Robertson Hill

The Robertson family lived at the Legation property from 1848 to 1940, almost one hundred years. Because of their long presence in the neighborhood, the neighborhood is now known as Robertson Hill. Prior to emancipation, white builders used enslaved laborers to construct the architecturally significant historical buildings in the neighborhood. After spending exhausting days constructing large homes for white property owners, they would return to sleep in their own small one and two room quarters on the outskirts of the neighborhood.

After emancipation, Dr. Robertson and his son George Robertson sold parcels of land to freed African American slaves. Although the Robertsons sold parcels of property to create income for their family, they inadvertently created a tightly-knit community of freed African American slaves in Robertson Hill following Reconstruction. By the turn of the twentieth-century, Robertson Hill consisted of not only homes, but businesses, schools and churches.

Unfortunately, the early twentieth-century practice of segregating neighborhoods caused a change in the city’s perception of Robertson Hill and east Austin in general. White residents moved west, leaving the African American population in the east. “White flight” lessened the city’s monetary support of east side schools and city infrastructure. However, segregation acted to strengthen kinship ties in the African American community. Following World War II, many Mexican American families moved into the neighborhood, establishing community churches and businesses of their own.

Since the late twentieth century, residents from all ethnic, economic and geographic backgrounds have worked to revitalize the east side of Austin.

For more information concerning the history of the Robertson Hill neighborhood and its significant architecture, see the East Austin Historic Sites Inventory.