From
the days when Native Americans used the woodlands and grasslands surrounding
Barton Springs as a campaign ground – to the present – this uniquely
beautiful area and the natural limestone swimming pool has had a colorful
history. In 1730, a Franciscan
mission was located temporarily at Barton Springs. These were probably the first church structures in Travis County.
In 1835, a league of land, including all of what we know as Zilker Park,
was granted to Henry P. Hill by the Governor of Coahuila y Tejas. This deed transfer is record in the first volume of Recorded Deeds in the
Travis Country Court House. In
1837, William Barton settled along the banks of Spring Creek, then a wilderness
of cedar, oak and other trees. Barton
was one of three families living in this area when an agent of President Lamar
chose Austin as the site for the state capital. During this period, Robert E.
Lee is said to have camped near the Springs to rest his troops and replenish
their supplies. The road on the
south side of Barton Creek retains the General’s name to this day. Several families owned these lands over the years, including the
Rabbs. In about 1887, Gail Texas Rabb built a flour mill just below the Springs
and used the water power to run the mill. Rabb
also manufactured the first ice ever used in Austin with a machine brought from
France. In 1907, Rabb sold the
property to Andrew Jackson Zilker. The
City of Austin acquired the Springs and the adjacent 365 acres in two
transactions (1918 and 1934) that not only resulted in public ownership of these
treasures but also endowed the Manual Training and Home Economics departments of
the Austin School System. The City
created the Barton Springs swimming pool and Zilker Park partly through the
federal Works Projects Administration program of the 1930s. Today, Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool hosts hundreds of thousands of
visitors annually from all over the world.
