Early history of Shoal Creek/West Austin 

The Shoal Creek or West Austin freedom community was located along the banks of lower Shoal Creek above Fourth Street. It appears that the early community was largely formed along the eastern edge of the creek and may have expanded both westward and northward in subsequent years (1). Early residents of the community organized a church in the early 1870s at the home of a young laundress named Tempie Washington, who lived on West Avenue with her husband Phillip and their children (2). By 1873, the congregation, led by Minister Frank Green, had relocated the church to a plot of land at the northwest corner of Block 101, just a few blocks north of the community (3). They worshipped on this property in a rudimentary “barracks”- type structure, and by 1874, the church was home to the Texas American Methodist Episcopal Conference Connection High School and Institute. 

The West Avenue, or West Austin, school was opened in September of 1897 under the supervision of Principal Wesley H. Passon and teachers Miss F. L. Collins, Mrs. Ada Hubbard, and H. A. Maxwell (4). The school was located at the southwest corner of West Fifth Street and West Avenue. The 1897-1898 Teachers’ register reflects that many of the Black adults living in this community worked domestic jobs for the wealthier white families living nearby, including but not limited to “porters, cooks, laundresses, housekeepers, seamstresses, watchmen, janitors, and drivers” (5). Though the school served a large portion of the city’s Black students, it was not well maintained by the city. According to the school board's 1901 meeting minutes, the roof leaked excessively, the desks and window shades needed repair, and the boys' and girls' “closets” or bathrooms were insufficient to serve the school's needs and lacked seats (6).