Category Archives: Places

Welcome!

Posted on February 12, 2025 by

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. VVC grew out of community and history exhibits I created as I coordinated the Community Tent and Welcome Tent during the first years of the Violet Crown Festival. THE LATEST Good Neighbors Remembered, 2025—Sylvia “Scooter” Rushing Blooming Where We’re Planted, 2024—New History Neighbors-in-History, Part 2—African-American Families Just What Is a … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Streets

Threadgill & Beck: Friendship & Music

Posted on September 30, 2016 by

Copyright 2016-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any content you find on the website. Austinites Kenneth Threadgill and Roger Beck shared a deep connection to our neighborhood, as well as a long friendship and dedication to Texas music. In 1933, Threadgill’s opened at 6302 Georgetown Road, also known then as the Dallas Highway, north of the Austin city limits. Today, that address is 6416 North Lamar in the Brentwood … Read more

Posted in Events, People, Places, Wall of Welcome Stories

Neighbors-in-History, Part 3

Posted on December 18, 2012 by

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

Posted in Community, People, Places, Streets

Neighbors-in-History, Part 2

Posted on November 30, 2012 by

Updated February 21, 2025 Copyright 2012-2025 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Please 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 … Read more

Posted in Community, People, Places

Neighbors-in-History, Part 1

Posted on November 15, 2012 by

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

Posted in Community, People, Places

WABAC Machine, Part 6

Posted on November 1, 2012 by

Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Our neighborhood history series continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2006 • November 9: Brentwood Elementary held its tenth annual Veterans Day celebration, at which students wearing America-themed hats created a living version of the 1812 American flag. Photos of it were featured in the Austin American-Statesman. (More info about neighborhood veterans here.) 2007 … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Wall of Welcome Stories

WABAC Machine, Part 5

Posted on October 18, 2012 by

Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Our neighborhood history continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1962 • Burkhart’s Motor Dining opened on Burnet Road; it became Top Notch (left) in 1971. 1964 • J. D. Harper became the owner of Crestview Pharmacy. 1965 • Ronnie and the West Winds—featuring Ronnie Prellop of Crestview Minimax IGA—performed at IBEW Hall on South Congress … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Wall of Welcome Stories

WABAC Machine, Part 4

Posted on October 4, 2012 by

Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Our neighborhood history series continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1945 • After World War II, more and more young families moved to Brentwood and Crestview, and the landscape began to change from mostly farmland and wide open spaces to neat rows of well-kept homes. (See our film A Community Mosaic for images from … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Schools, Streets, Wall of Welcome Stories

WABAC Machine, Part 3

Posted on September 20, 2012 by

Copyright 2012-2024 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Our neighborhood history series continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1881 • The Austin and Northwestern narrow gauge railroad—later Southern Pacific—was built between Austin and Burnet, through today’s Crestview and a stop called Abercrombie. 1888 • First known appearance in print of “City of the Violet Crown” to describe Austin. 1893 • Esperanza School, … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Schools, Wall of Welcome Stories

WABAC Machine, Part 2

Posted on September 6, 2012 by

Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. We begin our WABAC trip with selections, old and new, from our neighborhood history exhibit and booklet, with links included for more info. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) ABOUT 500 B. C. • The Greek poet Theognis is among the earliest writers to describe Athens, Greece, as the City of the Violet Crown. By the 1890s, Texas writers … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places