Austin, Travis County
Edwin Waller designed the Republic of Texas' new capital city of Austin in 1839. Waller's plan included a 196-block grid (14 by 14) bisected by a broad north-south thoroughfare, Congress Avenue, running up from the Colorado River to Capitol Square. He also designated four blocks as "public squares," with the south side of this square also dedicated for churches. Three of Austin's first churches were built overlooking the square, including two of the first African American churches. Yet in those early years, the square itself remained unimproved by the city. In 1909, Austin mayor A.P. Wooldridge, animated by civic pride and backyard boosterism (he lived on the north side of the square), inspired the city to clean up the square and build a bandstand for public engagements. Designed by Charles Page, the bandstand was strategically placed over a tributary of Shoal Creek which bisected what was called Wooldridge Park. This waterway was later rechanneled underground. Over the next century, Wooldridge Square would host concerts and assemblies as well as notable speakers, such as Booker T. Washington (1911) and Minnie Fisher Cunningham (1910s). The first senate campaign of Lyndon B. Johnson (1941) was launched here, and scores of Texas political aspirants reached out to voters from the bandstand. The cultural commotions of the 1960s reverberated through this square as well. Civil rights marches often ended at Wooldridge with a flurry of speeches and rallies. In 1968, a benefit at the square introduced the world to the artistic rendering of an armadillo as a counterculture icon of Austin. As one of the city's original civic spaces, Wooldridge Square continues to be important as a recreation destination and as a place to gather. (1971, 2022)