Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Austin (Texas)

AUSTIN, a city, capital of the State of Texas, and county-seat of Travis co.; on the Colorado river and the Houston and Texas Central, the International and Great Northern, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, and the Austin and Northwestern railroads; 230 miles N. W. of Galveston. It derives large power for manufacturing from the river, and the principal industries are the manufacture of oil, lumber, iron, flour, tanned leather, etc. Besides the State Capitol, the city contains the main buildings of the State University, State asylums, the State Confederate Home, and the State Land Office. The Capitol, which cost $3,000,000, is in a square of 10 acres, in which are also the Supreme Court and Treasury buildings. The river is here spanned by two bridges, and the recent construction of a dam in it has given the city a large and beautiful stretch of water known as Lake McDonald. This lake has become a favorite resort for fishing, hunting, and health-seeking parties, and is widely known from the facts that two international regattas have been rowed on it, and that Stanbury, of Australia, here won the championship of the world. The city was originally known as Waterloo; was named after Stephen F. Austin, in 1837; became the capital of the Republic of Texas in 1839; the capital of the State in 1872. Fop. (1910) 29,860; (1920) 34,876.