One of Austin's oldest areas is the Old West Austin neighborhood of Clarksville. Its central location, between Lady Bird Lake and Enfield, and Lamar and Mopac, makes it highly popular with those looking to live in town, without having to go the downtown condo route.
Where Clarksville sits now was once part of the plantation owned by Texas governor Elisha M. Pease. At the end of the Civil war, it is said that Pease sectioned of a part of his land for his emancipated slaves, in hopes they would live nearby and continue working for him.
Clarksville was founded in 1871 by freedman Charles Clark, who built a house on what is now West 10th street. Clark subdivided his land among other freedmen from the Pease plantation and elsewhere, and Clarksville became recognized in the National Register of Historic Places as being the first freedman's town west of the Mississippi River.
In the early 20th century, the city of Austin grew, and a city policy was constructed to concentrate African-Americans to the east side of the city, once the land Clarksville sat on became more valuable. The city services would only be available to African-Americans on the East side of town and as a result, many who stood their ground were denied city services: most houses still used kerosene lamps as a source of light through the 1930s, and many dirt roads still existed in the area as late as the 1970s.
Many immigrants settled in Clarksville throughout the early 1900s resulting in a community that is still felt today. Anthony Colanetta settled in Clarksville and opened Anthony's Laundry & Cleaners at the corner of West 12th Street and West Lynn in 1950. Colanetta also built a drugstore that he leased to his friend Hylton Nau. Today both stores are still operating, and the soda fountain in Nau's drugstore is a rare find.
If Clarksville had a main street, it would be West Lynn. With many family-owned businesses, it would be easy to stay in the neighborhood without needing to venture more than a few blocks for all necessities. Sledd's Nursery, with their high quality plants and organic philosophy, and Jeffrey's high class, eclectic cuisine have been Clarksville staples since the mid 1970s. In 1979 Craig Weller and Mark Skiles opened Clarksville Natural Grocery, and a year later they joined forces with John Mackey to open the first Whole Foods. The Whole Foods grocery store and national office is now located at the corner of 6th and Lamar, within walking distance of Clarksville.
Many of the historic homes from Clarksville's past have been torn down since the average house size hovered around 850 square feet, and deemed too small for many modern-day homeowners. One of the few homes that have survived in Clarksville is the Haskell house, built by former Pease plantation slave Peter Tucker in 1875. Hezekiah Haskell, a former Union soldier, married into the Tucker family and moved into the house in 1885. Haskell's son lived in the house until 1976, and it stands as the last home in Clarksville built in the Cumberland style, with two front doors and a symmetrical façade.
This past year, the American Planning Association named the Clarksville area as one of the Great Neighborhoods in America, due to resident participation that keeps the neighborhood character intact, and keeps Clarksville thriving as one of the most popular areas to live in Austin.
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