Auction Oaks - Austin, TX
N 30° 16.050 W 097° 44.870
14R E 620448 N 3349090
The surviving Texas Live Oak trees that were part of the original grove in which the public auction was held to raise money to build government buildings for the Republic of Texas are at the corner of 4th Street and San Antonio Street.
Waymark Code: WMZGYK
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/11/2018
Views: 0
Republic Square has remained a public square from its beginning up to even today, which was the original intent when Austin was first surveyed and laid out. At the public auction held under some of the very trees still growing here, the city lots created by a survey commissioned by the Republic of Texas was held in 1839. The trees are Texas Live Oaks and are one of the hardiest, longest lived of the oak family of trees. These trees are believed to be over 300 years old.
The location of the trees is best described as at the corner of 4th Street and San Antonio Street, where Republic Square Park abuts the property line of the newly built US Federal Court building.
Along the retaining wall near these majestic oaks, there is an informational plaque stating the following:
"On January 24, 1839, the Republic of Texas directed President Mirabeau B. Lamar to select a site for the capital. Lamar chose the small development of Waterloo on the north bank of the Colorado River as the site for what would become Austin.
In May 1839 Judge Edwin Waller laid out a plan for the new capital city. The 'Waller Plan' encompassed a square mile, 14 city blocks by 14 city blocks, between Waller Creek in the east and Shoal Creek on the west.
On August 1, 1839, Waller (working for the Republic of Texas) held the first auction of city lots under a small grove of Live Oaks in what we now call Republic Square. Funds from this sale were used to begin the construction of government buildings in the new capital.
Edwin Waller's original design of Austin consisted of a grid with a central square (Capitol Square) and four smaller, secondary 'public squares.' In 1888, the squares are named Hamilton (no longer a public square), Brush, Hemphill (now Republic) and Bell (now Wooldridge)."
Website: [Web Link]
Historic Event:
In 1839, the President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, authorized surveyors to lay out the new Capital city of the Republic, Austin, TX. After the plots were laid out and recorded, a public auction was held and lots of this newly designed city were sold. The auction's location was a grove of Texas Live Oak trees that were (and some still are) in what became downtown Austin's Republic Square Park. Almost enough money was raised by the sale of the city lots to cover the expense of building the new State Capitol building.
Year: 1839
Species: Texas Live Oaks
Approximate Age: 300
Location: Austin, TX
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