We'd be lying if we said the redevelopment of Waterloo Park wasn't an agonizingly slow process -- this downtown Austin park has remained closed to the public since 2011, which means we're creeping up on nearly a decade without its 11 acres of green space around the banks of Waller Creek between East 12th and East 15th Streets. Still, the Waterloo Greenway nonprofit ...
parks
In 1973, Zilker’s Holiday Tree Went Dark
The lighting of the 155-foot tree at Zilker Park fashioned from one of the city's iconic moonlight towers is the most visible sign of the holiday season's arrival in Austin. The tree itself dates back to 1967, with the Zilker celebration now known as the Trail of Lights dating back even further to a "Yule Fest" event first held in 1965. But in 1973, the nationwide ...
When the Klan Took Republic Square
If you were a native-born white male Anglo-Saxon Protestant Austinite interested in joining the hooded ranks of the Ku Klux Klan, the summer of 1922 was a pretty friendly time to be alive — after all, you had company everywhere you looked. During the hate group's so-called second coming in the early 1920s, our burgeoning local chapter, Capital City Klan No. 81, held its ...
Say ‘Howdy’ to Holly Project, Phase One of an Ambitious East Austin Park Plan
The East Austin park improvement initiative formerly known as Holly Point but now sporting the broader (but slightly less memorable) label of Holly Project represents the first step towards upgrading the large tract of shoreline city parkland on the north banks of Lady Bird Lake commonly referred to as Holly Shores. This area, its size exceeding a whopping 90 ...
We’ve Got Two Options for a Snazzed-Up Trailhead in the Rainey Street District
The Trail Foundation's vision for an improved Hike-and-Bike Trail entrance -- or trailhead, using the preferred hiker-and-biker parlance -- in downtown Austin's rapidly-growing Rainey Street District is finally taking shape this month. At a public engagement meeting held last weekend, the nonprofit showed off two possible design configurations of an upgraded entry point and ...
