Austin | Historic Images & Postcards

[arbeiter]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

Thanks. I first moved to Austin in 1982 and until September 1987, I lived in what were then known as Highwood Apartments at 9417 Great Hills Trail. There was another complex called Hamilton's Mark at 9617 Great Hills Trail and two other complexes between mine and Great Hills Trail & Loop 360. Back then, about the only other buildings on that stretch of Great Hills Trail between Loop 360 & 183 was Triumphant Love Lutheran Church and a small Jack Brown Cleaners.

The nearest grocery store/shopping center was the Balcones Woods Shopping Center. I used to shop at the Safeway there and I seem to remember there was also a McDonald's. I can't remember any of the other stores, though.

I remember once they started developing the Arboretum, they first carved out where the roads and drives would be but the area was still heavily wooded. I used to walk my dog there.

I moved from that neighborhood about the time they were getting ready to open the Simon David's.

I remember that Safeway too. It's now a Party City, and was an Academy for a few years. The McDonald's is now a Schlotzsky's, it moved up to Braker when the North Hills shopping center was built (late 1980's).

[BevoLJ]

A cool little thing I put together from some stuff I found...

Austin

1869 - Our First Bridge near Brazos St. (It washed away a year later )

http://malford.ci.austin.tx.us/libra...egin/trans.htm

1876 - Congress Ave, and old State Capitol Building

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...n%22%20Capitol

1930's

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


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...0-%20Austin%22


http://hydrology.rice.edu/sspeed/ima...tin_1936_2.jpg


http://www.texassailor.com/flood_3.jpg

1940's
Snow storm

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...0-%20Austin%22

Christmas on Congress 1940's


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...0-%20Austin%22

1949

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...20%22Austin%22

1968


1970's

http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2...-vs-ucla-1970/

1980's

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...yline1980s.jpg

1991 - They just bought Bob Dylan Tickets. =)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/...64ff5bb80e.jpg

2000 - It was in 2002 that we got our first big building when the Frost Tower was built.


Current

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brain/5...n/photostream/

I have a feeling if I did London it would be MUCH different than Austin! =)

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

A cool little thing I put together from some stuff I found...

Austin


1970's


http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2...-vs-ucla-1970/

I found a bigger version of that exact same photo over on TexasFreeway.com

The original Riverside overpass was still in place, and there were only two northbound lanes on IH-35. The feeder roads did not extend over Town Lake.

There's also one from July 1972 of IH35 near 15th St.

This view shows the original freeway at 15th Street, prior to the expansion to 8 lanes. The old Brackenridge hospital is clearly visible on the right. It was demolished in the late 1970's.

link to high-resolution photo

[AusTex]

1968


Was the 1st Street Bridge built mid-block because the UT tower was in perfect alignment? I was going through the old posts and was struck with this photo. Does anyone have any info on the subject.

[verybadgnome]

The Christmas on Congress 1940's is my favorite. Good work.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

The Christmas on Congress 1940's is my favorite. Good work.

I wish they'd put up some lights like that. The LED lights they did were ok, but I thought they didn't look Christmasy and were kind of lame really.

[corvairkeith]

I have been doing some work for a retired Austin cop. He shared a photo album with me of accident scene photos taken by the APD as evidence. They date back from the 30's to the 50's most focus on the cars but here are a few with intersections I could recognize.

First is 7th street looking East towards Red River. The body shop in the foreground is now a Twin Liquors and the Gage Brother's building in the background is now Plush night club.


These next three are 5th and Lamar taken in the 50's.




This next one is looking South on Burnet at Koenig 1953 you can see the sign for the Frisco in the background.

[The ATX]

Thanks for sharing these. This last photo made me laugh because there doesn't seem to be a logical reason for that situation.

[BevoLJ]

Yes, thank you for uploading those! Good stuff.

Originally Posted by Hill Country

Thanks for sharing these. This last photo made me laugh because there doesn't seem to be a logical reason for that situation.

Hah, ya I laughed at that one too. I had to sit here for a good 5 mins and try to think up reasons for those cars to be where they are and how they bumped one another. I finally decided that the CIA were chasing a KGB super spy agent who was sending his Soviet comrades top secret information on why Austin is so cool.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

Hah, ya I laughed at that one too. I had to sit here for a good 5 mins and try to think up reasons for those cars to be where they are and how they bumped one another. I finally decided that the CIA were chasing a KGB super spy agent who was sending his Soviet comrades top secret information on why Austin is so cool.

Great pics! Those old cars were much more primitive, so I could imagine them getting in that situation. The weight distributions weren't always so good so they'd be prone to spinning 180 or 360 or more if you lost control. Plus those old brakes... had 2 modes: slow you down slightly or lock up and you'd slide uncontrollably. They were quite durable vehicles, though.

I do like the CIA explanation better. Cold war and all that.

[M1EK]

Cool to see the old US 290 signs confirming the WWII era routing of that highway too.

[Spaceman]

Looking at the Burnet Rd. at Koenig fender bender one is reminded that this major intersection is still the same....Fifty plus years later and we still don't have a major traffic artery crossing the center of the city...Amazing, sad, but amazing...There is no city in America like Austin...The business and real estate movers and shakers are impotent against the neighborhood activists...

[Somnio]

Originally Posted by Spaceman

Looking at the Burnet Rd. at Koenig fender bender one is reminded that this major intersection is still the same....Fifty plus years later and we still don't have a major traffic artery crossing the center of the city...Amazing, sad, but amazing...There is no city in America like Austin...The business and real estate movers and shakers are impotent against the neighborhood activists...

And yet with all that, Austin has been one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, with one of the best job markets, and is consistently rated as one of the best in a dizzying amount of lists.

WE'RE DOOMED!!!1!!!!!

[Spaceman]

Don't worry, we are not doomed. We do continue to be hobbled by people who consistantly object to needed improvements such as east-west freeways..The traffic situation should not be as bad as presently is ...Austin's core is more long than wide. The distance from Loop 360 to I 35 is not that great, until one has to drive it at rush hour.

[KevinFromTexas]

I found some new Austin postcards a few days ago showing some new buildings. You'll have to go to Walmart to find these, but they're the first postcards I've seen that included The Austonian, 360, Ashton and the Four Seasons Residences. They also show the Frost Bank Tower.

I collect postcards, and for the longest time I couldn't find any postcards of Austin that showed the Frost Bank Tower. I found one last year that showed Frost from the west. But before that, I hadn't found a postcard of the city that showed it. Most of my postcards are from the 90s, some from the 80s, 70s, and 60s. I found one from around 2001 that showed the tower cranes for Frost. But up until last year I hadn't seen any that actually showed the completed building. And then just last week I found 6 new postcards at Walmart that showed a bunch of new buildings. So anyway, if any of you collect postcards, too, check out Walmart. HEB has them, too, but I don't know that they have the new ones yet. And Target doesn't even have postcards. Walgreens used to have them, and used to have some really cool ones from the 70s and some neat ones of the UT Campus.

[BevoLJ]

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

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

[Jdawgboy]

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.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.austinpostcard.com/view.php?photo=25017

[BevoLJ]

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/

[Mopacs]

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.