South River City, Austin, Texas
Encyclopedia
South River City is a community located in Austin
, Texas
. Also frequently called Travis Heights, the neighborhood is located south of the city's urban core, just below Lake Lady Bird in South Austin. The area encompasses a portion of ZIP code
78704.
South River City is bounded to the west by South Congress Avenue
and the Bouldin Creek
neighborhood, to the south by Oltorf Road and to the east by Interstate 35
and East Riverside-Oltorf
Combined Neighborhood Planning Area. To the north, South River City abuts Lake Lady Bird and Riverside Drive. South River City together with the St. Edward's neighborhood located directly to the south, comprise a City of Austin Combined Planning Area called Greater South River City.
The area known as South River City developed in the late 19th and early 20th century as Austin's first planned urban communities south of the Colorado River
. Swisher's Addition and Fairview Park, the first two attempts at settlement in present-day South River City were troubled by the lack of transportation with Downtown Austin
. However, the concrete Congress Avenue Bridge
was completed in 1910, thus laying the groundwork for a neighborhood boom in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the homes built were single-family, and some of those that remain are Victorian-era
structures with gingerbread trim, Craftsman
-influenced bungalows, and housed influenced by the Prairie School
style. Many houses have gabled or hipped roofs and deep porches.
was dependent on ferries and pontoon bridges.
James Swisher settled on a bluff in present-day South Austin with his in 1846, and initially operated a tavern and a hotel. It was Swisher who granted Travis County
the right-of-way to begin construction of a highway to San Antonio in 1852. Sensing the commercial opportunities that the new highway would bring, Swisher also began operating a ferry service across Lake Lady Bird that same year. The establishment of Swisher's ferry and the Post Road in the early 1850s encouraged modest settlement in South Austin, particularly along the road, such as the Texas School for the Deaf
in 1856. Further growth was halted by the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction
. Until the a wooden bridge was finally built in 1876, South Austinites were dependent on ferry service and pontoon bridges to get to and from Downtown Austin
. The bridge made South Austin more accessible than ever before, and in 1877 John Milton Swisher (James' son) subdivided 23 acres of the family farm along the San Antonio Road. It was to become Austin's first urban addition south of the Colorado River.
Platted in 1877, noted that it was an addition to "South Austin" rather than Austin, perhaps acknowledging South Austin's separate identity from the capital city. Swisher allotted a very generous 120 foot right-of-way through the center of his grid-style residential addition. The wide avenue was laid out in a direct line with Congress Avenue on the north side of the river. This visionary and civic act dedicated a grand view from Swisher's farm to the public domain. South Congress Avenue
, in spite of being separated from the downtown portion of the street by about a mile over the Colorado River and low-lying areas, preserved the major approach to the Capitol
and city center for future residents and visitors. A permanent and fully paved connection from Bouldin Creek
to the north side of the river would not be complete for another 50 years. Monroe, James, Annie, Nellie, Elizabeth, Mary, Johanna, Eva, Newton and
Brackenridge. These names have survived to the present.
Swisher's Addition was not immediately successful. The wooden bridge collapsed in 1883, and while an iron bridge was built later that same decade, the concrete Congress Avenue Bridge and streetcar lines did not extend to South Austin until about 1910. Because this impeded would-be residents from being able to commute to downtown jobs with ease, development was slow and South Congress Avenue remained a country road through a largely rural landscape throughout the remainder of 19th century.
portion of the Swisher farm with plans of developing an “upscale, owner-occupied, garden suburb." In contrast to Swisher's grid-style addition on the high, relatively flat ground of the area, Newning's development was created over a hilly area with two creeks through it and numerous city views from its hillsides and terraces Newning’s vision became Fairview Park – named because this area offered a “fair view” of the city from the bluffs.
