National Register Listing

Moore's Crossing Historic District

Roughly bounded by FM 973, old Burleson Rd. and Onion Cr., Austin, TX

The buildings, structures, and sites that comprise the Moore's Crossing Historic District are the surviving remnants of a southeast Travis County agricultural community that provided goods and services to area farmers and offered religious, educational, and social activities for local residents with no direct access to urban amenities. Moore's Crossing Historic District has a period of locally significant development dating from 1846 to 1946. It is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criterion A, in the areas of Agriculture, Commerce, and Exploration/Settlement, with emphasis on historic settlement patterns. In addition, it is eligible under Criterion C, in the area of Community Planning and Development, with an emphasis on the evolution of the community over time. The Moore's Crossing Historic District relates to the historic context. Rural Development and Building Traditions in Southeastern Travis County, as an example of a community whose pioneers and later farmers established their homes in close proximity to natural resources and viable transportation routes. Occupation of the area surrounding Moore's Crossing was the result of area residents' need for an accessible creek ford and relief from flood waters. Documentation shows that the Onion Creek ford was an important crossing point for pioneers at least as early as 1846. Before the United States government successfully dammed the Colorado River in 1938, Onion Creek flooded regularly and people at Moore's Crossing often found bridges impassable and roads mired in mud. Commercial and agricultural services established at Moore's Crossing after the Civil War made the community a focal point for lower Onion Creek farmers and their families. The mercantile, blacksmith shop, meat market, and cotton gin relate Moore's Crossing to this historic context as examples of the post-reconstruction trend that forced whites in rural areas to establish self-sufficient communities to serve needs no longer provided by a slave economy. Despite the loss of highly cultivated farmland to Bergstrom Air Force Base during World War II, the decrease in number of farm families living in the area, and the advent of better roads to Austin for supplies, Moore's Crossing adapted to changing economic and agricultural demands until 1946. The district currently contains 21 extant resources. Contributing properties include a store—the nucleus of this once thriving community—two houses, a garage, two wells, a privy, a hen house, a small barn, the remains of cotton gin, an iron truss bridge, a concrete bridge, and the site of the Onion Creek ford. The resources in the Moore's Crossing Historic District are a reminder of the vibrant rural community that once existed near the lower Onion Creek ford.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1996.