The Swisher Addition and birth of South Congress

Bungalow in Travis Heights.

Map of Swisher's Addition

As was the case with other South Austin neighborhoods, the area around present-day South River City was slower to develop. Prior to the late 19th century, transportation to and from Downtown Austin was dependent on ferries and pontoon bridges.

James Swisher settled on a bluff in present-day South Austin with his family in 1846, and initially operated a tavern and a hotel. It was Swisher who granted Travis County the right-of-way to begin construction of a highway to San Antonio in 1852. Sensing the commercial opportunities that the new highway would bring, Swisher also began operating a ferry service across the Colorado River that same year. The establishment of Swisher's ferry and the Post Road in the early 1850s encouraged modest settlement in South Austin, particularly along the road, such as the Texas School for the Deaf in 1856. Further growth was halted by the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction. Until a wooden bridge was finally built in 1876, South Austinites were dependent on ferry service and pontoon bridges to get to and from Downtown Austin. The bridge made South Austin more accessible than ever before, and in 1877 John Milton Swisher (James' son) subdivided 23 acres of the family farm along the San Antonio Road. It was to become Austin's first urban addition south of the Colorado River.^[3]

Platted in 1877, it was noted as an addition to "South Austin" rather than Austin, perhaps acknowledging South Austin's separate identity from the capital city. Swisher allotted a very generous 120 foot right-of-way through the center of his grid-style residential addition. The wide avenue was laid out in a direct line with Congress Avenue on the north side of the river. This visionary and civic act dedicated a grand view from Swisher's farm to the public domain.^[4] South Congress Avenue, in spite of being separated from the downtown portion of the street by about a mile over the Colorado River and low-lying areas, preserved the major approach to the Capitol and city center for future residents and visitors. A permanent and fully paved connection from Bouldin Creek to the north side of the river would not be complete for another 50 years. Streets were named Monroe, James, Annie, Nellie, Elizabeth, Mary, Johanna, Eva, Newton and Brackenridge. These names have survived to the present.

Swisher's Addition was not immediately successful. The wooden bridge collapsed in 1883, and while an iron bridge was built later that same decade, the concrete Congress Avenue Bridge and streetcar lines did not extend to South Austin until about 1910. Because this impeded would-be residents from being able to commute to downtown jobs with ease, development was slow and South Congress Avenue remained a country road through a largely rural landscape throughout the remainder of 19th century.

Fairview Park

Despite Swisher's minimal success, other developers tried their luck in South Austin. In 1886 Charles Newning bought the northern portion of the Swisher farm with plans of developing an “upscale, owner-occupied, garden suburb." In contrast to Swisher's grid-style addition on the high, relatively flat ground of the area, Newning's development was created over a hilly area with two creeks through it and numerous city views from its hillsides and terraces. Newning’s vision became Fairview Park – named because this area offered a “fair view” of the city from the bluffs.

Mr. Newning’s ideal development was never realized in large part because he did not anticipate the extent to which commercial development would occur on South Congress, the difficulty of crossing the river, and the distance from town. Before the turn of the century a number of Victorian homes were built on the large lots. Development, however, was so sparse that starting in the 1910s lots were subdivided into smaller parcels. In the 1920s and 1930s, small bungalows and cottages were built on these smaller lots. A much altered and scaled-back Fairview Park was not built out until the 1940s.

Travis Heights

Following the completion of the concrete Congress Avenue Bridge in 1910, pedestrians, automobiles and Austin's streetcar system were able to reach South River City with ease and the area began to grow. In 1913, General William Harwood Stacy, Charles Newning’s partner, and Stacy’s sons began development of Travis Heights. Travis Heights was the most heavily promoted subdivision of its time. Stacy ran streetcars full of prospective buyers out to Travis Heights from the Capitol to see the area before the homes were even built and gave away Ford Touring cars as part of a promotional campaign. He also incorporated deed restrictions against multi-family and commercial development in his subdivision to reassure buyers that Travis Heights would remain a residential enclave.

Based on his earlier experience with Charles Newning and Fairview Park, General Stacy laid out his South River City subdivision with both curving and grid streets and provided lot sizes and prices to fit a range of customers, from the builders of modest bungalows to grand home sites with commanding vistas. Travis Heights was an immediate success and a great surge of home building took place in the 1920s, so that by the General's death in 1928, 600 lots had been sold and more than 160 homes built.^[5]