Barton springs pool history
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Park History
Known as the crown jewel of Austin’s park system, Zilker Park is the oldest metropolitan park in Austin and was named for Andrew Zilker, who began donating parkland in 1917. His contributions culminated in the 1934 gift of the site where the Girl Scout Cabin is now located, at which time the park was officially named Zilker Park. Zilker was a relative newcomer to the area, considering that Native Americans gathered at the natural cold springs there for thousands of years. Zilker Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places as “Zilker Park Historic District” in 1997.
Just two miles from downtown Austin, Zilker is an urban oasis for Austinites from all parts of the city. It is situated on 351 acres of public land over the Edwards Aquifer and within the Colorado River corridor, at the juncture where Eanes Creek, Barton Creek, and Barton Springs flow through the park and into Lady Bird Lake. Zilker Park’s ecosystem supports a mix of woodlands, meadows, and riparian lands that are home to over 600 plants and anim
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MISSION
The Mission of the Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy is to cultivate community and foster life-long learning that inspires an appreciation of the botanical world.
Who We Are
Zilker Botanical Garden is located on 28 acres nestled within Zilker Metropolitan Park in the heart of downtown Austin. This “jewel in the heart of Austin” features heritage live oaks set into a hillside, and offers a lush, shady respite from everyday urban life with panoramic views to downtown and beyond. Theme gardens include the Taniguchi Japanese Garden, The Riparian Streambed, The Hartman Prehistoric Garden, and The Mabel Davis Rose Garden. These and other gardens are woven together with pathways, streams, and Koi-filled ponds, creating an urban oasis full of shaded hideaways, sunny lawn areas, and thousands of native and cultivated plants.
Zilker Botanical Garden is managed as a public-private partnership between the City of Austin Parks & Recreation Department (PARD) and the Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy (ZGBC). Through an agreement between the Conservan
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Zilker, Austin, Texas
Neighborhood in Austin, Texas, U.S.
Neighborhood boundaries
Zilker is a neighborhood in south central Austin, Texas. It extends south of Lady Bird Lake, approximately bounded by the Union Pacific Railway to the southeast/south (Lamar Boulevard south of Oltorf), Barton Skyway to the south, Rabb Road and Azie Morton Road to the west and Lady Bird Lake to the north.
Directly northwest of Zilker is Barton Hills neighborhood, which connects back to Zilker Park via the Barton Creek Greenbelt.
History
In 1918, Andrew Jackson Zilker deeded 35 acres (14 ha) surrounding Barton Springs to the City of Austin. The first homes in the Zilker area were constructed in the late 1920s.
Much of the west end of Zilker was owned by Vincent Canizzo until the late 1940s when the City of Austin, using eminent domain, forced him to sell the land on which Zilker Elementary currently sits. Shortly thereafter, the remaining land — from Ann Arbor Road to Rabb Road — was split into the Canizzo Subdivision.
In 2018, Robert E. Lee road was changed