History of East Austin

Visited the Austin History Center and, despite the rudeness of their staff, was able to look at the original 1928 City Plan

"There has been considerable talk in Austin, as well as other cities, in regard to the race segregation problem. This problem cannot be solved legally under any zoning law known to us at present. Practically all attemps of such have been proven unconstitutional.

In our studies in austin we have found that the negroes are present in small numbers, in practically all sections of the city, excepting the area just east of East Avenue and south of the City Cemetery. This area seems to be all negro population. It is our reccomendation that the nearest approach to the solution of the race segregation problem will be the reccomendation of this district as a negro district.

This will elimate the necessity of duplication of white and black schools, white and black parks, and other duplicate facilities."

later in the plan they talk about how to move undesirable people out of deired areas..

"We have already mentioned the Waller Creek Driveway which will provide a convenient avenue for traffic from the northeast portion of Austin to the business district, and on south to the Colorado River Drive. The completion of this drive will entail the aquisition of certain cheap property along the banks of Waller Creek from Eighth Street to Nineteenth Street. Most of the property which will be needed is at present occupied by very unsightly and unsanitary shacks inhabited by negroes. With these buildings removed to provide for the trafficway, most of the remaining property will be of a substantial and more desirable type"

To help digest this information I was reading a book called Austin: A History of the Capital City by David Humphrey

According to his book in 1880 blacks were scattered throughout the city living in virtually every neighborhood, but by 1910 their homes became more concentrated on the east side, which accelerated through the 20s and 30s. The founding of Anderson High School, the first all black high school, on Comal Street in 1896 attracted many blacks to the area. In 1920 1 in 5 Austinites was black.

As far as Mexican Americans were concerned, the area from the Colorado River to W. 5th Street neighborhood was called Mexico by the Anglos of Austin during the 1870s. Slowly they too moved to the far East side. When the Mexican churches finally made the move over there (particularly Our Lady of Guadalupe) a large portion of the Mexican pop. moved along too. By 1930 10percent of austin was Mexican Americans. By 1950 the Mexican American population expanded to 13,000 and most lived in th East Austin Barrio between 1st and 11th.

Services were slow to reach the East side, well into the 30s they were without proper sewage. The area only got attention from the city when commercial interests began picking up in the east. One of the business-turned-political figures was Roy Velasquez. Anglo cab services refused to carry blacks and the east trolley stopped at Chicon. He created Roy's Taxi, a wildly successful cab company that serviced this area of town.