Willow-Spence Streets Historic District - History

History

The surrounding neighborhood was first occupied by German, Scottish, Italian, Armenian, and other European immigrants. According to old phone books, these residents were bookkeepers, waiters, clerks, ice deliverers, dressmakers, Kodak finishers, carpenters, carriage painters, streetcar linemen, and horseshoers, as well as conductors, switchmen, engineers, and brakemen for the nearby railroad. Many residents took the streetcar to work in downtown Austin. The earliest homes were built of longleaf pine from Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana—a lovely red hardwood, unfortunately logged to extinction. Today the streets are shaded by pecan and oak trees as old as the neighborhood, which thrive in the rich soil of the Colorado River floodplain. The river last flooded the area in the 1930s.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Mexican Americans began to move into the neighborhood as downtown growth displaced them eastward. These changes were exacerbated in the 1950s when Interstate 35 severed East Austin from downtown, creating a cultural and sociological barrier. Many Anglo residents moved out, not only due to "white flight" but also because the city failed to upgrade the utilities and other infrastructure. However, some descendants of the original owners still live in the Willow-Spence historic district. In the 1970s and 1980s, a few Anglos began returning, drawn by the historic homes. This trend continues, but a lively Mexican-American culture prevails.