A history of Austin,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Austin from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The Austin area was originally occupied by bands of the Western Shoshone people. The city of Austin was mapped out in 1862 by David Buell. This was during the American Civil War, and the Union was eager to find new sources of precious metals, especially gold, to support the war effort. The city was named after Buell's partner, Alvah Austin, during a silver rush. The valued metal was reputedly found when a Pony Express horse kicked over a rock and observers noticed the silver. In 1862, it was designated as the county seat of Lander County. (In 1979, after the center of population had shifted, the county seat was shifted to Battle Mountain.) By summer 1863, Austin and the surrounding Reese River Mining District had a population of more than 10,000, mostly European Americans attracted to the silver boom. In January 1864, a petition was created to combine Clifton, Austin and Upper Austin i…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Austin’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewAustin, Nev. - T. H. O'Sullivan, …, 1868: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Austin
See all 7 →
Austin, decade by decade
12 historic places in Austin
12 places in Austin are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Listed 1971Austin Historic District
Listed 2000Lander County High School
Listed 2003Austin Cemetery
Listed 2003Austin City Hall
Listed 2003Austin Masonic and Odd Fellows Hall
Listed 2003Austin Methodist Church
Listed 2003Gridley Store
Listed 2003Lander County Courthouse
Listed 2003Nevada Central Turntable
Listed 2003St. Augustine's Catholic Church
Listed 2003St. George's Episcopal Church
Listed 2003Stokes CastleThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Austin, Nev. - T. H. O'Sullivan, phot (1868) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15From Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.