March 2018

The Deliberate Segregation of Austin Texas

Sam Hunter

Austin is a segregated city. This was not merely a coincidence, it was based in policy --

public, and private, and the shockwave of effects persist today, especially in the changing urban

landscapes of the city center and among its surrounding cities. I will review three historical

factors which contributed to the demographic landscape of Austin today, and three racial patterns

which were a result of these factors. First is the Koch and Fowler Plan of 1928; public policy

which navigated through a loophole and was ingrained into the city's comprehensive plan.

Second, redlining which effectively excluded minorities from the economic driver of wealth

through housing. Lastly, the introduction of the tech industry as a driver of gentrification today.

All of these culminating factors have worked to produce the Austin we see today.

I was born and raised in Austin, Texas. My parents bought their first house 19 years ago

in suburban South Austin. It was new, and about $140,000 ​—​ a one story, 4 bedroom, 2 bath.

Now in 2018, comparable homes are selling on our street up to $360,000. That is approximately

a 150% increase in 19 years. The rising prices in Austin are exorbitant, and pricing out entire

communities that were here historically. Even more, the legacy which put these communities

together is a long and deliberate history of racial segregation, put into place well before my

parents were born. Despite Austin’s reputation of being a liberal city, unequal treatment is

especially pronounced as the young and wealthy replace historically black and hispanic

communities, and business interests are continually supported first and foremost.

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Central Austin, Texas Racial Dot Map (Chart 1) - http://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/

N. Austin & Round Rock, Texas Racial Dot Map (Chart 2) - http://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/

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There are three racial patterns apparent in Austin’s present day landscape. First, is the

city center’s I-35 divide. To the East of I-35 lies a massive hispanic population, with black

populations dispersed throughout. To the West, is the wealthier white populations. An exception

is the concentration of Asian, white, and Hispanic populations surrounding and within The

University of Texas. This racial divide is primarily due to the Koch & Fowler plan Austin

implemented in 1928. This policy concentrated black populations to the East of I-35 in order to

obtain services and to get rid of integration within neighborhoods. Today, these black

populations have shifted away and a growing hispanic population, which previously only resided

South East of I-35 began to take over (Chart 1).

Secondly, is the spreading white population which has broken past I-35 and is slowly

working its way into the Central East side. However, there is still an overall hispanic

concentration on the East Side. This growing whiteness on the East Side is not necessarily due to

increasing integration and open-mindedness, it is more of a pricing out of populations that lived

there previously and redevelopment of the neighborhoods to fit populations of higher and higher

income brackets (Chart 1).

Lastly, focusing on North Austin, into Round Rock and Pflugerville, there is a steadily

growing migration and concentration of minority populations along I-35, further North. This

shift is a result of the pricing out of blacks and hispanics from the East Side, and the seeking out

of cheaper housing outside of the city (Chart 2).

All of these patterns are greatly interconnected, all a cascading effect of the Koch and

Fowler plan, which concentrated minorities on the East Side initially, and gentrification, which is

pricing those same groups out today. Downtown Austin is being “sterilized” and stunted by

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gentrification, and these are the resulting patterns reflected in the dot map. While the capital

accumulation effects are initially “good”, rising prices will eventually choke out the middle class

from the city-center, as well as the mobile poor. Unfortunately, some populations will be too

poor to move out, or forcefully evicted, and we can expect in the future a spatially-intersectional

map of extreme racial and socioeconomic disparities across Austin (Moskowitz, 2017).

Hyde Park Advertisement 1915 - Austin American Statesman

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Austin’s history and development is deeply related to Colonel Monroe Shipe, the founder

of Hyde Park in the 1890’s ​— ​Austin’s first “whites only” elite suburb was 2 miles from the city

center and connected by private street car (Tretter, 2012). Shripe set the stage for the domination

of southern progressive business interests in Austin’s local politics, creating many reforms in

1909 in order to keep progressive ideals at the forefront. This included the shifting from a ward

system to a commission system, and an effort in reducing minority voter participation (Tretter,

2012). These reforms worked, nearly 95% of non-white women, 85% of Black males, and 77%

Hispanic males were not eligible to vote (Martin 1933). Shripe had invested in multiple suburban

developments and it was in his interest for the city to grow so that he could generate more wealth

for himself. With these priorities in mind, the city of Austin grew against the backdrop of

business and real estate interests and the norm of exclusive “whites only” suburbs (Tretter,

2012).

