Austin – Page 2 – Fred L. McGhee

Austin Needs to Fix Its Historic Preservation Problem

Posted on September 20, 2017October 18, 2017 by Fred McGhee

Map of Austin’s Urban Freedmen’s Communities, Circa 1900 Austin last took a hard look at its historic preservation program in the early 2000’s, where a joint task force made up of Planning, Zoning and Platting, and Historic Landmark Commissioners made some recommendations to upgrade but not fundamentally alter the city’s program as originally established by […]

Some Thoughts on the Audit of Austin’s Historic Preservation Program

Posted on February 7, 2017February 7, 2017 by Fred McGhee

Thanks to my long-suffering and loving wife and children I was able to attend yesterday’s Austin City Council Audit and Finance Committee hearing. The centerpiece of the meeting was the presentation of the city auditor’s most recent audit of the historic preservation department. Jo Clifton of the Austin Monitor also attended the meeting and filed […]

The Montopolis Negro School

Posted on November 16, 2016August 22, 2024 by Fred McGhee

On Monday November 21st at 7:00 p.m. the City of Austin’s Historic Landmark Commission will meet to consider historically zoning the last remaining rural Negro school in Travis County, the Montopolis Negro School. A photograph of the school is in my 2014 book Austin’s Montopolis Neighborhood. The school was founded in about 1891 at a […]