Category Archives: Schools

WABAC Machine, Part 4

Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Our neighborhood history series continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1945 • After World War II, more and more young families moved to Brentwood and Crestview, and the landscape began to change from mostly farmland and wide open spaces to neat rows of well-kept homes. (See our film A Community Mosaic for images from … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Schools, Streets, Wall of Welcome Stories

WABAC Machine, Part 3

Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Our neighborhood history series continues . . . (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 1881 • The Austin and Northwestern narrow gauge railroad—later Southern Pacific—was built between Austin and Burnet, through today’s Crestview and a stop called Abercrombie. EARLY 1890s • First known appearance in print of “City of the Violet Crown” to describe Austin. 1893 • Esperanza … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Schools, Wall of Welcome Stories

History of Hancock Creek/Arroyo Seco, Part 3

Copyright 2011-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any content you find on the website. IS IT ARROYO SECO OR ARROYA SECA OR ARROYO SECA? When it was first named, the street Arroyo Seco, which runs along either side of Hancock Creek in much of Brentwood and Crestview, somehow was incorrectly spelled “Arroyo Seca” on street signs and in official documents. In the early 1950s, Brentwood Elementary School students taking … Read more

Posted in Schools, Streets

Esperanza—An Early “Neighborhood” School

Copyright 2011-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Before Brentwood Elementary, Lamar Middle, and McCallum High, even before Allandale, Brentwood, and Crestview neighborhoods, there was Esperanza School. We first learned about Esperanza in 2009 from two former Brentwood neighbors, Mickey Pease Bauer, who started school there, and Al Kirby. In 1936, Mickey’s family moved to a 14-acre farm which stretched from 6503 Burnet Lane east to Arroyo … Read more

Posted in People, Schools