The first factor is The Koch and Fowler Plan of 1928. The basis for which was in

response to the 1917 ​Buchanan v. Warley​ Supreme Court ruling that shot down explicit

residential segregation through zoning by the justification of private property owners rights

(Spence, 2012). This ruling came just as the Austin Comprehensive Plan was nearing its

completion, containing the very zoning sanctioned as unconstitutional--city officials simply

sanitized the language according to precedent, and identified loopholes to segregate Austin

(Spence, 2012). The document begins talking about the “race segregation issue” by

recommending “this [East Side] district as a negro district; and that all the facilities and

conveniences be provided to the negroes in this district, as an incentive to draw the negro

population to this area” (Koch & Fowler, 1928). This recommendation was made to fix the

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burden of having two schools, playing-fields, parks, and other separate establishments for blacks

and whites (Koch & Fowler, 1928). This plan affected black residents more than

Mexican-American residents. While there remained Hispanic and Latino populations dispersed

through the city (Chart 4), blacks were heavily and overwhelmingly located on the East Side

(Chart 3) (Spence, 2012).

Spence, 2012 (Chart 3)

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Spence, 2012 (Chart 4)

The effect of this plan restricted services for any minority West of East Avenue (later I-35) with

no black facilities these populations simply had to move. A lack of city services also actively

tried to turn any black parts of the city into ghettos (Ross & Leigh, 2000). This allowed cities to

use eminent domain to bulldoze communities if they were deemed “blighted”, despite the fact

this blight was usually the result of the city itself and its disinvestment in minority communities

(Ross & Leigh, 2000). Redevelopment throughout the city further bottlenecked black

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communities to the East side, creating the intense segregation we still see reflected today. While

black communities are largely no longer on the East side, replaced by a growing hispanic

population (Chart 1), the neighborhoods on the East side remain of lower tax brackets, and

therefore receive less services, lower quality schools, and lower quality facilities (Zehr, 2016).

This disinvestment has also been a precursor to gentrification happening on the East side.

Wealthy white populations are spilling in, rising the cost of living for existing residents. Not

unlike before, they continue to displace our poorer residents through the system of property tax

and rising rents. It is a complex issue which requires a high amount of expertise, consideration,

and dedication to representing all sides of the matter (Moskowitz, 2017).

Continuing in the examination of Austin’s racial landscape is the history of redlining

(Chart 5). This nationwide practice by the Home Owners Loan Corporation deemed particular

areas too risky for government-backed mortgages. Where these boundaries were drawn generally

relied on the racial composition of neighborhood rather than careful and factual examination

(Zehr, 2015). A large swath deemed “hazardous” was the “negro district” outlined in Koch and

Fowler’s 1928 plan (Tretter, 2012). This practice was the implicit denial of minorities from

accessing the same drivers of wealth as whites. As little as 2% of $120 billion dollars financed

by the federal government went to minority populations between 1934 to 1962 (Lipsitz, 2018).

Blacks alone composed 10% of the population at the time, receiving disproportionately less aid

than whites, despite many of them having veteran status (Lipsitz, 2018). This resulted in huge

economic implications for minority residents of Austin as “the HOLC map may have driven out

financial opportunities for non-white peoples in these areas, encouraged spatial segregation, and

even undermined the capacity of East Austin to maintain the quality of its housing stock”

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(HOLC & Olsen, 1935). The effects of redlining maps targeted blacks, Mexican-Americans, and

poor whites. Inversely, whites-only areas, neighborhoods with racial covenants, and various

other private practices restricting racial integration were rated as “best” on HOLC redlining maps

(Tretter, 2012).

Austin Redlining Map - Zehr, D. 2015 - http://projects.statesman.com/news/economic-mobility/ (Chart 5)

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Redlining has contributed massively to the wealth inequality within the United States.

Austin-Round Rock is ranked highest in the Nation for economic segregation ​—​ the rich and the

poor effective operate within the same city, but in two different worlds. The study done by

Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander (2015) examined cities with an index that included

income, educational, and occupational segregation. The historical segregation of cities

compounded by redlining has greatly contributed to inequities within the city across multiple

boundaries, Austin being a primary example of disparity across socioeconomic and spatial

boundaries.