Mr. Newning’s ideal development was never realized in large part because he did not anticipate the extent to which commercial development would occur on South Congress, the difficulty of crossing the river and the distance from town. Before the turn of the century a number of Victorian
homes were built on the large lots. Development, however, was so sparse that starting in the 1910s lots were subdivided into smaller parcels. In the 20's and 30's, small bungalows and cottages were built on these smaller lots. A much altered and scaled-back Fairview Park was not built out until the 1940s.
in 1910, pedestrians, automobiles and Austin's streetcar system were able to reach South River City with ease and the area began to grow. In 1913, General William Harwood Stacy, Charles Newning’s partner, and Stacy’s sons began development of Travis Heights
. Travis Heights was designed with a range of lot sizes, a street system of both grid and curvy streets, and deed restrictions that prohibit multifamily and commercial uses. Travis Heights was the most heavily promoted subdivision of its time. Stacy provided streetcar service from Travis Heights Boulevard to the Capitol for prospective buyers to see the area before the homes were even built. He also gave away Ford Touring cars as part of a promotional campaign.
Based on his earlier experience with Charles Newning and the success of Fairview Park, General Stacy laid out his South River City subdivision with both curving and grid streets and provided lot sizes and prices to fit a range of customers, from the builders of modest bungalows to grand home sites with commanding vistas. Travis Heights was an immediate success and a great surge of home-building took place in the 1920s, so that by the General's death in 1928, 600 lots had been sold and more than 160 homes built. To promote his properties, the General ran streetcars full of prospective buyers out to Travis Heights from the Capitol. He also incorporated deed restrictions against multi-family and commercial development into his subdivision to reassure buyers that Travis Heights would remain a residential enclave.
The neighborhood is zoned to the Austin Independent School District
.
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Also frequently called Travis Heights, the neighborhood is located south of the city's urban core, just below Lake Lady Bird in South Austin. The area encompasses a portion of ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
78704.
South River City is bounded to the west by South Congress Avenue
South Congress
South Congress is a neighborhood located on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, United States. It is also a nationally-known shopping and cultural district famous for its many eclectic small retailers, restaurants, music and art venues and, more recently, food trucks.South Congress begins at...
and the Bouldin Creek
Bouldin Creek, Austin, Texas
Bouldin Creek is an older neighborhood in Austin, Texas, originally created at the turn of the 20th century. With several historic homes remaining from that era, and countless more from the period of rapid growth in the 1920s and 30s that followed, this neighborhood has an undeniable historic charm...
neighborhood, to the south by Oltorf Road and to the east by Interstate 35
Interstate 35
Interstate 35 is a north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. I-35 stretches from Laredo, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border to Duluth, Minnesota, at Minnesota Highway 61 and 26th Avenue East. Many interstates used to have splits or spurs indicated with suffixed letters , but I-35...
and East Riverside-Oltorf
East Riverside-Oltorf, Austin, Texas
East Riverside-Oltorf is a sprawling community located in Austin, Texas. It is located southeast of city's urban core.The neighborhoods of East Riverside, Parker Lane and Pleasant Valley neighborhoods together form the East Riverside-Oltorf Combined Neighborhood Planning Area...
Combined Neighborhood Planning Area. To the north, South River City abuts Lake Lady Bird and Riverside Drive. South River City together with the St. Edward's neighborhood located directly to the south, comprise a City of Austin Combined Planning Area called Greater South River City.
The area known as South River City developed in the late 19th and early 20th century as Austin's first planned urban communities south of the Colorado River
Colorado River (Texas)
The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it should not be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Gulf of California....
. Swisher's Addition and Fairview Park, the first two attempts at settlement in present-day South River City were troubled by the lack of transportation with Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Downtown is located on the north bank of the Colorado River. The approximate borders of Downtown include Lamar Boulevard to the west, 11th Street and sometimes Martin Luther King, Jr...
. However, the concrete Congress Avenue Bridge
Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge
The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge crosses over Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. Before the construction of Longhorn Dam was completed in 1960, the bridge crossed the Colorado River from which Lady Bird Lake is impounded...
was completed in 1910, thus laying the groundwork for a neighborhood boom in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the homes built were single-family, and some of those that remain are Victorian-era
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
structures with gingerbread trim, Craftsman
American Craftsman
The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...
-influenced bungalows, and housed influenced by the Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
style. Many houses have gabled or hipped roofs and deep porches.
