Austin Answered: Why are so many things in Austin named 'Waterloo'?

Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman
·2 min read
An illustration by Edward Hall of the town of Austin, previously named Waterloo, on Jan. 1, 1840, by which time it had become the new capital of the Republic of Texas. The wide street in the middle of the image is Congress Avenue, which leads from the Colorado River bluffs in the foreground to an open spot reserved for a future Capitol. One can see the low-lying original Capitol building to the left and the presidential residence on a hill to the right.
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"Austin Answered" is back.

Active from 2017 to 2019, "Austin Answered" belongs to the broad journalistic category of Q&A and advice columns. At the American-Statesman, its origins go back to the days of Ellie Rucker (1977-1992) and Jane Greig (1993-2009).

We want to answer your questions about anything Austin or Central Texas, past and present. Send your questions for "Austin Answered" to me at mbarnes@statesman.

I'll kick off the 2023 edition with a question that pops up every so often and deserves to be revisited, since more evidence has recently surfaced: Why are so many things in Austin named "Waterloo"?

In Austin, the name is associated with Waterloo Park, Waterloo Records, Waterloo Ice House, Waterloo Conservancy, Waterloo Press and numerous other entities.

The short answer: Waterloo was the original name of Austin.

During an 1830 trip up the Colorado River, colonial leader Stephen F. Austin visited the area. He was so impressed with its natural beauty, he planned to retire to a site that recently was confirmed as the current location of Laguna Gloria, 3809 W. 35th St. Austin died in 1836 and did not live to see that dream come true.

In 1835, however, hunter Jacob Harrell set up a tent above the Colorado River bluffs near what became Congress Avenue and built a split-log stockade there.

In 1838, Austin’s brother-in-law, James F. Perry, sent pioneer, soldier and statesman Ed Burleson to lay out the town of Waterloo. No more than four or five families lived here at the time.

After his own visit to the same area on a buffalo hunt, Mirabeau B. Lamar, future expansionist president of the Republic of Texas, decided that this spot in Tonkawa and Comanche country would make an ideal site for a national capital. A commission agreed and recommended Waterloo to the Texas Congress; Bastrop was a finalist.

In 1839, Waterloo was renamed Austin.

How did it get the name Waterloo in the first place? Musician and storyteller Monte Warden, whose ancestors actually lived in Waterloo, says it was meant as a poke at Antonio López de Santa Anna, military general and several times president of Mexico, who fashioned himself as the "Napoleon of the West."

With such an epithet, Santa Anna might think twice about attacking a town called Waterloo.

Send your questions about Central Texas past and present to "Austin Answered" at mbarnes@statesman.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: There's a simple reason why things in Austin are named Waterloo