Republic Square (Austin)
Republic Square is an urban park in central Austin, Texas. Located in Downtown Austin, the park features a grassy area meant for festivals and events as well as shaded areas under live oak trees. The SFC Farmers' Market meets at the square every Saturday morning. History Originally called "Hamilton Square", Republic Square was one of four public squares laid out in the 1839 Waller Plan of Austin by Edwin Waller. The square functioned as a normal urban park up until the mid-twentieth century when it served as a parking lot. The neighborhood surrounding the park became significant for its Mexican American residents in throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s. During the United States Bicentennial, the city of Austin transformed the square to its former glory, and was later revitalized again in 2017. Despite many physical changes, the historic heritage Auction Oaks survived and remain a centerpiece to the square till this day. Transportation hub Republic Square also functions as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the List of United States cities by population, 11th-most-populous city in the United States, the List of cities in Texas by population, fourth-most-populous city in Texas, the List of capitals in the United States, second-most-populous state capital city, and the most populous state capital that is not also the most populous city in its state. It has been one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States since 2010. Downtown Austin and Downtown San Antonio are approximately apart, and both fall along the Interstate 35 corridor. Some observers believe that the two regions may some day form a new "metroplex" similar to Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas and Fort Worth. Austin i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Urban Park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality. The design, operation, and maintenance is usually done by government agencies, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a park conservancy, "friends of" group, or private sector company. Common features of municipal parks include playgrounds, gardens, hiking, running and fitness trails or paths, bridle paths, sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, and/or picnic facilities, depending on the budget and natural features available. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within a 10-minute walk, provide multiple benefits. History A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use, usually owned and maintain ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Downtown is located on the north bank of the Colorado River. The approximate borders of Downtown include Lamar Boulevard to the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the University of Texas at Austin to the north, Interstate 35 to the east, and Lady Bird Lake to the south. It is where the city's highrise buildings are located, as well as being the center of government and business for the region. Downtown Austin is currently experiencing a building boom, with many condos and high rise towers being built. The top three tallest condo buildings west of the Mississippi River are all located in downtown Austin: The Independent, The Austonian, and the 360 Condominiums. History The story of Downtown Austin began with the Republic of Texas and President Mirabeau B. Lamar in the 1830s. Lamar tapped Edwin Waller to direct the planning and construction of the new town. Waller chose a site on a bluff above the Colorad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Waller Plan
The 1839 Austin city plan (commonly known as the Waller Plan) is the original city plan for the development of Austin, Texas, which established the grid plan for what is now downtown Austin. It was commissioned in 1839 by the government of the Republic of Texas and developed by Edwin Waller, a Texian revolutionary and politician who would later become Austin's first mayor. History In January 1839 the Congress of the Republic of Texas appointed a committee to select a site for a new planned capital for the republic. Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar instructed the committee to consider a site along the north bank of the Colorado River that he had visited the previous year. The committee was pleased with the site's scenery, resources, and central location within the country, and it approved the site in April, purchasing a parcel of of land that included the village of Waterloo. Shortly before the site selection was publicly announced, President Lamar appointed his friend Edwin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edwin Waller
Edwin Waller (November 4, 1800 – January 3, 1881) was an entrepreneur, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the first mayor of Austin, Texas, and the designer of its downtown grid plan. Texas independence He was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, United States, in 1800 to a family settled in the state since colonial times when they emigrated from Buckinghamshire, England. His family later settled in Missouri. In April 1831, he immigrated to the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. On July 20, he received a land grant from the government in present-day Brazoria County. He began a shipping business, transporting cotton from Velasco, Texas, to New Orleans, Louisiana, using his ship, the ''Sabine'', and was once briefly arrested in Velasco for refusing to pay Mexican customs duty. He very quickly became active in the movement for Texas independence from Mexico. On June 26, 1832, he fought and was wounded at the Battle of Velasco, an early skirmish in the Texas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memory