San Antonio Area Roads History
Historical
Austin Highway Photos |
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This page last updated December 29, 2018 |
Below
are historical photos of Austin Highway including the old
highway
to New Braunfels. These
photos were compiled from the TxDOT
photo library and the San Antonio
TxDOT district office.
Locations are given using the present-day roadway names. The
photos are arranged generally from south to north. Click on each photo
for an
enlarged view.
Click
here
to return to the historical photo galleries page.
Route
history
 
This
road has an extensive history and has continuously been one of the most
important and busiest roads in the state. Parts of this route were on
the El Camino Real
that ran
from Mexico via San Antonio to Nacogdoches, Texas and on to
Natchitoches, Louisiana. Later, most of this road was part of the
Meridian Highway, a network of north-south roads stretching from Mexico
and the Gulf of Mexico to Canada
delineated around 1910.
Around
1915, the US Post Office appropriated money to improve the
road
between San Antonio and Austin in order to speed mail delivery. The
resulting 16-foot wide, macadam "post road" was considered the
finest road in the state for several years. You can still find segments
of this route named "Post Road" in New Braunfels and San Marcos.
When
the state highway system was first developed in 1917, this road was designated SH
2. With the implementation of the US Highway System in 1927, it was
numbered US 81. Eventually, this corridor was replaced with
I-35.
In
San Antonio, the early routes to New Braunfels took several paths
through the city. Some maps show it going up Austin St. (or
alternatively Broadway, then known as River Rd.) to Grayson St, then
east from there to New Braunfels Ave. where it turned north. In the mid
'20s, it seems the designated state route was east on Houston St. then
north on New Braunfels Ave.
From
there, the route went north through Fort Sam Houston, turned
right
onto today's Elanor St., and then veered onto what's now called Old
Austin Rd. (and now you know why it's named that!) It then
went back through Fort Sam Houston near the old BAMC and onto today's
Harry Wurzbach Road. At Rittiman, it continued onto today's Corinne
Dr. to Austin Highway.
Sometime
around 1930, the route from downtown San Antonio appears to have
changed to travel up Broadway to Cleveland Court in Alamo Heights, then
east on Garraty Road to Harry Wurzbach, where it then rejoined the
previous routing northward; this may have been done as a temporary
improvement while the route through Alamo Heights was being built (see
next paragraph.)
In
the early '30s, the state paid local engineer Edwin P. Arneson to
develop
a plan to improve the state highway system in San Antonio. One of those
improvements called for connecting Austin Highway at Salado Creek to
Broadway in Alamo Heights. That road opened in 1934 and US 81 and SH 2
were then routed along it and onto Broadway into downtown San
Antonio. The segment between New Braunfels Ave. and
Broadway was reportedly the first divided highway in the
state. Interestingly, the original plan for the route through Alamo
Heights called for it to leave Broadway on Cleveland Court and follow
Wiltshire Ave. to Eldon, then run straight northeast to the crossing at
Salado Creek..
From
Salado Creek, the route
followed Austin Highway northeast to the former community of
Fratt,
which was located in area around where Cowboy's Dancehall is located
today. Fratt was considered a major milestone along the route, and the
underpass at the railroad there was completed in the mid '30s as one of
Arneson's recommended projects. From Fratt, the route then
continued northeast along today's Sherri Ann Rd. and onto
Randolph Blvd. In the mid '30s, the
section of Randolph Blvd. paralleling Sherri Ann Rd. from the railroad at Fratt to Weidner Rd. was built
to provide a straighter and wider route there as per Arneson's
recommendations. From Weidner, the route continued northeast
along Randolph Blvd. and onto today's I-35 at Judson.
Continuing
northeast, it left today's I-35 route briefly just north of Pat Booker
Rd.,
following what's now Old Austin Rd., returning back to today's
I-35 at
Olympia Parkway. This section of Old Austin Rd. was also bypassed in
the mid '30s.
From
there, the route continued along today's I-35 northbound access road
through Selma and into Guadalupe County and continued along today's
I-35 to
today's FM 2252, where it then took the route of today's FM 482 nearly
to New Braunfels. At Rueckle Road, it rejoined today's I-35 briefly
before entering New Braunfels via San Antonio St. By the mid
'30s,
it appears most of the FM 482 route had been bypassed along today's
I-35 with the exception of the section between Solms
and Rueckle; the short stretch of what's now Old Hwy 81
between FM 482 at Solms and I-35 at Doeppenschmidt
Rd. was the northern end of the new route that connected it to the
older route north.
