1839—2026
A reserve, a river, and a changing city.
The boundary dispute is one chapter in a longer public-land history. This condensed timeline follows the chronology assembled by Joe Riddell, incorporates his July 2026 additions, and links events to the records already in the archive.
- 1839
Austin is selected and surveyed
Republic of Texas officials selected more than 7,000 acres for the new seat of government. A 640-acre townsite was surveyed and its town lots sold at auction.
- 1840
Four hundred acres reserved
Congress directed that the rest of the Government Tract be divided into what became known as the Outlots, while reserving 400 acres “for such public purposes as Congress may hereafter direct.”
- 1848
Outlot 11 patented
Texas patented Outlot 11, Division Z, to James Raymond on October 16, 1848. Its south boundary was described as 60 yards below the bluff of the “River Commons.” A notation on the archived typed copy records it in the Travis County Deed Records on March 20, 1849 (Vol. D, p. 29), which is why some sources date the patent 1849.
- 1850
Division E split from the Reserve
Part of the original 400 reserved acres was surveyed into lots and blocks and sold as Division E.
- 1863
The Outlots map is updated
Robert Reich updated William Sandusky's original 1840 map, adding purchaser names and showing Reserve tracts along the river. The map's stated scale is one inch to 600 feet.
- 1871
Raymond Plateau subdivided
James Raymond had Outlot 11 surveyed into ten blocks extending from Pecan Street toward the bluff. Lot sales followed.
- 1876
The railroad arrives
International & Great Northern tracks crossed Outlots 1 and 11, generally along Cypress—today's West Third Street.
- 1880
A 60-yard strip is sold
Raymond sold the railroad a strip “sixty yards wide, lying under the main bluff,” requiring that a good roadway be left under the tracks for public use.
- 1885
The bluff is mapped
The recorded Raymond Plateau plat, drawn at one inch to 100 feet, showed the bluff by hachures among trees. O'Hara later treated it as the best evidence of the bluff's 1848 location.
- 1916
Metcalfe locates the Reserve
O. E. Metcalfe surveyed the Reserve on the ground for the City's Light and Power Department and City Council — the State Sanitary Engineer asked him to add topographic detail — setting an iron stake at every corner and angle and closing on 77.15 acres. Its north line he did not locate in the field: he fixed it from a theoretical line scaled from a copy of an earlier map, the bluff that should have controlled it having, “according to local history”, been “moved back by flood in the year 1869.” Later private claims relied on Metcalfe's north line.
- 1945
The State grants the Reserve to Austin
The grant was for public purposes and provided that any part later sold by the City would revert to the State.
- 1949
A road arrangement at the railroad
Austin closed part of Baylor Street and allowed railroad use; the railroad agreed to keep a 40-foot driveway parallel to Lamar open.
- 1961
The railroad sells about five acres
Missouri Pacific sold Austin a tract west of Lamar. Riddell's chronology says the tract extended more than 60 yards from the bluff and therefore included part of the Reserve.
- 1963
Austin conveys the tract to the Boy Scouts
Riddell's reversion contention holds that Reserve land inside this sale returned to Texas under the 1945 grant.
- 1967
- 1974
Reserve land is landscaped
Austin and railroad-land tenants east of Lamar agreed to landscape and build parking and driveways on part of the Reserve.
- 1985
City waterfront land becomes parkland
The Council dedicated City-owned waterfront lands as parkland while reserving perpetual-use easements for existing utilities, drainage structures, streets, and rights-of-way.
- 1988
The YMCA subdivision is platted
A one-lot, 4.80-acre subdivision was recorded. Its plat depicts the bluff used for the 180-foot offset. A restrictive covenant requires adequate parkland to be provided according to City standards before residential use or development.
- 1993
A restriction the State could not enforce
The Third Court of Appeals held that “for public purposes” restricted the City's use of the Reserve, but that the State had “no standing to enforce the restriction”: “The restriction must be enforced by the City.” The court also held that driveways and parking already built on the Reserve served a public purpose. The opinion is unpublished. The 1997 statute below was the Legislature's response to the standing holding.
- 1997
The Legislature expands State enforcement authority
Texas adopted Natural Resources Code §31.068, giving the Land Commissioner and Attorney General standing to enforce restrictive covenants affecting State property, restrictions in State conveyances, and specified statutory restrictions.
- 1999
O'Hara evaluates six possible lines
Earlier work by Joe Riddell and registered professional land surveyor Ansel Gary Glover had raised the boundary problem. O'Hara, a former General Land Office chief surveyor, later analyzed six locations for the Reserve's northern boundary, recommended two, and wrote that Metcalfe's line was “in the wrong position.”
Riddell researchGlover 1997Glover 1998O'Hara reportExhibit O
- 1999–2006
Boundary and access-road agreements east of Lamar
Litigation, a 2001 settlement, and the 2006 Master Agreement addressed the Reserve boundary and access roads east of Lamar. Critics objected to the amount of public land serving private properties.
Lawsuit guide1987 opinion2001 settlementState’s pleaBoundary line agreement2001 zoning reviewLIC conveyanceBowie Street ordinance2006 agreement
- 2025
A PUD development concept is reviewed
YMCA agents submitted a Development Assessment for a Planned Unit Development, City case CD-2025-0003.
- 2026
The formal TownLake YMCA PUD application is submitted
On July 24, the applicant submitted a 92-page formal PUD application package for the 4.8-acre tract. Riddell contends that the filing assumes developability of land that reverted to Texas in 1963.
Formal applicationLand Use Plan Notes (reformatted from pages 71–72)Current proposal context
- 2026
City staff return their first comments on the application
On September 1, City staff issued a 24-page Master Review Report on rezoning case C814-2026-0001, consolidating the comments of twenty review disciplines. Several reviews were approved; substantial questions remain open on emergency response, parkland and Chapter 26, utilities, floodplain and the PUD superiority claims. No reviewer addressed the boundary question. The applicant's response is due January 31, 2027.
Use the timeline as an index.
Most entries now link directly to the corresponding deed, plat, opinion, report, ordinance, or filing. Events without a posted primary record remain unlinked rather than implying that a source is available.