The Austin Historic District is a residential historic district in central

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The district, which includes 336 buildings, has a large number of

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

homes, with many examples of the Queen Anne,

Stick Stick, sticks or the stick may refer to: Thin elongated objects * Twig or branch * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking * Shepherd's crook * Shillelagh * Swagger stick * Digging stick * Swizzle stick, used to stir drinks ...

, and Shingle styles. Henry Austin, for whom Austin is named, began development in the district in the late 1860s. While the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "L ...

halted the area's early development, a construction boom in the 1880s spurred its growth; most of the homes in the district were built in the 1880s and 1890s. By the time Chicago annexed it in 1899, Austin had become one of the city's more significant middle-class suburbs. Future development in the neighborhood, including the construction of multi-family housing, changed its character, leaving the district to represent Austin's original plans.

References

National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Historic districts in Chicago Victorian architecture in Illinois {{CookCountyIL-NRHP-stub