City of Austin, Texas Use District Map, Austin: Austin Chamber of Commerce, 1939, Map #452, Map Collection, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.

City of Austin Texas Use District Map, 1939

Drawn “directly from the latest records of the city of Austin,” this 1939 map of the City of Austin distributed by the Austin Chamber of Commerce showed the different residential, commercial, and industrial districts of the city.

To promote business growth in Austin and membership in its organization, the Chamber of Commerce distributed this map identifying the different residential, commercial, industrial, and government districts within the city. In 1939, the city boundaries had not yet expanded to their present-day size. St. Edwards University was outside the city limits to the south.

[left] The northwest corner of the map near Camp Mabry displays the lands set aside for special needs schools. [right] Just north of the Capitol Complex, the map displays the ever-growing University of Texas. According to the legend, the areas in black near campus had been designated as part of the commercial district.

The Municipal Airport marked to the northeast closed in 1999 after Austin-Bergstrom International Airport opened. Where Interstate 35, which opened in 1962, exists today, East Avenue runs north and south to the Colorado River. Tarrytown, an affluent neighborhood today, used to be home to the County Poor Farm.

Four state institutions are identified on the map using their 1939 names. The current names are in parentheses:

· State Insane Hospital (The Austin State Hospital),

· State Blind Institute (The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired),

· State School for the Feeble-minded (The Austin State Supported Living Center)

· State Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute [for Colored] (The Grove at Shoal Creek)

The latter institution opened in 1887 with 17 students. William Holland, a formerly-enslaved state legislator and teacher, pushed for the establishment of the school and became its first superintendent. His wife, Eliza James Holland, taught students who were deaf. By 1912, they had 125 students and 11 teachers.

[left] On the southwest corner of the map stands Austin’s most-loved park: Zilker Metropolitan Park. Now the site of major music festivals and Barton Springs Pool, the land was originally part of Andrew Jackson Zilker’s ranch. Zilker gifted the lands to the city between 1918 and 1934 when the park was named in his honor. [right] The municipal airport, now the Mueller neighborhood, made up a significant portion of the northeastern edge of town. The Country Club, which dates to 1899, is one of the oldest in the state. It was renamed the Hancock Golf Course in 1946.

This map was adopted with contributions from the 2009 State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC); conservation was funded in 2009.

A reproduction of this map can be purchased on the GLO website.

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