If you’ve lived in Austin since Rick Perry was governor, you likely call Lady Bird Lake “Town Lake.” If you’re new here, you might be wondering what Town Lake even is. I’ve got a little bit of lingo history to serve you well next time it comes up.
Firstly, Lady Bird Lake is not actually a lake – it’s a dammed section of the Colorado River. Construction on Longhorn Dam was finished in 1960, forming a reservoir. It was named Town Lake, as it was called in the Austin American-Statesman in 1959.
Enter: Former first lady Claudia Alta Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson. After Lady Bird Johnson and her husband, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, moved back to Austin, Lady Bird Johnson led the city’s Town Lake Beautification Project throughout the ‘70s. The committee did exactly what it sounds like – zhuzh up the lake with improvements.
Johnson’s committee oversaw the construction of terraces and a fountain at Auditorium Shores, raised money for trees and shrubs, and added rest stops along the trail. After voters approved a bond funding improvements to Festival Beach in 1975, the committee started to focus on the East Side.
Martha Tiller, one of Lady Bird Johnson’s secretaries, told the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 2015, “I remember running up and down Town Lake with Mrs. Johnson, checking to see how the plantings were coming along. That wasn’t unusual. We spent a lot of time in the outdoors and gardens walking here and there to look at flowers and plants. I don’t kid when I say that I had holes the size of quarters in my shoes from walking Town Lake and the ranch.”
Are you starting to see why Town Lake’s name got changed?
But Johnson objected to being the lake’s namesake. After she died on July 11, 2007, it took the city no time at all to rename the reservoir to Lady Bird Lake. City officials made the change on July 26, 2007.
I don’t know about you, but after that little history lesson, I am emotional about Lady Bird. May have to give Lady Bird Lake a little salute next time I’m out there. 🫡