The Swisher Addition and birth of South Congress
As was the case with other South Austin neighborhoods, the area around present-day South River City was slower to develop. Prior to the late 19th century, transportation to and from Downtown AustinDowntown Austin
Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Downtown is located on the north bank of the Colorado River. The approximate borders of Downtown include Lamar Boulevard to the west, 11th Street and sometimes Martin Luther King, Jr...
was dependent on ferries and pontoon bridges.
James Swisher settled on a bluff in present-day South Austin with his in 1846, and initially operated a tavern and a hotel. It was Swisher who granted Travis County
Travis County, Texas
As of 2009, the U.S. census estimates there were 1,026,158 people, 320,766 households, and 183,798 families residing in the county. The population density was 821 people per square mile . There were 335,881 housing units at an average density of 340 per square mile...
the right-of-way to begin construction of a highway to San Antonio in 1852. Sensing the commercial opportunities that the new highway would bring, Swisher also began operating a ferry service across Lake Lady Bird that same year. The establishment of Swisher's ferry and the Post Road in the early 1850s encouraged modest settlement in South Austin, particularly along the road, such as the Texas School for the Deaf
Texas School for the Deaf
Texas School for the Deaf is a state-operated primary and secondary school for deaf children in Austin, Texas. It was first opened in 1857 "in an old frame house, three log cabins, and a smokehouse." The school struggled under inadequate funding during the Civil War and its aftermath with the...
in 1856. Further growth was halted by the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction
Reconstruction
In the history of the United States, the term "Reconstruction Era" has two senses: the first covers the entire nation in the period 1865–1877 following the Civil War; the second one, used in this article, covers the transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877, with the...
. Until the a wooden bridge was finally built in 1876, South Austinites were dependent on ferry service and pontoon bridges to get to and from Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Downtown is located on the north bank of the Colorado River. The approximate borders of Downtown include Lamar Boulevard to the west, 11th Street and sometimes Martin Luther King, Jr...
. The bridge made South Austin more accessible than ever before, and in 1877 John Milton Swisher (James' son) subdivided 23 acres of the family farm along the San Antonio Road. It was to become Austin's first urban addition south of the Colorado River.
Platted in 1877, noted that it was an addition to "South Austin" rather than Austin, perhaps acknowledging South Austin's separate identity from the capital city. Swisher allotted a very generous 120 foot right-of-way through the center of his grid-style residential addition. The wide avenue was laid out in a direct line with Congress Avenue on the north side of the river. This visionary and civic act dedicated a grand view from Swisher's farm to the public domain. South Congress Avenue
South Congress
South Congress is a neighborhood located on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, United States. It is also a nationally-known shopping and cultural district famous for its many eclectic small retailers, restaurants, music and art venues and, more recently, food trucks.South Congress begins at...
, in spite of being separated from the downtown portion of the street by about a mile over the Colorado River and low-lying areas, preserved the major approach to the Capitol
Texas State Capitol
The Texas State Capitol is located in Austin, Texas, and is the fourth building to be the house of Texas government in Austin. It houses the chambers of the Texas Legislature and the office of the governor of Texas. It was designed originally during 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, and was...
and city center for future residents and visitors. A permanent and fully paved connection from Bouldin Creek
Bouldin Creek, Austin, Texas
Bouldin Creek is an older neighborhood in Austin, Texas, originally created at the turn of the 20th century. With several historic homes remaining from that era, and countless more from the period of rapid growth in the 1920s and 30s that followed, this neighborhood has an undeniable historic charm...
to the north side of the river would not be complete for another 50 years. Monroe, James, Annie, Nellie, Elizabeth, Mary, Johanna, Eva, Newton and
Brackenridge. These names have survived to the present.
Swisher's Addition was not immediately successful. The wooden bridge collapsed in 1883, and while an iron bridge was built later that same decade, the concrete Congress Avenue Bridge and streetcar lines did not extend to South Austin until about 1910. Because this impeded would-be residents from being able to commute to downtown jobs with ease, development was slow and South Congress Avenue remained a country road through a largely rural landscape throughout the remainder of 19th century.
