Walking Around the Lakeside Campus
The land in front of the Lakeside Campus will forever be parkland . No convenience stores , dry cleaners or sandwich shops will be in our view across Town Lake . Of course we all know the lands across Town Lake as Zilker Park , now , but it once was vacant land . A . J . Zilker had his home built at the site of the present Garden Center and lived there in the 1920s and 1930s .
The selection of the Lakeside site was part of an effort to maintain an ethnic mix in the city ' s schools . In 1971 , when the school district agreed to close the old Anderson High School- a segregated African-American school on the city ' s east side - it was important to have a crossroad school close to the city center where students from north , south , east , and west could attend . And Austin High - at the Lakeside site -- became the " belt buckle of the city ' s integration efforts ".
The actual site of Austin High borders on an area of caves known to speleologists as the " Austin caverns system ". Miles and miles of limestone caves lie under the western end of the city and extend as far south as the Circle C development . The Edwards Aquifer Recharge zone benefits from the extensive cave system .
Our school had two entrances into the caverns , located at the east entrance to the school . Now they are located behind the PAC . Both were filled with asphalt paving in 1974 to deny students the chance to " chill in the caverns ". The old cave entrances can be located by walking behind the Band Hall / PAC .
" Janey Park " is the name given to the long stretch of highway embankment on the north side of the building . In 1985 , the Charles Morton family made a major gift to the school of landscaping , trees , and a dry-rock wall along the foot of the slope . Their gift was to remember their daughter Jane Morton , AHS ' 60 , who died suddenly in 1966 while preparing to graduate with a doctorate from Harvard University .
Some of the features of Janey Park include the rock wall - which becomes a bench for reflection - and several sets of trees planted to recall the Morton family and other friends of the school . Janey Park benefits from the efforts ofthe Environmental Science class to maintain it . They are the " Stewards of Janey Park ".
Johnson Creek , running beneath MOPAC , marks the western end of the Austin High campus . Just to the west of the creek is the old Johnson home , built in 1855 and now an American Legion Post . The creek is the location of the old " upper crossing of the Colorado " as the sandbars from Dry Creek on the south bank and Johnson Creek on the north bank provided some of the best fords for cattle herds before the hills further west blocked passage .
There ' s one final curiosity to bring to your attention . On the lakeshore by the boat rentals is a tall , two-pillar tower . It is the last remaining artifact of a cable-bucket tramway supported by three towers just like the one remaining . The tramway was used to carry brick clay across the lake from Zilker Park to a brick plant that operated on the top of the hill behind the school from 1912 to 1942 . There ' s more ofa story there , too . Want to take the walking tour ? Pick up a tour guide from the library .
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