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422 Guadalupe Street -
Location Map
- Site Inventory
The parks system started with the founding of Austin in 1839. The City's original layout included three squares set aside for public use. Wooldridge, Brush, and Republic Squares were Austin's first parks and are still enjoyed today. Republic Square offers a tree lined respite from the busy downtown area.
In 1939, Edwin Waller and a survey crew laid out the City of Austin on the north bank of the Colorado River between Shoal Creek to the west and Waller Creek to east. Later that year, city lots were sold under the shade of one or more Live Oak trees on Republic Sqaure, one of four public squares platted for the new city. A small grove of Live Oaks - known as the Auction Oaks - survive at the southwest corner of the square today.
In the early 1870's, Mexican immigrants began arriving in Austin in large numbers and most moved to the area just south, southwest and west of the Square and Courthouse/Jail block. Austin newspapers dubbed the neighborhood "Mexico" and reported numerous accounts of fandangos, shootings and general wild conduct by the mid 1870's. Newspapers in the 1870's and 1880's also show that Mexican residents of the area celebrated Diez y Seis de Septiembre, marking Mexico's (and Texas') independence from Spain, in the Public Square.
By 1905, the neighborhood to the west and south of the Square was largely identified with Austin's Mexican population. Three "Mexican" churches, First Mexican Baptist (402 San Antonio Street), one Methodist Episcopal (512 W. Fourth Street) and one Mexican Methodist Church (400 block W. San Antonio at 502 W. Fourth Street) - were established within a block or two of the square. In 1907, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church was built directly across from and facing the square, at the northeast corner of Guadalupe and W. Fifth streets. Mexican Catholics attended St. Mary Immaculate Church until they built their own Spanish-language sanctuary across from the Public Square. In 1917, a parochial school associated with the church was established next to the church at 402 W. Fifth Street.
National Guardsmen drilled in the Public Square between 1902 and 1909. During World War I, Mexican patriotic celebrations were moved to East Avenue at E. Fifth Street for a few years, possibly because the National Guard used the Public Square for drilling exercises.
Immediately, after World War I, Mexican celebrations returned to the Public Square where they remained and renewed their enthusiasm for activities at what was then called "Mexican Park", until 1927 when Mexican cultural and patriotic events moved to Austin's East Side, first at Riverside Park and then permanently at Zaragosa Park.
Little information or historic references have been found regarding the square or its use in the 1930's and 1940's. The surrounding neighborhood had transformed from a mixed residential/commercial zone into a predominantly light industrial, manufacturing and service-oriented district, a process begun after World War I. The park appears to have been vacant during this period.
Between 1950 and 1960 the park was converted to a parking lot. Ownership of the Public Square was contested by the city, county and state.
In 1974, the Sierra Club and the Parks and Recreation Department began discussions of converting the parking back to public park. The restoration began in March of 1976 as part of the Bicentennial celebration. Several names were offered for the park but the Lions' Club of Austin's submission, Republic Square was chosen in tribute to the Republic of Texas.
In 1975, the city developed landscape plans for the park. The focal points were to be the Auction Oaks and a People's Fountain. Berms or small grass-covered mounds were planned to shelter the inner park area from its noisy and unsightly city surroundings, creating a sunken garden effect. A symbolic fault line representing the Balcones Fault was planned to divide the park into separate zones as is the case in Central Texas. Trees representing the different regions of fault line were to be planted on the different sides while Live Oaks would border the park and walkways extending from its four corners to the central plaza for special events.
The park remains today as it was developed in the 1970's.
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