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  #101  
Old Posted May 25, 2011, 5:59 PM
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Due to the recent tornadoes around the country I went on Google to see about Austin. I found this picture from 1922.

A little background.... This was from what was called the "Twin Tornadoes." Here is the wiki article on the event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_Austin_twin_tornados
Quote:
1922 Austin twin tornados
The twin tornadoes that ripped through Austin, Texas on May 4, 1922 are the most violent to ever strike Austin. The storm originally had one funnel cloud, but was eventually separated into two tornadoes. One tore through East Austin, Travis Heights, St. Edward's University, Penn Field, St. Elmo, and Manchaca. Meanwhile, the other devastated the State Institute for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Colored Youths, Deep Eddy, and Oak Hill.

The west tornado thrashed the University of Texas campus, removing roofs from some buildings and completely destroying others. No one at the University was seriously hurt. The west tornado next destroyed trees and damaged buildings at Deep Eddy. When it reached Oak Hill the west tornado demolished a house killing six people. The other tornado formed in East Austin. The east tornado began uprooting trees in the State Cemetery. The east tornado pounded St. Edward's University, devastating the upper level of a dormitory and damaging the power plant and gymnasium. One student was killed. The hit the Woodward Manufacturing Company incurred the heaviest damage, knocking a steel water tank to the ground, and damaging one frame and four brick buildings. The east tornado was the most destructive of the two. The property damage of the two tornadoes was estimated at $400,000. The death toll of the two tornadoes was thirteen, six at Oak Hill, three at Penn Field, two at Manchaca, one at St. Edward's, and one at St. Elmo. Fifty people total were reported to have been injured by both tornadoes.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/a...itol/persp.htm
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  #102  
Old Posted May 26, 2011, 7:06 PM
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We should also not forget that had the Jarrell Tornado of May 27th 1997 that killed 26 people hit just 40 miles south we would have had an F-5 tornado tear through the heart of the city... Austin, while on the edge of Tornado Alley, it is not immune to powerful tornado's. I feel for the people that have been affected this year the the tornado outbreaks and those that have been lost.
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  #103  
Old Posted Jun 8, 2011, 10:18 AM
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  #104  
Old Posted Aug 25, 2011, 4:22 AM
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I found some very cool pictures taken from the top of Mt Bonnell over the early part of the 1980's showing some of the big boom and building we had back then that shaped our skyline for a while.

These pictures really got me thinking on the big boom and bust of the 80's. Everyone said for so long how building so much and how it was all such a huge mistake. In the end the resulting restrictions on loans from this boom and bust saved our ass in this past recession. Who knows given the lessons we learned from the bust andall of this building in the 80's... That huge bust may have been one of the best things to happen to Austin in the past 30 years. It very much helped us weather this past great recession much better than the rest of the nation.

All of the pictures are from Bryan who I asked and was kind enough to allow me to post his photos. I will link each photo's page under each photo and you can find more great pictures from his photo stream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oz4caster/ He has some fantastic nature pictures.

Mt Bonnell 1981


http://www.flickr.com/photos/oz4caster/5722939835/

Mt Bonnell 1983


http://www.flickr.com/photos/oz4caster/5722954487/

Mt Bonnell 1985


http://www.flickr.com/photos/oz4caster/5723538774/
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  #105  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2011, 12:40 AM
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Great pics! I'll have to put together a 30-year before and after image from Mt Bonnell.

Here is a 1985 cell phone magazine ad I scanned in a few years ago. A high-powered business executive showing off his cutting-edge technology, with downtown Austin as a backdrop.

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  #106  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2011, 2:17 AM
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Cool. In that last photo that BevoLJ posted above, you can see a red crane up for the Hobby Building.

I checked out a book from the library a few weeks ago that had some construction photos of the base of the One American Center. And another photo showed the cranes for it and one atop 816 Congress just as that building was wrapping up construction. There was also another shot that showed 816 Congress with the completed shell of 1005 Congress minus its crane.

Austin's skyline from 1969. Notice that the Dobie Center, Chase Bank Tower and Bank of America Center are missing. The Capitol building was still the tallest in Austin in this photo. Notice that the UT Tower was the tallest on Campus. Also, The Castilian would have just been completed that year. And check out the Radisson Plaza Hotel way over to the right all by itself.

Austin skyline1969 by Bryan - oz4caster, on Flickr

From 1972 showing the Stephen F. Austin Building under construction. The tallest commercial office building in the city at the time would have been 823 Congress which had been finished a year earlier. You can see it to the left of the Capitol dome. At that time the building would have been the 6th tallest in Austin. Today it is the 30th tallest in Austin. In 1972 only the Capitol, UT Tower, Dobie Center, Westgate Tower and The Castilian would have been taller.

Texas Capitol by Bryan - oz4caster, on Flickr

From 1973 showing the Robert Lee Moore Hall under construction. It was completed the next year.