The final factor is Austin’s rise as a Technopolis; this economic specification set the

stage for attracting a high-skill and high-income workforce. A huge economic driver of the city,

Austin now has an extensive agglomeration economy driven towards Technology and Research

& Development (Tretter, 2016). This was an effort made among multiple actors within the city in

an effort to replace temporary oil jobs. Actors involved included The University of Texas at

Austin, local government, and private real estate interests (Hartenberger et. al., 2012). The shift

began with the University of Texas and the creation of a source for high skilled labor, research

facilities, employment, knowledge, and role as a land developer. One particular expansion of The

University of Texas research facilities into the East Side in the 60’s a 70’s, displaced 1000

residents on the East Side with eminent domain and provided insufficient relocation funds

(Tretter, 2016). After acquiring IBM, Texas Instruments, and Motorola, the city honed in on the

capitalization of research and development, including the role of attracting tech-based

businesses. Austin increased funding to UT’s research and provided businesses with abundant

tax breaks, subsidies, and incentives in the 80’s & 90’s. Many startups located in Austin, and the

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city eventually spawned the tech-giant Dell Computers (Hartenberger et. al., 2012). The

landmark company which Austin was able to secure was the Microelectronics

and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC), the creation of which was to compete with

Japan’s advanced and dominating knowledge economy. Austin’s primary weapon to attract

MMC was a strong public and private partnership model. University, business, and government

interests all came together to offer MMC a $62 million incentives package, including the

offering of a $23 million research center at UT for a very low leasing price (Hartenberger et. al.,

2012).

Universities have been huge proponents in the development of research-based economies.

Government funds on all levels have also contributed significantly with the ushering of the new

knowledge based economy with globalization in the 1980’s. University-private partnerships have

been extremely lucrative, particularly the University of Texas in the context of Austin. This is

majorly due to the fact the University does not pay land taxes, or federal taxes, is able to “take

land at a fair market price with authorization by the State Legislature”, and eminent domain is

able to be exercised by the board of regents (Tretter, 2016). This has lended greatly to UT’s role

as not only a public institution, but as a land developer within the city, and its ability to change

the city economically as well as spatially. The examination of the high-tech sector is an

extremely important factor to consider in the composition of Austin’s racial composition because

it was used as one of the many justifications for urban renewal (Tretter, 2016). On top of this is

the attraction of a wealthier workforce, which has raised land and home values within the city,

propelling gentrification.

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With all these three factors intertwined, it is easy to see how Austin’s racial landscape

exists today. An accumulation of intersectional forces and actors came together to reinforce the

segregated racial space of Austin. Using Massey’s idea of a global sense of place, Austin exists

as an intersection to many international, national, regional, and local links (Massey, 1991).

Whether it be the white settlers who established the city on racism and real estate interests, the

black communities trying to establish their own livelihoods after the legacy of slavery, the

Hispanic communities which fled the Mexican Revolution between 1910 - 1920 (Spence, 2012),

transnational businesses, college students attending The University of Texas, a tech-employee

moving into their newly renovated house on the East Side, or a kid today raised in Austin

unaware of the constantly moving legacies and actors that assemble Austin’s long and racist past,

Austin is an accumulation of various interests, actors, and bystanders rather than a passive

backdrop by which events unfold (Massey, 1991).

The Koch & Fowler Plan was not the foundation of racially divisive policies not unlike

this one, but simply the solidification of private forces already at work to segregate the city. Even

before the Koch and Fowler plan, private zoning through deed restrictions and land covenants

were simply meant to separate uses and perceived to preserve land values, but in time became a

tool of racial segregation. These private-based roots often set the stage for future public and

implicit de jure segregation (Tretter, 2012). Eventually, public policy ended up providing the

blueprints with which The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation drafted redlining maps based off of

where minorities concentrated (Tretter, 2012). Furthermore, where the federal Interstate-35 was

built in 1962 is located where the dividing line of Central and East Austin exists, what used to be

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East Avenue (Zehr, 2015). Gentrification has also been propelled by the legacy of businesses

interests which began with Monroe Shripe in the 1890’s and reforms passed in 1909--the legacy

of these interests have heavily supported tech sector development with globalization in the

1980’s (Tretter, 2012). While the transformation of Austin into a knowledge economy was

overall beneficial to the city, these benefits were uneven and negative effects were primarily

borne by minority populations (Tretter, 2016). Income disparities observed have been highest in

cities with high-tech, high skill sectors; this is due to the polarizing nature of the service

economy and its effect of shrinking the middle class (Giudice, 2017).

The University of Texas is also a huge actor in the development of a high-tech sector

which propels gentrification. The University has created and pruned many research facilities to

create the Austin we know today. While local and federal funds were used as incentives for tech

businesses to locate in Austin, the base facilities of the University provided places to have

research & development, as well as producing a steady stream of well-educated high-skill

workers (Tretter, 2016). Not only this, but the University's role as a land developer massively

aided private companies as the University was often exempt from many of the taxes and land

pricing private companies were not. The University often developed R&D facilities, among other

facilities, in areas like the East Side with low political resources and low land values (Tretter,

2016). The economic environment and inequity created by the Koch & Fowler Plan (1928) and

redlining are direct factors of the East Side’s susceptibility to land development and

gentrification.

