Airport Boulevard
A microcosm of Austin’s growth, the history of Airport Boulevard narrates the expansion and growth of the city, inter-mingling the new with the old and creatively re-vitalizing while striving to honor historic roots.
Un microcosmos del crecimiento de Austin, la historia de Airport Boulevard narra la expansión y el crecimiento de la ciudad, mezclando lo nuevo con lo viejo y revitalizando creativamente mientras se esfuerza por honrar las raíces históricas.
Aerial view of master-planned community of Mueller along Airport Blvd Source: Jim Innes
History
The corridor along Airport Boulevard 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 particular street has what used to be homestead properties. The properties are about half an acre and deep soil, pecan bottom soil, and it's just a great place. T
hese properties, especially along E.M. Franklin, were originally dedicated, and intended to be homesteads and places where you could grow food, and now this place is a food desert. I moved here to save this land and grow food on it, and I know some of my neighbors did too. This is part of Austin's farming history. That was its original history, even before the airport moved in, this was farm and ranch properties.”
Anne Woods, resident on E.M. Franklin
Travis County Farmland Source: PICA 08598, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
In 1928, the City of Austin adopted a Master Plan that required Black and Latino communities to move east of then Eastern Avenue, now I-35, if they wanted to receive city utility services. This began segregation in the city that had previously had freedman colonies at various locations.
Source: 1928 City Plan for Austin, Texas
Airport Boulevard (Loop 111) was originally built along the southern border of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport when it began operations in 1930. As the city grew, houses and businesses began to populate the roadway, many of which would gain iconic status in years to come.
Source: Austin Bergstrom International Airport at austintexas.gov
In 2019, a state bill filed by State Representative Sheryl Cole effectively renamed the portion of Airport Boulevard between its northern intersection with Levander Loop and its intersection with Parkwood Road as the “Richard Overton Memorial Highway” in honor of America’s oldest WWII veteran who lived to be 112 years old and passed in 2018.
Source: Camille J. Wheeler/Austin HIstory Center
Listen to Pete Rivera talk about the devastating impacts of living near several bulk fuel storage tanks. Through the organizing of
People Organized in Defence of Earth and her Resources (PODER)
, the tank farms were relocated in 1993.
PODER organized for the health of the neighborhood to remove the tank farms seen in the background of this photo in East Austin. Source: PODER Austin
Life on the Corridor
Listen to the late Johnny Limon talk
about his family history along Airport Blvd and the street named after them Calle Limon.
“Because in my mind, that’s where there’s a tremendous historical legacy of the heroes that I knew who were just giants in terms of their commitment to the community, and their intelligence, their commitment to education.”
Listen to Saundra Kirk talk about the East Austin activism that her mother, Willa Mae Kirk helped organize on Airport Blvd.
Willie Mae Kirk Library Dedication on October 6, 2012. Source: Austin Public Library
Listen to longtime resident Pete Rivera talk about the corridor and creeks he grew up around.
Boggy Creek meanders through the Boggy Creek Greenbelt near Nile Street and North Pleasant Valley Road. Source: City of Austin
Listen to Martha Koock Ward, sixth generation Austinite living in the Ridgetop Neighborhood share about her community.
Ridgetop Neighborhood gathering with local residents for annual barbeque. Source: Ridgetop Neighborhood Association
Alexandria Anderson, Vice President of the MLK Neighborhood Association with Wilhelmina Delco, Austin’s first Black Elected Official as a School Board Trustee in 1968. As Speaker Pro Tempore of the Texas House of Representatives in 1991, Mrs. Delco was the first woman and the second African American to hold the second highest position in the state house.
Wilhelmina Delco and Alexandria Anderson at Givens Swims. Source: Forklift Danceworks/Jonica Moore
With chainsaw carvings of fallen neighborhood trees, artists Victor Torres and Daniel Llanes honor the East Austin community that was affected by the superfund site of six jet fuel storage “tank farms.”
Listen to Johnny Limon share about his love for the Tejano accordion. Check out Johnny’s playlist of music he grew up listening to at
Ethan Limon-Smith, nephew of Johnny Limon carries on the tradition of playing accordion. Source: Limon Family
“
When you start poking around in this neighborhood, it's got a really deep, rich gospel and blues history.
”
Anne Woods
Skylark Lounge. Source: www.skylarkaustin.com
Listen to Anne Woods share about the gospel history along her street named for Rev. E.M. Franklin, a community leader and founding member of The Paramount Singers.
Source: Youtube
"Every time I go there and I walked through, I passed graves where I just have to stop for a moment and touch my heart, because there are so many people that I knew and loved."
Saundra Kirk
Evergreen Cemetery Source: City of Austin
“The Juneteenth parade–– it’s community, being out, connectivity, camaraderie.”
Alexandria Anderson
2018 Juneteenth Parade. Source: David Brendan Hall/Austin Chronicle
Givens Park was named after community leader and dentist Dr. Everett Givens in 1962. Last summer, artist Cindy Elizabeth created an installation of flags bearing the portraits of community members at Givens Park “as a representation of a people staking claim to their cultural landscape, ancestral memory, and communal wellbeing.”
Video by Cindy Elizabeth. See interviews with community members as of her project Allegiance.
Lammes was founded by William Wirt Lamme in 1878. He lost the business in a poker game when his son, David Turner Lamme, Sr., came to Austin to repay the gambling debt of $800 and reclaim the store as his own. In 1892, after seven years of recipe tasting, Lammes produced the company’s current bestseller and world famous “Texas Chewie Pecan Praline.” In the beginning, pecans from the trees along the Colorado River in Austin were used to produce the praline -- Lammes continues to follow this tradition today, using only Texas grown pecans. Originally on Congress Ave, the store and kitchen moved to Airport Blvd in the 1940s..
Source: Lammes.com
“Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery has been there since I was six years old. Anybody in East Austin, they know exactly where it's at. That's a mom and pop from the 50s. It’s one of the iconic businesses on the corridor.”
Gilbert Rivera
Mrs. Johnson’s Donuts. Source: Austin Chronicle.
“No matter where people have moved in Austin, they have great memories when they come in. They talk to us about stopping on a Friday or Saturday morning with their mom or their grandmother. They stopped at Mrs. Johnson bakery to get doughnuts, and then came down to Quality Seafood to get their Friday fish to fry. Because we span generations now, we have become kind of a destination for special occasions. It brings back memories. It's the family memory.”
Carol Huntsberger, Owner Quality Seafood
Quality Seafood Market & Restaurant. Source: John Anderson/Austin Chronicle
"
We have a locally known business that has been here forever, that's Dan's Hamburgers. They make one of the best damn burgers here, in all of Austin.
”
Johnny Limon
Dan’s Hamburgers on near Airport and Springdale. Source: Explore Texas blog
“We want to pay homage to the fact that this is a longstanding neighborhood and the businesses, and as well as the residents and the schools and everything, are what should be celebrated. Because it's really a community still, that's vibrant and strong, and we'd like it to stay that way.”
Jane Rivera
Source: Forklift Danceworks /Jonica Moore
“What I would love for future generations to have is belonging. Whether they're the children of a family that has lived here for generations or whether they're the children of folks who've just moved here, I want those kids to have a place to come home to, and start small farms and funky little restaurants and new music venues, to bring their dreams home and be able to have a place here.”
Anne Woods
Youth participants from Givens Swims. Source: Forklift Danceworks /Jonica Moore