North America / USA / Texas / Austin / In Depth in Austin

Dateline in Austin

  • 1730 Franciscans build a mission at Barton Springs, but abandon it within a year.

  • 1836 Texas wins independence from Mexico; Republic of Texas established.

  • 1838 Jacob Harrell sets up camp on the Colorado River, calling the settlement Waterloo.

  • 1839 Congressional commission recommends Waterloo as site for new capital of Texas republic. The town is renamed Austin.

  • 1842 President Sam Houston re-establishes Houston as Texas’ capital, and orders archives moved there. Austinites resist.

  • 1844 Anson Jones succeeds Houston as president and returns capital to Austin.

  • 1845 Constitutional convention in Austin approves annexation of Texas by the United States.

  • 1850s Austin undergoes a building boom.

  • 1861 Texas votes to secede from the Union (Austin’s Travis County votes against secession).

  • 1865 General Custer and troops come to restore order in Austin during Reconstruction.

  • 1871 First rail line to Austin completed.

  • 1883 University of Texas opens.

  • 1923 Santa Rita No. 1, an oil well on University of Texas land, strikes a gusher.

  • 1937 Lyndon Johnson elected U.S. representative from 10th Congressional District, which includes Austin.

  • Late 1930s–early 1950s Six dams built on the Colorado River, forming the Highland Lakes chain.

  • 1960s High-tech firms, including IBM, move to Austin.

  • 1972 Willie Nelson moves back to Texas from Nashville; helps spur live-music scene on Sixth Street.

  • 1976 PBS’s Austin City Limits airs for the first time.

  • 1980 Whole Foods Market is founded.

  • 1987 South by Southwest (S[ts]SW) Music Festival debuts.

  • 1999 Opening of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

  • 2002 The tech recession hits, but Austin’s still partying like it’s 2000, as the Austin City Limits Music Festival debuts.

  • 2004 Debut of Austin’s tallest building, the Frost Bank Tower, on Congress Avenue.

  • 2007 Town Lake renamed Lady Bird Johnson Lake.

  • 2010 Capital Metro Rail, a commuter line running from the northern satellite community of Cedar Park to downtown, begins operation.

  • The 56-story Austonian, the tallest all-residential building west of the Mississippi, is completed.

  • 2012 Austin Food & Wine Alliance established, signaling the coming-of-age of Austin’s culinary scene.

  • The Circuit of the Americas Grand Prix racetrack opens, bringing Formula One racing to Austin.

  • 2018 Austin City Council votes to build a stadium in north Austin to house a major league soccer team.

  • Apple announces expansion of its Austin presence, adding a $1-billion campus in north Austin.