This
was the route for US 81 until
the completion of I-35 in the early '60s became the primary route to
the northeast.
(I
have found some evidence of an even earlier route between FM 2252 and
New Braunfels that roughly followed today's route of I-35 but made
several zig-zags off of today's I-35 path. I'm still investigating that
route and it's timeline, but it appears to predate the FM 482 route.)
At
Main
Plaza in New Braunfels, the route turned right
onto Seguin
Ave., curved north onto Faust St., then crossed the historic Faust St.
bridge before hanging a left onto Rusk and a right onto Church Hill Dr.
It then continued onto the Post Road north along today's I-35 to FM
1102 into Hunter, then on to San
Marcos via Hunter Rd. (FM 2439.) The entire route through New Braunfels
would be
bypassed by the mid '30s with the construction of today's Business
Route 35 and its then-spectacular (and still impressive today) bridge
over the Guadalupe.

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Austin Highway at Broadway looking
southwest (ca. 1980)
This drainage ditch has since been covered over.
(TxDOT)
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Austin Highway in Alamo Heights (ca. 1935)
This seems to be just east of Broadway looking northeast. This was
shortly
before this road opened to provide a new route for US 81 and SH 2 to
bypass the route through Fort Sam Houston.
(TxDOT)
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Austin Highway in Alamo Heights (ca. 1935)
This could be at Routt St. looking northeast. It appears the road ends
a couple of blocks ahead-- that might be at New Braunfels Ave. and
could be because this section was completed before the section from
there to Salado Creek.
(TxDOT)
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Austin Highway in Alamo Heights (ca. 1935)
This could be at New Braunfels Ave. looking west after the section from
there to Salado Creek was completed.
(TxDOT)
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Old Austin Road (1919)
The original caption described this as near the southern end. Based on
that, this could be along Corinne Dr. or Harry Wurzbach.
(TxDOT)
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Austin Highway at Salado Creek looking
northeast (1919)
This photo was taken where the original SH 2 (and later US 81) curved
onto today's
Corinne Dr. The concrete low-water bridge near the middle of the photo
is still in existance today below the current Austin Highway bridge.
The road branching to the right across the bridge is today's Holbrook
Rd.
(TxDOT)
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SH 2 in Bexar County (ca. 1925)
This is likely on today's Sherri Ann Rd. near Crestway looking southwest
at the old town of Fratt.
(TxDOT)
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Old Austin Road at Cibolo Creek in Selma
looking west (1919)
This is about where the northbound I-35 access road is today. The photo
shows an improvised repair after flooding undermined the roadway.
(TxDOT)
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New US 81 bridge over Cibolo Creek in
Selma looking northwest (ca. 1935)
This is the location of the I-35 bridge today. The old low-water bridge
can be seen in the foreground.
(TxDOT)
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Old Austin Road between San Antonio and
New Braunfels (ca. 1935)
Exact location unknown.
(TxDOT)
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Old Austin Road between San Antonio and
New Braunfels (ca. 1935)
Exact location unknown.
(TxDOT)
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Old Austin Road between San Antonio and
New Braunfels (ca. 1935)
Exact location unknown.
(TxDOT)
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Old Austin Road (1919)
The original caption described this as "midway", presumably midway
between San Antonio and Austin.
(TxDOT)
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Old Austin Road (1940)
The caption for this photo was "scene on the highway north of San
Antonio"; given the terrain, this would seem to be on the Austin Road
between San Antonio and New Braunfels.
(Library of Congress)
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Seguin Ave railroad crossing in New
Braunfels looking southeast (ca. 1930)
This photo was before an underpass was built there.
(TxDOT)
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Seguin Ave railroad crossing in New
Braunfels looking northwest (ca. 1936)
This photo shows the completed underpass.
(TxDOT)
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BL 35 bridge over the Guadalupe River in
New Braunfels looking east-northeast (ca. 1934)
This photo was taken just after the bridge was completed. It replaced
the Faust St. bridge as the route for US 81.
(TxDOT)
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BL 35 bridge over the Guadalupe River in
New Braunfels looking east-southeast (ca. 1934)
(TxDOT)
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Click
here
to return to the historical photo galleries page.
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