It is the fourth-largest Texas city and the eleventh largest city in the country. From 2000 to 2006, it experienced the third-fastest growth of all U.S. large cities. Today, it is the second largest U.S. state capital, with an estimated 2012 population of more than 842,000. The city serves as an economic and cultural center for a five-county, 1.8 million-resident metropolitan area.

Waterloo, the Beginning

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Pioneers from Sweden, Germany, and Mexico began settling in this area in the 1830s, concentrating along the Colorado River. After Texas won independence from Mexico in the mid 1830s, it became an independent country. Mirabeau B. Lamar, the vice president of the Republic of Texas, visited and proposed relocating the capital from Houston. The site was incorporated as Waterloo in 1839 and its name was eventually changed to honor the first secretary of state of the Republic, considered the Father of Texas.

During the 1850s, the city experienced a building boom and the first Capitol building was constructed in 1853. When the railroad arrived during the 1870s, it brought a second building boom. The city became a major regional trading center, supporting the transport of cattle and cotton. Public schools opened in 1881 and a University of Texas campus was founded in the city in 1883.

Austin is Reborn

A fire destroyed the original Capitol building but a new building, which still serves as the current Capitol, was unveiled in 1888. This structure is taller than the Capitol building of the nation and at the time, it was reportedly the seventh largest building on the planet. This marked the beginning of the notable skyline and a new period of prominence. City limits expanded to more than three times their former area during the late nineteenth century.

The Great Depression put growth plans on hold but development resumed in the decades that followed. Civic beautification and development projects resulted in several parks and created the infrastructure of the city. The Texas Oil Boom of the early twentieth century created major economic opportunities but these did not extend to this city until the mid-twentieth century.

Austin burst onto the national music scene during the 1970s and by the 1980s, the city had also become a business and technology center. Several Fortune 500 companies including eBay, IBM, 3M, Apple, Intel, and Google have regional offices or headquarters in the city. True to its roots, this city remains liberal, eclectic, and independent.