Provided by the CRWD

In June 1911, Austin residents gathered along the Cedar River at Central Park to celebrate the start of 2.5 million gallons of spring water flowing daily into the city’s mains.

Located along old Water Street (4th Ave NE) next to the city’s Water Works facility (former downtown power plant site), Central Park hosted several thousand people for that party. Hundreds of electric lights gleamed through the park’s trees and its fountain was fitted with colored, electric globes.

“The waters laughed, bubbled, gurgled and splashed to the delight and pleasure of all,” the Austin Daily Herald wrote of the fountain in 1911.

Austin then began promoting itself as having the “finest water supply in the state” thanks to the major project that piped in water from City Farm Springs, formerly Sargent Springs and the present site of Austin Country Club.

Water was a big part of Central Park — Austin’s first park.

Created in the 1890s, the park was on the same site where a new community recreation center is being built today – along the Cedar River’s west shoreline, just above the downtown dam.

This same land was the site of Austin’s first mill — a primitive kind created and used by Native Americans to ground corn when they visited the area prior to European settlers arriving in the 1850s.

Boasting many trees, Central Park featured a fountain, built in 1907, that spouted water into the air, landing in a small pool below. This water then drained down a path and under a small footbridge before flowing into the Cedar River. Children and adults often fished along that shoreline.

Next to the city’s Water Works facility (built in 1887), Central Park was the official name but residents often called it Water Works Park as well as City Park, Riverside Park and Lake Fritz (nickname for its fountain). It came before the city’s larger, more-popular parks along the river — Lafayette Park (circa 1905) and Horace Austin State Park (circa 1915).

Central Park was vulnerable, though, to Austin’s frequent flooding. It also lost many trees from the August 1928 tornado that devastated downtown.

“The city park at Austin — a beauty spot — was laid waste,” the Herald reported. “It will take 20 years for Austin to restore this beauty spot, which was snatched from her in the twinkle of an eye.”

Central Park never really recovered, though.

Austin’s growth led to the expansion of the downtown power plant, cutting into the park over the years. By 1967, the city directory no longer listed it as a park.

In the coming year, though, Austin’s community recreation center will open to gather residents once again on the same site with great views of the river.

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Connected to water: Read more about Austin’s rich history of water