Economic Development Plan for Austin (Feb. 1881)
The year is 1881. You and a small group of other leading citizens of Austin have assembled to consider
and chart out a plan for the city’s growth in the upcoming decades.
An immediate priority is ensuring the selection of Austin as the site of the main campus of the University
of Texas; Governor Oran Roberts has just singed the bill establishing the University, and an election will
be held this summer to diced in which city the campus will be constructed.
Beyond that, however, your group wants to plan to help Austin continue to grow in importance to the
state and the region, and to help ensure a good quality of life for its residents. You hope to see Austin
participate in the economic growth and expansion taking place in the United States, but if possible avoid
some of the excesses and problems that are plaguing other cities as they have experienced unprecedented
growth in the post-Civil War period.
The outline below lists the suggested sections of your group’s economic development plan, with some
questions for you to consider and investigate in each section. In addition to the materials in the Austin
Past and Present DVD, you may need to consult your textbook or other resources for information about
conditions in other parts of the country during the Gilded Age. In development your plan, remember to
try to think of the immediate future as it likely looked to Austin residents in 1881.
PROMOTIONAL BROCHURE FOR AUSTIN
For use in the upcoming election to decide on a home for the University of Texas, design a brochure that
highlights the advantages of Austin. Include an illustrated cover that features the main attractions of
Austin (in 1881, of course) and on the inside elaborate on these. Consider the following questions, and
make sure that your brochure addresses them in some manner.
 What qualities of a city would be most important to a university? What will help to make the
university successful and enrich students’ experience there? Does Austin possess these qualities?
 What growth and improvements have happened in Austin since the arrival of the railroad ten
years ago?
 What role will the University occupy in Austin’s future growth and development? Why might
this role be different in other competing cities (Tyler, Waco)?
MASTER PLAN: VISION OF AUSTIN IN 1931
Write a detailed description of what you want Austin to look like fifty years in the future (1931), and
identify steps or resources that will be needed to achieve this vision.
 Economy: What industries or occupations will form the backbone of Austin life in 1931? In
answering this question, consider national economic trends, and place Austin within them. (What
is driving industrial growth in the North? To what extent is the South participating in this boom?
What factors are drawing people to the West? Where does Austin fit?)
 Population and Labor Force: What kinds of workers will Austin need for the economic future
you’ve described? Considering Austin’s growth since 1871, what would you project its
population to be in 1931? Again, consider Austin’s situation in relation to other cities of the era;
think particularly about the arrivals that fueled urban growth in the Northeast and Midwest.
Where will Austin’s growth come from?
 Infrastructure: Does Austin have the transportation, natural resources, and means for utilizing its
natural resources that it will need? If not, describe steps Austin must take or investments it must
make in the future.

Human Capital: Who will be the leaders in government, business, and other fields? (Again, draw
parallels to other regions of the country; who are the leaders there?) Assuming that Austin is
successful in landing the University, what kind of people will the University bring to Austin?
What else will Austin need in order to attract new residents? In what ways does Austin’s being
part of the South, with a history of slavery, complicate its efforts to modernize and grow?
CHALLENGES OF GROWTH (3 sections)
In this part of the plan, you will investigate challenges that industrial growth and urbanization were
presenting to the country in the 1880s, and discuss possible steps for Austin to avoid these problems.
a) Social Issues: Summarize the social issues that plagued major U.S. cities such as New York as
they grew following the Civil War. Are any of those problems things that Austin might have to
be concerned with as it grows? Other than being much smaller, are there characteristics of Austin
that will help alleviate any of those problems? Does Austin face the danger of any social
problems with different from those faced by places like New York and Chicago?
Vocabulary: tenements, Ellis Island, Hull House, Jane Addams, Jacob Riis
Suggested primary document: Excerpt from Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives.
b) Economic: Nationally, the incredible growth of industry since 1865, and the resultant fortunes for
a class of industrial tycoons, was sparking a debate about the capitalist system and the role of
government in the creation and distribution of wealth. Summarize this debate, and assess any
implications it may have for Austin’s efforts to become an industrial center of the Southwest.
Vocabulary: trusts, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, laissez-faire, Social
Darwinism, Gospel of Wealth, socialism
Suggested primary document: Excerpt from Henry Demarest Lloyd’s “Lords of Industry”
c) Political: Urban growth brought new responsibilities, money, and power to the city governments,
but the new political organizations that arose in response were often corrupt and controversial.
Because they attracted anger and scorn from middle-class reformers, but often loyalty from the
immigrant populations in their urban wards, studying these organizations offers revealing insights
to the state of representative democracy in late 19th-century America.
Summarize political machines and the sources of their power, and identify any aspects that could
apply to Austin’s political scene as the city grows.
Vocabulary: political machines, Tammany Hall, Boss Tweed, patronage, civil service
Suggested primary document: “Honest and Dishonest Graft,” or other excerpts from
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall.