Historic Sites & Architecture

The East End District contains a significant number of historic/heritage sites with prior local, State, and/or Federal designation. Huston Tillotson University (representing the merger of Sam Huston College, founded in 1875, and Tillotson College, established in 1876), a faith-affiliated private university, is Austin’s oldest institution of higher learning and a charter member school of the United Negro College Fund. Rosewood, Booker T. Washington, Santa Rita, and Chalmers Court public housing projects, constructed as part of the Works Project Administration and the 1937 US Housing Act were among the first (if not the first) federally-funded public housing projects completed in the United States; and are still in operation. The French Legation (built 1840-41), originally the residence of the French chargé d’affaires to the Republic of Texas, still today sits atop Roberson Hill, just off East 11th Street and is operated as a museum by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The Legation building is considered Austin’s oldest existing residence. The original building of the George Washington Carver Museum is located adjacent to the Carver Cultural Center and Museum and the Carver Branch of the Austin Public Library. The building, originally constructed in 1926, downtown at 9th and Guadalupe Streets as the first home of the Austin Public Library, was in 1933 moved to Angelina Street and served for years as the “Colored Branch Library.” In 1979 the City of Austin constructed a new branch library in Central East Austin, adjacent to the original building, and began operation of the George Washington Carver Museum in the historic building. The Museum is now listed as Texas’ first African American neighborhood museum. The Texas State Cemetery (East 11th Street) was established in 1851 as the Republic’s official final resting place for elected officials, military heroes, diplomats, and dignitaries. The site contains the graves of significant Texans that include General Edward Burleson (served with Sam Houston in the Battle of San Jacinto and as Vice President of the Republic of Texas), Stephen F. Austin, General Albert Sidney Johnston, Governor Allan Shivers, Governor John Connally, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock, and Governor Ann Richards. US Representative Barbara Jordan was the first African American buried in the Cemetery (1996). The Victory Grill (1945) is the sole remaining live music venue along the East 11th Street Corridor that links present day East Austin to the historic heyday of the African American live music scene of the past. The Grill is listed on state and national historic registers, and is a stop on the National Chitlin Circuit Trail. Within the heart of the District there are at least three churches first established more than 100 years ago and still active: Ebenezer Baptist, Wesley Methodist, and Metropolitan A.M.E.

Delores Duffie Recreation Center

Location

Recreation Center
1182 North Pleasent Valley North Pleasent
Austin, TX, 78702

Chestnut Park

Location

Chestnut Park
2207 East 16th Street
Austin, TX, 78702

Texas State Cemetary

Location

Cemetary
909 Navasota Street
Austin, TX, 78702

Wolf House

Location

Wolf House
1602 Cesar Chavez Street
Austin, TX, 78702

Downs Mabson Field

Downs Mabson Field has some significant baseball history. The ballpark is the home of the Huston-Tillotson University Rams baseball team. The ballpark was also once home to the Austin Black Senators. Downs Mabson field was also the home ballpark of Samuel Huston College before it combined with Tillotson College in 1952. Several notable ballplayers have played at Downs Mabson including: Satchel Paige, Willie Wells, Smokey Joe Williams, Willie Mays, and Buck O’Neil.

Location

Downs Mabson Field
2816 E. 12th Street
Austin, TX, 78702

Rosewood Park

The 17 acre property in East Austin was originally the home site of Rudolph Bertram, a local store owner and namesake for the town of Bertram. In 1875, Bertram built the 14-room limestone block house on the property, which now functions as the Recreation Center.[4] The house passed to his daughter Emmie and her husband, Charles Huppertz.

Location

Rosewood Park
2300 Rosewood Ave.
Austin, TX, 78702

Kealing Park

Location

Kealing Park
1500 Rosewood Ave.
Austin, TX, 78702

L.C. Anderson House

ANDERSON, LAURINE CECIL (1853–1938). Laurine Cecil (L. C.) Anderson, black teacher and school administrator, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1853 and received his B.A. from Fisk University. He trained for the Methodist ministry and taught at Tuskegee, Alabama, with Booker T. Washington before moving to Texas in 1879 to assist his brother E. H. Anderson, who was a minister and teacher at Prairie View Normal Institute (now Prairie View A&M University). In 1882 L. C. Anderson lobbied for university status for the school.

Location

L.C. Anderson House
1180 Navasota Street
Austin, TX

Lucy Jennings House

Location

Lucy Jennings House
1303 Comal Street
Austin, TX, 78702
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