Slaughter Lane
Slaughter Lane serves as one of the City’s major horizontal throughways and is the southernmost roadway included in the Corridor Construction Program. Similar to its paralleled neighbor William Cannon Drive, Slaughter Lane has seen an explosive amount of development over the years. While some segments of Slaughter Lane have retained its rural roots, much of the roadway now hosts sprawling residential neighborhoods and bustling shopping centers.
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Slaughter Lane sirve como uno de los principales caminos horizontales de la ciudad y es el camino más al sur incluido en el Programa de Construcción del Corredor. Similar a su vecino paralelo William Cannon Drive, Slaughter Lane ha experimentado una cantidad explosiva de desarrollo a lo largo de los años. Si bien algunos segmentos de Slaughter Lane han conservado sus raíces rurales, gran parte de la carretera ahora alberga vecindarios residenciales en expansión y centros comerciales bulliciosos.
(Source: Jay Janner/American-Statesman)
History
The corridor along Slaughter Lane is on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Tonkawa, the Apache, the Ysleta del sur Pueblo, the Lipan Apache Tribe, the Texas Band of Yaqui Indians, the Coahuitlecan and all other tribes not explicitly stated. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge and pay respects to the many other tribes, Indigenous Peoples, and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories now known as Texas.
This roadway is named after the nearby Slaughter Creek, which gets its namesake from pioneer Stephen F. Slaughter. One of the earliest white settlers in what is now Travis County, Mr. Slaughter had received a large grant of land in the south Austin area in 1835.
View of the Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan (Source: AllTrails.com Brooke Weathers)
Life on the Corridor
Much of community life of the west side of Slaughter happens within Circle C Ranch, a large master planned community that began to be developed in the 1980s. The subdivision was featured prominently in a long and contentious environmental legal battle regarding urban development in the vicinity of Barton Springs and over Edwards Aquifer.
Today, Circle C Ranch includes more than 6,400 homes. Amenities include an 18-hole golf course called the Grey Rock Golf Club, tennis club, four swim centers, a fire station, and more than 500 acres (2.0 km2) of dedicated parkland.
Listen to Circle C Ranch resident Kevin Higgenbothman talk about day to day life on the west side of Slaughter Lane .
Source: Civic Arts
Just to the south of Slaughter Lane sits the iconic Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The Center began in 1982 and has served as a witness to the many changes happening in the area.
Listen to ecological designer John Hart Asher talk about the development that’s been occurring the the area over the pat few years.
Source: Civic Arts
Community life changes as you move along the corridor.
Listen to project youth advisor, Rhiannon Ferguson talk about childhood memories growing up on the east side of Slaughter Lane.
Girl Scouts gather for a festival in Tanglewood Forest Park. Source: Community Impact News
“
It’s quite a motley crew of businesses.”
Wiley Ross
Many adjacent strip malls define the boundaries of Slaughter Lane on the east side.
Akins High School is named after Dr. W. Charles Akins. As a graduate at Old LC Anderson HS, he later became a distinguished teacher there. As Austin ISD began to integrate its teaching faculty in 1964, Dr. Akins was selected to be the first African-American teacher in newly desegregated Johnston High School. As an Austin leader in education, Dr. Akins was one of 20th Century America’s most important societal advancements – equal education for all children. Akins Early College HS is ranked as one of the nation’s best high schools by US News and World Reports, with enrollment of 2,700 students, 7 academies and 19 Career and technical education programs.
W. Charles Akins High School. Source: Akins Early College High School
Marching to Nowhere follows the Akins High School marching band as they get ready for the UIL State Marching Band Contest.
Source: PBS Art in Context
Listen to Aikin’s High School teacher Armin Salek talk about the cultural community on the east side of Slaughter Lane.
Source: **
Mary Moore Searight operated a family ranch alone for 30 years and was reportedly offered multimillion-dollar deals for her land. She turned them down because she wanted her land to be a park.
"Mrs. Searight had on a pair of work jeans, a crusty old cowboy hat, work shirt, a scarf tied around her neck, two ear bobs which did not match, and a small gun clearly showing in her pocket. She looked like a character out of a western movie.”
Junie Plummer
Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park is a 334 acre park with 6 miles of trails, horseback riding, disc golf and access to Slaughter Creek. Source: freefuninaustin.com
“I'd say the community here is racially diverse, hardworking, and eclectic. But maybe they don’t have the financial capabilities to be as eclectic as they would be in East Austin, because it costs a lot to do that eclectic.”
Wiley Ross
Source: City of Austin and AISD AustinCorp program at Aikins High School