Historical Austin Texas

Old Austin looks great in grainy black‑and‑white, but you can’t spot the brick details or storefront signs that way. In this post we test a handful of historical Austin photographs.

I pulled the best old black‑and‑white Austin photos I could find and ran them through my color‑and‑detail Stable Diffusion workflow. The post shows each original next to its AI pass and gives a little detail about the original image.

Thanks to Reddit Texas History as the source of most of the images.

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Looking north up Congress Avenue towards the Capitol (1940s)

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The third Capitol of Texas. Built in 1882 at the corner of 11th Street and Congress. The building burned down in 1899.

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This is a postcard image of firefighters in Austin. Dated 6/10/1812

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Looking east at what is now the intersection of I-35 and highway 290 in Austin. (1950s)

{{}} The Drag, looking southward at the west side of Guadalupe St. in Austin. Note that the University Co-op can be seen on the right hand side of the photo. (1928)

{{}} A view of downtown Austin. Note that the capitol building in the background is under construction but the dome has yet to be completed. (1886)

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A trolley car wrecked on Dam Boulevard, after a bridge on Shoal Creek fails. (1915)

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Congress Avenue. Original State Capitol building. (1880)

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Congress Avenue looking toward the state capitol. (1890s)

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The Drag?

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Soda fountain/diner at 804 Congress Avenue. (1959)

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Dr Tobin's Drugstore on Pecan/6th street. (1880)

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View from the Capitol Dome. 1887-1894