Fairview Park
Despite Swisher's minimal success, other developers tried their luck in South Austin. In 1886 Charles Newning bought the northernportion of the Swisher farm with plans of developing an “upscale, owner-occupied, garden suburb." In contrast to Swisher's grid-style addition on the high, relatively flat ground of the area, Newning's development was created over a hilly area with two creeks through it and numerous city views from its hillsides and terraces Newning’s vision became Fairview Park – named because this area offered a “fair view” of the city from the bluffs.
Mr. Newning’s ideal development was never realized in large part because he did not anticipate the extent to which commercial development would occur on South Congress, the difficulty of crossing the river and the distance from town. Before the turn of the century a number of Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
homes were built on the large lots. Development, however, was so sparse that starting in the 1910s lots were subdivided into smaller parcels. In the 20's and 30's, small bungalows and cottages were built on these smaller lots. A much altered and scaled-back Fairview Park was not built out until the 1940s.
Travis Heights
Following the completion of the concrete Congress Avenue BridgeAnn W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge
The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge crosses over Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. Before the construction of Longhorn Dam was completed in 1960, the bridge crossed the Colorado River from which Lady Bird Lake is impounded...
in 1910, pedestrians, automobiles and Austin's streetcar system were able to reach South River City with ease and the area began to grow. In 1913, General William Harwood Stacy, Charles Newning’s partner, and Stacy’s sons began development of Travis Heights
Travis Heights, Austin, Texas
Travis Heights is a historic neighborhood in south Austin, Texas, United States, bounded by Lady Bird Lake on the north, Interstate 35 on the east, Congress Avenue on the west and Oltorf Street on the south. These boundaries include , an earlier suburb associated with the same developers, running...
. Travis Heights was designed with a range of lot sizes, a street system of both grid and curvy streets, and deed restrictions that prohibit multifamily and commercial uses. Travis Heights was the most heavily promoted subdivision of its time. Stacy provided streetcar service from Travis Heights Boulevard to the Capitol for prospective buyers to see the area before the homes were even built. He also gave away Ford Touring cars as part of a promotional campaign.
Based on his earlier experience with Charles Newning and the success of Fairview Park, General Stacy laid out his South River City subdivision with both curving and grid streets and provided lot sizes and prices to fit a range of customers, from the builders of modest bungalows to grand home sites with commanding vistas. Travis Heights was an immediate success and a great surge of home-building took place in the 1920s, so that by the General's death in 1928, 600 lots had been sold and more than 160 homes built. To promote his properties, the General ran streetcars full of prospective buyers out to Travis Heights from the Capitol. He also incorporated deed restrictions against multi-family and commercial development into his subdivision to reassure buyers that Travis Heights would remain a residential enclave.
Demographics
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the area defined as South River City was 6,357 in 2009, across an area of 1.307 square miles. The population density per square miles is 4,862 people per square mile and is, as a result, notably higher than the citywide average for Austin (2,610 people per square miles). The racial breakdown is 73% white, 24% Hispanic/Latino, 2% black and 15 other. The median ages of males and females in the neighborhood are 31.3 and 34.6, slightly above the citywide median ages of 29.6 and 30.2, respectively. Median household income in 2009 in South River City was $41,179, compared with $50,132 for Austin at large. In 2009, the average estimated value of detached houses in the area was $387,271 (39.0% of all units), compared with $$286,025 for the rest of the city.Recreation
Perhaps the greatest contribution Stacy made to the future livability of not only Travis Heights, but the entire South River City Neighborhood, was the dedication of land adjacent to Blunn Creek and the bluff which drops down to Lake Lady Bird as public parks. Stacy’s sons, Harwood and Gillespie, added more and along Blunn Creek. This parkland later became known as Stacy Park. While Stacy Park was intended as a major recreational area, it also served as a natural divider between Travis Heights and the Fairview Park and Swisher subdivisions.Education
Austin Independent School District
Austin Independent School District is a school district that is based in the city of Austin, Texas, United States. It was established in 1881. Its current superintendent is...
.
- Travis Heights Elementary School
- Fulmore Middle SchoolFulmore Middle SchoolFulmore Middle School is a middle school located at 201 East Mary Street in Austin, Texas .Part of the Austin Independent School District, Fulmore is an urban school with approximately 1050 students. The school serves grades 6-8. The school's mascot is the falcon and its colors are royal blue and...
- Travis High School