Category Archives: Community
Welcome!
Since 2003, my husband Rob and I have gathered, shared, and preserved stories of neighbors creating community through our project Voices of the Violet Crown. THE LATEST Blooming Where We’re Planted Just What Is a Violet Crown? Neighbors-in-History, Part 2—African-American Families A Green History of Brentwood & Crestview Fostering Community Through Oral History, Sound Historian, Texas Oral History Association For us, community is a continuum of past, present, and future. We believe that being a … Read more
WABAC Machine, Part 7
Copyright 2020 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2020 • A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER Below is a snapshot of 2020 in the Brentwood/Crestview area of Austin. Treasured neighbors passed away and are fondly remembered; a few of them are mentioned below. By March, everyone’s lives were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, with hope on the horizon by the end of … Read more
Crestview Minimax IGA—63 Years of Local Service
Copyright 2016 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. On February 29, 2016, a new grocery store, Arlan’s, opened in the space that was the longtime home of Crestview Minimax IGA. Minimax (and Crestview Food Mart before it) was owned by the Prellop family—beginning with Herb Prellop, right—and part of Crestview Shopping Center for 63 years. It was the last Minimax IGA store in Austin. In 2014, Minimax … Read more
Neighbors-in-History, Part 3
Updated September 25, 2023 Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Final blog post in this series, in which we introduce a few special neighbors-in-history who have contributed to our sense of place here. (See links for more info.) KOENIG • McCULLOUGH By 1946, Dr. Joseph Samuel Koenig (1885-1951) and Clarence McCullough (1898-1992) developed Section 1 of Violet Crown Heights, between Payne and Ruth in the … Read more
Neighbors-in-History, Part 2
Updated December 4, 2024 Copyright 2012-2024 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. The second in a three-part series, in which we introduce a some neighbors-in-history. (See links for more information.) A number of African-American families lived in our area in the 1800s and early 1900s. A 1928 city plan established a “Negro district” in East Austin, and many, but not all, African Americans moved there. Segregation throughout … Read more
Neighbors-in-History, Part 1
Copyright 2012 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. As we researched the history of the Brentwood and Crestview area—in newspapers, abstracts of title, the census, various websites, oral history interviews, and many other sources—we discovered more special Austin neighbors who have contributed to our sense of place here. In the first in a three-part series, we introduce you to just a few of them. We provide links, … Read more