DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Austin High School Rio Grande Campus — and friend, this one's got more layers than a kolache. Way back in 1839, a man named Edwin Waller sat down and drew up a plan for the city of Austin. And in that plan — right there on paper, before the city had hardly drawn its first breath — Waller set aside two full blocks for schools.
Two blocks, at Rio Grande and 12th Street, which folks back then called College Avenue. Now that's a man who believed in the long game. Time rolled on the way it does in Texas.
Forty-two years later, in 1881, the Austin school board looked at those two blocks and made a decision. They authorized the use of existing school facilities on the south block to house primary grades one through four, grammar school classes five through seven, and high school grades eight through eleven — all under one roof, more or less, all on that same ground Waller had circled on his map. Now enrollment has a way of growing whether you're ready for it or not.
By 1916, the school board built the John T. Allan Junior High School on the north block — the other half of what Waller had set aside. Two schools, two blocks, one original vision finally filled in.
Then comes 1925, and here's where the shuffle really starts. Austin High School was moved — picked up and relocated to this Rio Grande site from a campus on the corner of Trinity and 9th Street. And the junior high?
It went the other direction, relocated to that Trinity and 9th corner Austin High had just vacated. The city was playing chess with its own schools. Additions to the complex were completed later to handle the growing student body, but the real energy of this place — well, it showed up in the late 1920s.
That era saw a surge of student involvement. The Red Jackets, a girls organization, was formed. The Red Dragon drama club took the stage.
And the student newspaper, called the Austin Maroon, began publication. Then in the 1930s, the nearby House Park athletic fields were developed, giving students a place to run out all that ambition. In 1953, the school's name was changed to Stephen F.
Austin. It served as a high school until 1975, and after that, this site became part of the Austin Community College system. From Edwin Waller's 1839 plan to a community college campus — that ground at Rio Grande and 12th has been holding space for learning for a long, long time.
Some legacies, it turns out, don't need a single dramatic moment. They just keep showing up, generation after generation, right where they were always meant to be.
What the marker says
In Edwin Waller's 1839 plan for the city of Austin, two blocks were set aside for schools at Rio Grande and 12th Street, then called College Avenue. The Austin school board in 1881 authorized the use of existing school facilities on the south block to house the primary grades 1-4, grammar school classes 5-7, and high school grades 8-11. Due to increased enrollment, the school board in 1916 built the John T. Allan Junior High School on the north block. In 1925 the Austin High School was moved to this location from a campus on the corner of Trinity and 9th, where the junior high was relocated. Additions to the complex here were completed later to accommodate the larger student body. The late 1920s was a time of increased student involvement for Austin High. During those years the Red Jackets girls organization and the Red Dragon drama club were formed and the student newspaper, the "Austin Maroon", began publication. In the 1930s the nearby House Park athletic fields were developed. The school name was changed to Stephen F. Austin in 1953. Used for high school classes until 1975, this site was later part of the Austin Community College system. (1981)