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GIS map of shifting black populations (2000-2017) - data from simplyanalytics.com (Chart 6)

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GIS map of shifting black populations (2000-2017) - data from simplyanalytics.com (Chart 7)

Gentrification has been driving the pattern of whites spilling over I-35 onto the East Side

as well as the shifting of minority populations to exurb cities like Round Rock and Pflugerville

(Chart 7). This pattern is extremely detrimental as these populations are often low income and do

not own cars. Access to public transit in these areas is scarce, and jobs are typically in the city

centers along with walkable landscapes to run basic errands like groceries, daycare, or shopping

without a private vehicle. This shift is simply the “suburbanization of poverty” (Solomon, 2015).

Other fast growing cities have experienced growth within black populations--but not Austin. A

report by Eric Tang shows that between 2000 and 2010, Austin’s population has grown overall

20%, but the black population has actually ​declined​ by 5.4% (Tang, 2014) (Chart 6). The top 10

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fastest growing United States cities had an “average rate of African-American population

growth” of “16.7%” (Tang, 2014). Compared to other cities with black population declines,

Austin by far had the largest growth rate while others were accompanied with a declining overall

population rate, or only a modest growth rate (Tang, 2014). Tang postulates that this decline is

likely due to extreme inequities within the city--as shown by the Florida & Mellander study

(2015) which ranked Austin number one for economic segregation disparities.

Austin has a long and storied past of racial segregation which is still playing out today.

This legacy was marked by three spatial patterns and three historical factors. The Koch and

Fowler Plan (1928) was the de jure process of segregating minority populations to the East of

I-35, these patterns are still reflected today with large concentrations of Hispanic populations

remaining to the East, and an overwhelmingly white population to the West. Redlining was

another de jure act of segregation and affected the economic situations of nearly all minority

neighborhoods within the city through the denial of government-backed mortgages. Lastly is the

development of the Tech-sector within Austin which has spurred the process of gentrification of

the East Side due to high volumes of high-skill and high-income tech jobs within the city. On top

of this is the displacement of residents by the high-tech corporations themselves and the building

of research facilities within the city. All three of these processes culminate to create the urban

landscape we see in Austin today, and the turning of a new chapter--not towards reparation, but

towards gentrification, eviction, and upheaval.

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References

Giudice, V. D., & Lu, W. (2017, April 26). ​America's Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get
Replaced by Robots​. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-26/america-s-rich-poor-divide-ke
eps-ballooning-as-robots-take-jobs

Hartenberger, Lisa., Tufekci, Z., Davis S. (2012). ​A History of High Tech and the Technopolis
in Austin​. In Inequity in the Technopolis (pp. 63 - 84). The University of Texas at
Austin.

Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, and R.L. Olson. (1935). ​Confidential Report of a Survey in
Austin, Texas.​ edited by M. R. Division. Washington, D.C.: Record Group 195,
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Solomon, D. (2015). ​Why It Matters That Austin's Black Population is Being Pushed to the
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lation-is-being-pushed-to-the-suburbs/

Spence, Jeremiah., Straubhaar, J., Tufekci, Z., Cho, A., Graber, D. (2012). ​Structuring Race in
the Cultural Geography of Austin​. In Inequity in the Technopolis (pp. 33 - 62). The
University of Texas at Austin.

Lipsitz, G. (2018). ​Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How white people profit from identity
politics.​ Temple University Press.

Tang, Eric. (2014). ​Outlier: The Case of Austin’s Declining African-American

Population.​ The Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis. University of
Texas at Austin.

Martin, Roscoe C. (1933). The Municipal Electorate. Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 14
(3):193-237.

Massey, D. (1991). ​A Global Sense Of Place. ​Marxism Today, (38), pp.24-29.

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Moskowitz, P. (2017). How to kill a city: Gentrification, inequality, and the fight for the
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Florida, R. & Mellander, C. (2015). ​Insight: Segregated City.​ Retrieved April 10, 2018, from
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Ross, C. L. & Leigh N. G. (2000). ​Planning, Urban Revitalization, and the Inner City: An
Exploration of Structural Racism​. Journal of Planning Literature. Vol 14, Issue
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Tretter, Elliot. M. (2012).​ Austin restricted: Progressivism, zoning, private racial covenants, and
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Tretter, Elliot. M. (2016). ​Shadows of a Sunbelt City: The Environment, Racism, and the
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Zehr, D. (2015). ​Inheriting inequality: Austin's segregation and gentrification​. Retrieved March
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