Then & Now (Thunder Bay Press)

2 total works

Austin Then & Now

by William Dylan Powell

Published 1 December 2006

Twenty-first century Austin has a reputation as a quirky, hip, culturally-diverse town that's home to the world-famous South-by-Southwest music festival and the University of Texas Longhorns. It's come a long way since Spanish explorers arrived circa 1709. Austin Then and Now rounds up all of the hot spots in a unique photographic history of Texas' capital city.

- When Mirabeau Lamar succeeded Sam Houston as the President of the Republic of Texas, he moved the capital from Houston to Austin. The State Capitol that was eventually built in 1888 remains the largest statehouse in the U.S.

- Students will get a kick out of the side-by-side then-and-now photos of the University of Texas Tower and Main building -- what was once a humble single building on 40 acres is now one of the largest public universities in the United States.

- Austin's Driskill Hotel, one of the finest Victorian hotels in the west, has long been a destination for famous Texans. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson took Lady Bird to the Driskill on their first date!

- Austin's most famous landmarks are featured, including the O. Henry House, the French Legation, the Governor's Mansion, and other locations beloved by Texans.

Texas Then and Now

by William Dylan Powell

Published 12 November 2013

Texas then was a cowboy state where men wore ten-gallon hats, boots, and leather chaps. Texas then boasted the famous Alamo in San Antonio, the regal Cotton Exchange in Houston, Austin's imposing Victorian-era Travis County Courthouse, and the elaborate Adolphus Hotel in Dallas.

Texas now sees these antique structures surrounded by modern marvels like the magnificent scarlet-colored Dallas Opera House, the sweeping headquarters of NASA, and impressive business districts like Congress Avenue. Texas now is a state of sophistication-as well as a state of men clad in riding boots and cowboy hats.

See the old, the new, and the relics that bind them together in Texas Then and Now, a stunning pictorial that juxtaposes historic and contemporary photos of the proud state of Texas.