UT snow by Bryan - oz4caster, on Flickr
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  #107  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2011, 2:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mopacs View Post
Great pics! I'll have to put together a 30-year before and after image from Mt Bonnell.

Here is a 1985 cell phone magazine ad I scanned in a few years ago. A high-powered business executive showing off his cutting-edge technology, with downtown Austin as a backdrop.

That photo gives me a chuckle every time. And funnily enough, I saw this today:


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  #108  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2011, 8:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mopacs View Post
Great pics! I'll have to put together a 30-year before and after image from Mt Bonnell.

Here is a 1985 cell phone magazine ad I scanned in a few years ago. A high-powered business executive showing off his cutting-edge technology, with downtown Austin as a backdrop.
Lol, my father had one of those fancy brick cellphones back in the 80's.

Here is a little before and now from Mt Bonnell.

The first one is from Bryan who's photos I posted above and are the old ones. The second will be the new one, and it is by J-A-X from flickr.

Mt Bonnell 1981


http://www.flickr.com/photos/oz4caster/5722939835/

Mt Bonnell 2010 (29 years later)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-a-x/5073820849/
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  #109  
Old Posted Aug 28, 2011, 10:32 PM
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Just a poor picture of a photo....
I took this pic of my cousin at the I-35 Frontage Road and Elmhurst Drive intersection in the Summer of 1959 - my parent's new home was one block east:



That's the Riverside Drive bridge behind her, with the I-35 bridge over the Colorado River (this was before Town Lake & the Longhorn Dam were built).
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  #110  
Old Posted Oct 20, 2011, 9:42 PM
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Cool article ( and nice blog spot) on Cambridge Tower.

http://midtexasmod.blogspot.com/2011...ndmark-of.html
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  #111  
Old Posted Feb 8, 2012, 3:20 PM
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Here is an old map of Austin. I'll put what the Flickr uploader had to say under it. There is also a HUGE version of it on his flickr page (5888 x 5108) if you want to check it out. It is pretty cool.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullcreek/6838691205/



Quote:
Austin_1973_25

Map of Austin, Texas as it was in 1973, the year before I moved to Austin. This is a stitch of 12 USGS 7.5 minute topo maps, reduced to 25% of the original size. I'm really thrilled that USGS is going back and digitizing all their old topo maps and making them available for free online (www.usgs.gov).

When I first moved to town, I had this map (in paper, at full scale) pinned up on a wall in the apartment where I was living -- took up pretty much the whole damn wall.

Couple of interesting things -- Loop 360 only goes from 290 to Bee Cave Road. MoPac Expressway doesn't exist yet (parts are shown as "under construction"). No Barton Creek Mall; Highland Mall had just been built. Bergstrom was still an air force base and had only one north-south runway. The apartment where I lived (near Parmer and N. Lamar) was way out in the country.

The base map was built in 1966. The purple areas on the map show new development from 1966 to 1973.
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  #112  
Old Posted May 8, 2012, 12:53 AM
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Here is a wonderful one I had never seen before.

It is c. 1890's of Congress Ave looking out of the State Capitol.


http://blog.wilkinsonranch.com/2011/...ass-negatives/
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  #113  
Old Posted May 8, 2012, 3:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BevoLJ View Post
Here is a wonderful one I had never seen before.

It is c. 1890's of Congress Ave looking out of the State Capitol.


http://blog.wilkinsonranch.com/2011/...ass-negatives/
Man, the travis county courthouse looked so cool.
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  #114  
Old Posted May 8, 2012, 6:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Mdlx View Post
Man, the travis county courthouse looked so cool.
which one is the travis county courthouse? and am i the only one that wishes we'd kept all those buildings and just kept building more on top of what we already had? austin would already have had a very dense downtown. and its also interesting to look at what austin looked like just 6 years right after that serial killer had done his killing spree if anyone's heard of him.
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  #115  
Old Posted May 8, 2012, 9:16 PM
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I the first building on the left on Congress. I found some old photos of it. There is now a parking lot where it used to be.


http://www.texasescapes.com/AustinTe...stin-Texas.htm

http://www.texasescapes.com/AustinTe...stin-Texas.htm

http://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?...t=0&t=fulltext

Here is an amazing one from 1922 of a tornado over the courthouse.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?...t=0&t=fulltext

Also the warehouse looking building across the street was the State Capitol while they were building the current Capitol Building. According to the marker at the time the above photo was taken it would have been the Austin High School. Here is what the historical marker reads:
Quote:
Built, 1882-1883, to replace the previous Capitol, which had burned in 1881. Until the building was completed, the orphaned Texas government conducted business in the county courthouse and jail across Congress avenue.

The three-story brick building – third Texas Capitol in Austin – was used five years. During this time it witnessed the passage of strong legislation to aid education and to halt fence-cutting, which, in 1883, had exploded into a range war. Governors John Ireland (1883-1887) and Sul Ross (1887-1891) both served in this building.

