Austin

Austin.

1 City (1990 pop. 21,907), seat of Mower co., SE Minn., on the Cedar River, near the Iowa line; inc. 1868. The commercial and industrial center of a rich farm region, it is noted as home to the Hormel meatpacking company, whose Spam Town museum draws tourists. There is light manufacturing.

2 City (1990 pop. 465,622), state capital and seat of Travis co., S central Tex., on the Colorado River at the Balcones Escarpment; inc. 1839. Austin is the commercial heart of a large ranching, poultry, dairy, cotton, and grain-producing area. It is also a major convention city and an educational center—the main campus of the Univ. of Texas, St. Edward's Univ., and Huston-Tillotson Univ. are there. The presence of the Univ. of Texas has helped Austin and its suburbs to attract and develop a complex of high-technology research and development firms, and the area is now a leading computer hardware and software producer. Other manufactures include jewelry, medical equipment, consumer goods, electronics, and wood products. Defense industries are also important.

The site was selected in 1839 for the capital of the new Texas republic and named in honor of Stephen F. Austin. In 1870, Austin was made the permanent state capital. Power and flood control projects on the Colorado River (beginning in the 1930s) and World War II spurred industrial growth. The massive capitol (completed 1888), set on a hill, is the most prominent of many state buildings. Also here are the governor's mansion (1856), the old French embassy (1840; dating from the republic), and the house in which O. Henry lived. In recent decades Austin has become a country and popular music mecca and a film industry center. In the hills outside the city are Barton Springs and other scenic and recreational areas; the National Wildflower Research Center is nearby. The former Bergstrom Air Force Base is now site of an international airport.

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Austin

City (pop., 2000: 656,600), capital of Texas, U.S. It was founded in 1835 as the village of Waterloo on the Colorado River in south-central Texas. In 1839 it was made capital of the Republic of Texas and renamed to honour Stephen Austin; when Texas became a state in 1845, Austin was its capital. As the home of the University of Texas, it has expanded as a research and development centre for defense, high-technology, and consumer industries. The Lyndon B. Johnson Library is on the university campus.

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Austin¹

1. Herbert, 1st Baron. 1866--1941, British automobile engineer, who founded the Austin Motor Company

2. John. 1790--1859, British jurist, whose book The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832) greatly influenced legal theory and the English legal system

3. J(ohn) L(angshaw) ('l[+ae][ng]$%:). 1911--60, English philosopher, whose lectures Sense and Sensibilia and How to do Things with Words were published posthumously in 1962

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Austin²

a city in central Texas, on the Colorado River: state capital since 1845. Pop.: 672 011 (2003 est.)