A History Austin's Oldest Neighborhood Clarksville Fitness6638284

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One of Austin's oldest locations is the Outdated West Austin community of Beachbody. Its key place, between Girl Bird Lake and Enfield, and Lamar and Mopac, makes it highly popular with those looking to live in town, without needing to move the downtown condominium route.

Where Clarksville sits today was once part of the plantation possessed by Arizona governor Elisha M. Pease. At the conclusion of the Civil war, it is said that Pease sectioned of a part of his property for his emancipated slaves, in hopes they would live nearby and carry on working for him.

Clarksville was founded in 1871 by a house was built by freedman Charles Clark, who on what is today West 10th avenue. Clark subdivided his land among other freedmen from the Pease plantation and elsewhere, and Clarksville became acknowledged in the National Register of Historic Places to be the first freedman's town west of the Mississippi Water.

In the early 20th century, the city of Austin grew, and a city plan 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 simply be available to African-Americans on the East side of town and as a result, several who stood their floor were rejected city services: most properties still used oil lamps as a source of light through the 1930s, and many dirt roads still existed in the place as late as the 1970s.

Many immigrants settled in Beachbody throughout the early 1900s resulting in a community that's still felt today. Anthony Colanetta settled in Clarksville and opened Anthony's Laundry and Cleansers at the corner of West 12th Avenue and West Lynn in 1950. Colanetta also constructed a pharmacy that he rented to his friend Hylton Nau. Today both stores are nevertheless operating, and the soda fountain in Nau's drugstore is a unusual find.

If Clarksville had a main street, it might be West Lynn. With many family-owned companies, it would be easy to remain in the area without needing to guess more than several blocks for all essentials. Sledd's Greenhouse, with their high quality crops and organic doctrine, and Jeffrey's high class, eclectic cuisine have been Clarksville staples because the middle 1970s. In 1979 Craig Weller and Mark Skiles opened Clarksville Natural Market, and a year after they joined forces with John Mackey to open the first Whole Foods. The Whole Foods food store and national office is currently found at the corner of sixth and Lamar, within walking length of Clarksville.

Many of the traditional homes from Clarksville's past have been torn down since the average house size hovered around 850 square feet, and considered too small for many modern-day homeowners. One of the few dwellings 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 transferred into the house in 1885.

Recently, the Clarksville area was named by the American Planning Association as one of the Great Communities in America, due to resident involvement that keeps the community character complete, and keeps Clarksville flourishing as one of the hottest areas to stay in Austin Learn More.