In 1883, the University of Texas held classes here for its 218 students until campus facilities were completed. On another occasion, cattle baron Charles Goodnight loaded $100,000 in cash in a wheel barrow and had it hauled to the Capitol to force settlement of a land dispute, but officials refused his offer.

After the present Capitol was finished, 1888, this structure was used as home of Austin High School. Studios for music teachers, and for various offices. When it burned, Sept, 30, 1899, curious spectators sat on the fence around the new Capitol to watch volunteer firemen, hampered by low water pressure fight the blaze. The old building was razed soon after and the bricks were used in structures throughout Austin.
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Last edited by BevoLJ; May 8, 2012 at 9:27 PM.
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  #116  
Old Posted May 9, 2012, 2:53 AM
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jeeeesus! why did that building get torn down!
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  #117  
Old Posted May 9, 2012, 3:21 AM
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Who knows? It was demolished in 1964.

It was the courthouse until 1927. Apparently it became infested with rats and bats, and that was when they had to move out and began looking to build the current one that they built in 1931. From 1927 until it was razed in 1964 it was called the Walton Building and housed State offices.
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  #118  
Old Posted May 9, 2012, 5:18 AM
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Here is one from even before the courthouse or current capitol had been built. It is of a tightrope walker John Devier crossing Congress Ave in 1867.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

This is the 1870 4th of July Parade down Congress. They march up to the Mrs Rosenfield's ice cream garden. I imagine in the Austin summers back then the ice cream shop was very popular. lol.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress and 7th Street 1877.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Here is Congress Ave between 5th and 6th Streets. Taken in the 1860's.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Here is a picture of the Old State Capitol burning down in 1881.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675.../m1/1/med_res/

This is a picture taken from the 1876 Travis Co. Courthouse. It was taken in 1881 of the new State Capitol under construction.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Here is a picture of Austin in 1882 taken from the School for the Deaf. You can see both the new Capitol and the University of Texas' Main building under construction.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

This is a picture from the UT Main Building looking down University to the Capitol taken in 1895. Notice the Moon Tower, which had probably just recently been installed.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Here is a picture from 1899 of the temporary capitol burning down. It is the building across the street from the old Travis Co. Courthouse on 11th and Congress. There is a marker there, that I quoted a few post up.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

A view from Congress Ave Bridge in 1900.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Here is a picture of some building on the UT Campus in 1903. To the left is the Woman Building and to the right the Chemical Building. Unlike those creepy aggy cult in Craphole Station we didn't wait until 1965 to allow women. The Chemical Labs burned down in 1926, and the Woman's building (which became the Drama School) burned down in 1959.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress Ave being paved with bricks in 1905. I imagine this was the first street in Austin to be paved? I believe this photo is the first section of Congress to be paved too.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress Ave at 10th Street taken in 1905


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress Ave at 4th Street taken in 1905


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress Ave Bridge in 1910. You can see the skeleton of the Scarbrough Building being built!


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress and 5th taken in 1911. You can see the new Scarbrough and Littlefield buildings.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Looking out of the brand new Littlefield Building at 6th and Congress Ave. Taken in 1911.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Here is one also from 1911 taken in the Scarbrough building across the street from the above photo.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress & 6th taken in 1913


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Texas vs Notre Dame on Thanksgiving Day in 1913. Later Thanksgiving was reserved for the Texas vs Texas A&M, but since the aggies have scurried off to another conference we are no longer forced to play them and will be again playing Notre Dame on Thanksgiving every year, starting in a couple years.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

SoCo in 1914.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Camp Mabry in 1915


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Shoal Creek flood over 6th street in 1915. Even back then that is way up there and must have been massive amounts of water.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Armistice Parade up Congress to Capitol. 1918 obviously. lol


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Austin City Hall in 1920. Located at Colorado and 8th.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Here is a view of the newly constructed Barton Springs Pool. Photo taken c. 1920. While the spring had been a popular swimming hole since the 1830's, the land was given to the city by Andrew Jackson Zilker in 1918 and the city built the pool in 1920.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

The Seaholm Power Plant in 1922


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

The Stephen F. Austin Hotel under construction in 1924.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Dedication of the University of Texas' Memorial Stadium on November 27, 1924


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

The new Barton Spring Bathhouses and a picture of people swimming in the pool in 1925.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

East Ave (now I-35) looking south from 12th street in 1930 right after it was paved.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress Ave 1930


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

The new Travis Co Courthouse under construction in 1931.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Austin in 1931.


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...res/?width=930

Congress Ave. c. 2012


http://mashable.com/2012/03/23/sxsw-photos-cnn-ireport/
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Last edited by BevoLJ; May 9, 2012 at 5:32 AM.
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  #119  
Old Posted May 9, 2012, 3:04 PM
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Thanks for sharing,,,,I wonder when the Congress bridge was redone...
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  #120  
Old Posted May 9, 2012, 5:21 PM
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Thanks, those are great! Like the rooftop deck on Littlefield.
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