every Thursday. The Statesman was established in 1871, and was first issued as a twenty column tri-weekly. It has steadily
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Austin, 1800 to 1954

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1800In the archiveThomas Anderson Anderson Mill
1835
FoundingAustin is established
1839Post officeThe Austin post office opens
1852Post officeThe Case's post office opens
1853Post officeThe Case's post office closes
1854BuiltGovernor's Mansion is built
1854Post officeThe Pond Spring post office opens
1860In the archiveOld Capitol building
1876BuiltOld Bakery is built
1880Post officeThe Pond Spring post office closes
1885BuiltTexas State Capitol is built
1886BuiltDriskill Hotel is built
1895In the archiveFirst Electric tower erected in Austin, 41st & Speedway, 1895
20th century
1901In the archiveCongress Ave
1910In the archivePanorama Austin, Texas
1923In the archive1922 Austin tornado paths
1954Born hereCarly Fiorina is born here
1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Austin, decade by decade

6 decades in the archive, from the 1800s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1800s1 item

1800sThomas Anderson Anderson MillDocument

1860s–1900s7 items

1860Old Capitol building

1860Texas General Land Office on hill

First Electric tower erected in Austin, 41st & Speedway, 1895

1895First Electric tower erected in Austin, 41st & Speedw…

1896Town Lake

1901Congress Ave

1908The Texas State Capitol

1909University of Texas at Austin

1910s–1920s2 items

1910Panorama Austin, Texas

19231922 Austin tornado paths

1930s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

On the map

Austin on the map, 1954 to 1988

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Austin. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1954Austin East sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Austin.

Every building

Austin, building by building, 1885–1922

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Austin fire insurance map, 1885, sheet 1

1885Sheet 1 of 8

Edition

Sheets

+7 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewOld Capitol building, 1860

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Austin’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Austin, census by census

Grew from 629 people in 1850 to 961,855 in 2020, more than tenfold.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Austin’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

20 famous people were born in Austin

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Ethan HawkeAmerican actor and writer · b. 1970

Dakota JohnsonAmerican actress and model · b. 1989

Stone Cold Steve AustinAmerican professional wrestler and actor · b. 1964

Carly FiorinaAmerican businesswoman and politician · b. 1954

Tom FordAmerican fashion designer and filmmaker · b. 1961

Steve KlovesAmerican screenwriter · b. 1960

Help out

Finish Austin’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewOld Capitol building: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Cedar ParkIts storyD West Lake HillsIts storyD⁻Barton CreekIts storyD RollingwoodIts storyD Wells BranchIts storyD Brushy CreekIts storyD Lost CreekIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Round Rock4 historic placesC⁺San LeannaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town ManchacaIts storyC⁻

Questions about Austin’s history

What year was Austin founded?

In 1835, according to Wikidata. Austin’s post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1850 counted 629 people here.

How does Austin rank for history?

Austin is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #45 of 642 in Texas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Austin?

205 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 160 buildings, among them the Texas State Capitol (a National Historic Landmark since 1986) and the Driskill Hotel (listed 1969, the first), 35 historic districts with 4,367 contributing buildings, 3 sites, and 8 structures. 4,586 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Austin?

2% of Austin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1994.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (206), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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