of the American Revolution. The Bicentennial culminated on Sunday, July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Founding Father delegates of the Second Continental Congress. Background The nation had always commemorated the Founding as a gesture of patriotism and sometimes as an argument in political battles. Historian Jonathan Crider points out that in the 1850s, editors and orators both North and South claimed their region was the true custodian of the legacy of 1776, as they used the Revolution symbolically in their rhetoric. The plans for the Bicentennial began when Congress created the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission on July 4, 1966. Initially, the Bicen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, officially stylized as CapMetro, is a public transportation provider located in Austin, Texas. It operates bus, paratransit services and a commuter rail system known as the Capital MetroRail in Austin and several suburbs in Travis County, Travis and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson counties. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . Voters approved the creation of Capital Metro in January 1985, agreeing to fund the organization with a one percent sales tax. Operations began in July 1985 and Capital Metro took over City of Austin bus services in 1986. In 2010, the Capital MetroRail Red line, the agency's first rail service, began operations. History Predecessors The predecessors of Capital Metro date back to the late 1800's with the establishment of streetcar services in Austin. In 1874, the City of Austin granted the Austin City Railroad Company a franchise for a "horse or mule railroad" on Congr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Capital MetroBus
Capital MetroBus is the bus public transit service of Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) of Austin, Texas and serves Austin and the surrounding areas. MetroBus services include 82 standard routes and 15 high-frequency bus routes . It has several categories of routes: Local, Flyer and Limited, Feeder, Crosstown, Special services and UT Shuttles. Capital Metro also operates an express bus service, MetroExpress, and a bus rapid transit service, MetroRapid, in addition to the agency's commuter rail service, MetroRail. In , the bus system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . History At the agency's inception, Capital Metro originally operated a series of "paired" route service where two different routes that pass through downtown are served by the same buses, allowing riders to transfer between certain routes without leaving the bus. Since 2008, this practice has been eliminated and after a number of route pair reassignments, the agency m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Capital MetroRapid
Capital MetroRapid is a bus rapid transit service in Austin, Texas, owned and operated by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro). It currently consists of two routes which run north-south served by stations designed by McKinney York Architects. Service on the first route, MetroRapid North Lamar/South Congress (Route 801), began on January 26, 2014. It replaced existing MetroBus Routes 1L/1M and the 101 Express, which traveled along the same corridor. (1M was renamed Route 1 Metric/South Congress, while a local version of the northernmost portion of former route 1L was created as Route 275. The Metric corridor is now served by 325.) Before the original Route 1 North Lamar/South Congress was split into 1L/1M in 2006, it was the busiest line in the Capital Metro system and peaked at 10 minutes headways Monday through Friday, with wider headways on the weekends. (The current Route 1 has wider headways, resulting in overcrowding buses.) Route 801 serve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Austin–Bergstrom International Airport
Austin–Bergstrom International Airport, or ABIA , is a Class C international airport in Austin, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Located about southeast of downtown Austin, it covers and has two runways and three helipads. It is on the site of what was Bergstrom Air Force Base. The airport and U.S. Air Force base were named after Captain John August Earl Bergstrom, an officer who served with the 19th Bombardment Group. The airport replaced Robert Mueller Municipal Airport as Austin's main airport. The airport is the third busiest in Texas, after Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston). , there are 510 arrivals and departures on the typical weekday to 76 destinations in North America and Europe. History Beginnings In 1942, the city of Austin purchased land and donated the land to the Federal government of the United States for a military installation, with the stipulation that the city ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parks In Austin, Texas
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. National parks and country parks are green spaces used for recreation in the countryside. State parks and provincial parks are administered by sub-national government states and agencies. Parks may consist of grassy areas, rocks, soil and trees, but may also contain buildings and other artifacts such as monuments, fountains or playground structures. Many parks have fields for playing sports such as baseball and football, and paved areas for games such as basketball. Many parks have trails for walking, biking and other activities. Some parks are built adjacent to bodies of water or watercourses and may comprise a beach or boat dock area. Urban parks often have benches for sitting and may contain picnic tables and barbecue grills. The largest ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |