Allandale History

THE 1981 MEMORIAL DAY FLOOD

 

Some people in Allandale to this day get very anxious when there is a hard rain. I am referring to those hit by the Memorial Day Flood that roared down on the city and brought death and destruction along Shoal Creek on a Sunday night, May 24, 1981. It turned stretches of Shoal Creek and Lamar into a river. On Bullard Drive, where homes back up to the creek, the water flowed down the street and into the homes  from all sides. The image above is the front page of the Austin American-Statesman from the Tuesday morning edition. The headline from the newspaper the morning after the flood only reported 9 deaths.

What follows are the stories from residents in Allandale who shared their experiences of the 1981 flood with the "Allandale Neighbor." The Flood changed the neighborhood. It is a night no one living near Shoal Creek at the time will forget. 

Thanks to everyone who submitted their story and contributed their clippings and photos. If you would like share your story, please email it to allandalereporter@yahoo.com or leave it as a comment to this article.  

Tom Linehan

(Click here to continue...)

One Square Acre … Family Graveyard … Reserved Forever

What follows is writeup on the  historical Davis Family Cemetery in Allandale on Vine Street put together by Jack Kern and Doug Davis for the Allandale Reporter. The photo on the left is a picture of the two men standing inside the cemetery. Doug, on the left is a  descendent of the family patriarch and original owner of the land. Jack, standing on the right,  lives on Twin Oaks Drive.  His back yard looks into the cemetery. He is the one that provided the Allandale listserve with the initial background on the cemetery and helped put this piece together.

Davis Family Vine Street Cemetery

submitted by Jack Kern and Doug Davis

History
The George W Davis Family Cemetery was part of a 3,154 acre land grant signed by Mirabeau B Lamar, President of The Republic of Texas, in 1841 to the family patriarch after his service in the battle of San Jacinto. The earliest dated grave is March 25, 1851, but the burial ground may have been in use as early as 1845. In 1918, Doug Davis’s great grandmother became the last person to be buried in the cemetery.

History of Allandale Neighborhood Association

submitted by Phyllis Brinkley

Hi Neighbors,

I updated the History of the Allandale Neighborhood Association for the Web site, allandalereporter.org. There is also a copy at the Austin History Center.

This is the history of the Allandale Neighborhood Association not to be confused with the Allandale Neighborhood. The Association was organized in October 1973 as the largest neighborhood group in Austin serving the area bounded by Anderson Lane, to Burnet Road, down Burnet Road to Hancock Drive, across Hancock Driveto Shoal Creek (the Creek itself), to 45th Street and 45th Street across to MoPac and MoPAC back up to Anderson Lane.

You can read the full history here (it's a Word document).