Image Credit: texashistory.unt.edu
Austin is a city that keeps recreating itself, and its street names have also been swept up in that reimagining of the cityscape.
For example, one of the things many Austin visitors notice is that streets often have more than one name. So you can never be sure if the directions you got from a friend will match up with what Google Maps or your in-vehicle GPS describes.
Take a left and head north on Loop 1? But my friend said that we have to take MoPac. What do we do? Typically, a little investigation or some local knowledge reveal that they’re the same thing.
Locals usually call it MoPac after the Missouri Pacific railroad that separates northbound and southbound lanes between downtown and RR 2222, which, of course, is also called Koenig, Allendale Road and Northland Drive depending on which segment you’re on — then, before then becoming Highway 69, which is indistinguishable to most from the more commonly known Highway 290. Then that turns into Manor Expressway before returning to Highway 290 and its meandering route to Houston.
Whew! You get the idea.
While Austin still has many double-names — or streets that change names as they cut through the city — it could have had far more, including most of the east-to-west streets downtown.
The Renaming
Austin’s earliest streets date back to 1839, when most buildings were built with logs (learn more about that here). North-South Streets took on names of Texas rivers, which remains today, and East-West streets were named after trees until 1897-1898 when the city switched to numbered streets.
What was Live Oak Street in the 1800s is now 2nd Street. Cypress has become 3rd Street and Cedar is 4th Street.
The list goes on. In fact, most of the street names for modern day 1st through 30th streets were named after trees.
- 1st Street, more commonly referred to as Ceasar Chavez, was Water Street
- 2nd Street was Live Oak
- 3rd Street was Cypress
- 4th Street was Cedar
- 5th Street was Pine
- 6th Street was Pecan
- 7th Street was Bois d’Arc
- 8th Street was Hickory
- 9th Street was Ash
- 10th Street was Mulberry
- 11th Street was Mosquite
- 12th Street was College Ave.
- 13th Street was Peach
- 14th Street was Walnut
- 15th Street was North Ave.
- 16th Street was Cherry
- 17th Street was Linden
- 18th Street was Chestnut
- 19th Street, more commonly referred to as Martin Luther King, was Magnolia Ave. (MLK)
- 21st Street was Elm
- 22nd Street was Palmetto
- 24th Street was Orange
- 26th Street was Maple
- 27th Street was Laurel
- 29th Street was Sycamore
Today, the only historic name many people recognize is Pecan Street, now called Sixth Street, and that’s largely because of the Pecan Street Festival that fills the street with art, food and fun each spring and fall.