{"nrhp_refnum":"76002070","name":"Clarksville Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by W. Lynn, Waterson, W. 10th and MO-PAC Expwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Austin","county":"Travis County","state":"TX","lat":30.281112566000076,"lon":-97.76240359610063,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-12-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 30.5-acre historic Black residential neighborhood in West Austin, Travis County, Texas, bounded by West Lynn, Waterston, West 10th and the Mo-Pac Expressway. It was founded as a rural settlement in the 1870s.","why_significant":"The nomination presents Clarksville as one of the oldest continuous neighborhoods in Austin and a surviving Black enclave founded by freedmen after Emancipation. It has endured 20th-century pressures including expressway construction and unequal city services. Its modest one-story frame houses and the Sweet Home Baptist Church mark it as a visually distinct district.","narrative":"Clarksville is a small historic Black neighborhood in the hills of West Austin, founded in the 1870s after Emancipation. Charles Clark, a former slave, bought two acres in 1871, and the community took his name. Other freedmen followed, farming and later working as laborers and domestics. The district contains about 98 small, one-story frame or board-and-batten houses, most built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with Victorian details such as narrow windows, steep roofs and turned porch posts. Sweet Home Baptist Church, rebuilt in 1935 to a plan by builder W. S. Edmerson, serves as the community's focal point. The neighborhood has survived white suburban growth, the loss of over 60 homes to the Mo-Pac Expressway in 1971, a proposed crosstown expressway, and limited city services. It is considered one of the oldest continuous neighborhoods in Austin and one of only two surviving early Black enclaves. Housing and drainage conditions remained poor, and the city committed rehabilitation funds in 1976.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"W. S. Edmerson (Willis S. Edmerson), Clarksville builder, designed the 1935 Sweet Home Baptist Church","architectural_style":"Modest vernacular frame and board-and-batten houses with Victorian influences and some early 20th century bungalow influences","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied, privately owned, mostly residential. Condition is rated fair, with many houses in poor repair and serious drainage problems. The city committed rehabilitation funds in 1976.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.072625-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/21/9738/40973821/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/76002070.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002070/ea083b4678-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002070/ea083b4678-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sweet_home_baptist_church_austin_2014.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sweet_home_baptist_church_austin_2014.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05001166","name":"West Line Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/west-line-historic-district-05001166/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973821","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarksville_Historic_District_(Austin,_Texas)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5127694"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/travis-county/clarksville-historic-district-76002070/"}