Sixth Street Historic District

Austin's Sixth Street Historic District represents in 1975 a significant concentration of Victorian commercial architecture dating from the last half of the 19th century and a few structures from the early 20th century. As Austin's principal link to the settlements of East Texas, 6th Street was a major thoroughfare from the year of the founding of Austin. During the 1870's and 1880's, 6th Street was at the height of its importance and shared the honors of the major commercial district equally with Congress Avenue. The 6th Street Historic District reflects that late 19th century character in its cohesive streetscapes of Victorian commercial buildings. Besides the two- and three-story vernacular lime-stone masonry buildings, the District contains the elaborate Richardsonian Romanesque Driskill Hotel, Austin's first two skyscrapers, the 1878 Renaissance Revival Post Office and Federal Building and the 1912 Classical Revival Post Office. In addition to its architectural value, the 6th Street Historic District represents a cross section of Austin's business population in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The city of Austin was founded in 1839 for the site of the capital of the young Republic of Texas. Edwin Waller and William H. Sandusky laid out the streets in a grid plan superimposed over the hills and creeks of the site. The city sprang up as a village of rude log and rough plank buildings with its crude early businesses near the First Street and Congress intersection and its Republic of Texas departmental offices concentrated not far from the intersection of the two streets. Congress and Pecan (changed to 6th Street in 1884). Congress Avenue was the main north-south street with the capitol grounds at the north and the Colorado River at the south, while Pecan Street was the main artery leading to highways to the east. For the first few years of Austin's existence. Congress Avenue and Pecan Street were the only streets of consequence. The Bastrop Highway linking the frontier town of Austin with earlier settlements in East Texas had been charted in 1839 and chose the route into Austin along Pecan Street. The stagecoach followed this route when it arrived in Austin in 1840 and used the Bullock Hotel at the northwest corner of Pecan and Congress as the stage stop. The Bullock, built in 1839 by Richard Bullock, was a complex of log buildings which served as the quasi-formal and informal meeting place in Austin for several years. That particular intersection became the focal point of the city from the time of the town's establishment. In the opening town-site auction in 1839, the lot at the southwest comer of Pecan and Congress went for the highest price of the day.

The town spread like a cross along Congress and Pecan. Pecan had an obvious advantage for development. The street was far enough from the river to escape flooding, "which occasionally spread as far as Cypress (3rd Street), and it was the last east-west street flat enough for wagons and pedestrians to travel comfortably. The streets farther north were interrupted by steep hills. This fact had probably been the major consideration in building the highway and stage-line along this route. Following an explosive growth in the town's population between 1850 and 1860, Pecan soon contained not only log and frame houses, but also was lined with wagon yards, livery stables and saloons to meet the needs of travelers.

The Civil War interrupted development in Austin in the 1860's, but the next decade proved to be the most productive years in 6th Street's growth. In anticipation of the arrival of the railroad a burst of con-struction brought commercial structures of permanence to 6th Street in the 1870's. The railroad bed was laid along East Pine (East 5th Street) to Congress Avenue and in December, 1871, Austin's first railroad, the Houston and Texas Central arrived. A temporary depot was constructed on the site originally designated for the market square in the 400 block of East Pine. In addition, the railroad company promised to build an impressive $20,000 depot at this site (this plan never materialized). In 1874 the Austin City Railway Company organized and began laying the rail line for a mule-drawn street railway. The railway extended the length of 6th Street to East Avenue (now Inter-regional 35) and continued farther east and north. The streetcar created additional mobility to and from the area. This period of the 1870's and 1880's was the height of 6th Street's importance as a commercial center and some of Austin's most prestigious business enterprises were located here. Lots along the street were in great demand and fine two- and three-story limestone Victorian commercial structures began to line the streets where one-story frame buildings or vacant lots had been.

A biracial character was evident along 6th Street even during this period of development, although it became more pronounced in the 1890's and early 1900's. A black physician had an office in the 300 block of East 6th and several businesses on the north side of the 400 and 500 blocks were operated by blacks and catered to the black community.

During the late 1880's, however. Congress Avenue began to preempt 6th Street as the most fashionable and prestigious shopping location for certain types of businesses. The new Capitol was being built at the head of Congress and most businesses catering to the government and city dwellers moved to a Congress location. Sixth Street, on the other hand, continued to function as a site for offices, warehouses, and showrooms of businesses utilizing the railroad, as well as to businesses catering to farmers or to travelers finding 6th Street most convenient. Those with businesses on 6th Street in the blocks closest to Congress were not as greatly affected by the change in clientele. These businesses tended to benefit from the activity of both streets. Scarbrough and Hicks department store, founded on the southwest corner of 6th and Congress in 1893, decided to remain in this same location in 1909 when it commenced building Austin's first modern skyscraper of eight stories. George Littlefield chose the northeast corner of that intersection in 1911 when he built a nine-story bank and office building. As late as 1912 West 6th Street was again chosen as the location for a new Federal Post Office replacing the 1878 Post Office and Federal Building that stood in the 100 block of West 6th.

Beginning in the 1890's the ethnic variation of the 6th Street businesses began to increase until by 1940 racial diversity was one of its most striking characteristics. Lebanese businesses also began to appear on 6th Street in the 1890's. One of the first Lebanese immigrants to Austin, Cater Joseph, opened a confectionery on Congress in the 1880's. A brother, Isaac Joseph, opened a produce outlet store on East 6th Street in the late 1890's in partnership with Cater and two other brothers. The Joseph family still maintains a business on East 6th Street, as do several other Lebanese and Syrian families who founded businesses there in the early 20th century. By 1940 there were businesses on 6th Street owned by blacks, Lebanese, Jewish, German, Chinese and Mexican Americans.

A steady erosion of the commercial importance of the East 6th Street area occurred in the 1940's and particularly accelerated after World War II. There was an increase of second-hand stores, chain and discount stores catering to a poorer clientele, followed by an-increasing number of vacated buildings. The electric street railways introduced in 1890 were taken up after World War II and parades down Congress no longer shared honors with 6th Street. A skid-row atmosphere was fostered in the 1950's and 1960's by the multiplying number of pawn shops, loan companies and bars in the district. However, a number of owner-operated businesses kept the area alive for commercial activity.

Finally, in 1968 a local architect bought a vacated two-story brick building in the 400 block of East 6th and restored the building as his townhouse. On the west end of the 6th Street Historic District the two old Federal buildings, vacated in 1965 when a new Post Office and a new Federal building were built, were given to the University of Texas System. In 1970 and 1971 these two former Federal facilities were restored and presently serve as offices of the University of Texas System. Although the restoration initiative on East 6th was slow to catch on, between 1971 and 1975 a surge of restoration projects erupted. New restaurants, townhouses, night clubs and discotheques, a theatre, antique shops, a delicatessen, craft shops, art studios and galleries, and a dance studio are examples of the new activity of East 6th Street. An organization, the East 6th Street Conservation Association, was formed in 1974 to promote a revitalization of the area and encourage historic preservation. Besides its attempt to foster a sense of unity and communication among the various 6th Street businesses, the organization hopes to publicize the area's new image. In April 1975 the Association held a successful festival, "Saturday on 6th Street," to introduce the new 6th Street image to Austin and to encourage citizen support.

In 1975 6th Street still maintains the ethic diversity in the various owner-operated businesses. In an effort to maintain this diversity of people as well as preserving the historic quality of the area, an Austin architect received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1974 to do an analysis of the methods of preserving this multi-ethnic character of 6th Street.