C. Edwin Waller (later first Mayor of Austin) surveyed the land purchased for the City of Austin and laid out a regular grid pattern of streets with Congress Avenue bisecting the city. His original proposal called for the east-west cross streets to be numbered but that plan was rejected so they were named for Texas trees. In 1887 the city adopted the numbered street plan so now we have 5th Street rather than Pine Street and 6th Street instead of Pecan Street.

B. The City Gazette, the first newspaper published in Austin, began publishing in October 1839. The last issues came out in 1842.

The Democrat Statesman began in 1871, merging with the Austin American (begun in 1914) to eventually become today's Austin American-Statesman.

C. Home to many saloons, gambling dens, and houses of prostitution, Guy Town was a popular area around Congress Avenue and 5th Street for locals and visitors. Politicians and infamous gunmen alike flocked to Guy Town for entertainment. Blanche Dumont was one of the prominent madams. Saloons and gambling dens flourished. Guy Town was finally closed in 1913, soonafter bringing Austin's rip-roaring frontier days to an end

A. The taxonomic name Eurycea sosorum for the Barton Springs Salamander is in honor of the citizens who initiated and passed the SOS (Save Our Springs) Ordinance to protect the aquifer which supports Barton Springs

C. When the idea for a TV music series based in Austin was first pitched, it didn't have a name. River City Country, Travis County Line, and Hill Country Rain (after a Jerry Jeff Walker tune) were some of the possibilities. The winner: Austin City Limits. A quarter of a century and the name still sings

B. In 1918, Piggly Wiggly was Austin's first self-service grocery store. Founded in Memphis, Tennessee, the first Piggly Wiggly store opened in 1916. It was revolutionary for its time — customers did their own shopping rather than handing a list to a clerk who gathered their groceries for them. Today Texas has 9 Piggly Wiggly stores, alas, none of them in Austin