Mueller is Taking Off

In 1930 an airport opened in what was undoubtedly the far reaches of north Austin. When I moved to Austin, Robert Mueller Airport was practically in the heart of the city, circumscribed by 51st St./Airport/Manor and IH35. Planes were sort of low over our house as they approached the airport from the west (which they usually did) and so low over areas east of us that it depressed property values. There is a coffee shop on Duval St. and 51st called Flight Path to this day. Newly arrived college kids probably can't fathom why.

For the first almost quarter of a century that I lived in Austin the airport was convenient to our house if the access once there and the array of flights was not. In 1999 a reconfigured, decommissioned Air Force Base, Bergstrom, opened as our airport (Austin Bergstrom International Airport, ABIA, still AUS on your luggage). Mueller started the new millennium as a political redevelopment football among governmental agencies. Finally a plan for housing and retail plus some public facilities emerged. The centerpiece of the place today is the Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. This tower with the colorful windows on the hospital evokes the old airport tower. (So, the patient reader finally knows what the picture represents! We love words here at Austin Daily Photo...go figure.)

Currently the area is only a small part of what it will be. The hospital and a Ronald McDonald House are in operation. A number of mid-range household and clothing stores and chain restaurants are operating. Some buildings that look like offices are up. Housing is under contract. Streets names after locally famous people like Kenneth Threadgill and Clifford Antone are planned. I figure the emergence of this dense, mixed used area near downtown will mean all us condo dwellers can easily take public transportation to shop at, say, Best Buy. The 'easily' will probably emerge some time in 2025 or after when oil is $1000 a gallon! Meanwhile the shopping didn't seem too busy on a Saturday and it is convenient to our house so FFP and I were able to dispose of a simple errand (a new tea kettle for his mom) without getting on a highway.