Hey, history buffs. Submit your unofficial historical locations around town.
Have you ever looked at a local spot and thought, “This place deserves to be commemorated?” Our city is full of legendary locations — many of which are indicated by historical markers. Historical markers reveal significant places, streets, neighborhoods, buildings, businesses, and cultural events from the past or present. Think: Austin’s many moontowers, Barton Springs Pool, and the Driskill Hotel.
But not all significant areas get the attention they deserve. What about the Chuy’s on Barton Springs Road, where everyone goes after ACL Festival? Or Daniel Johnston’s “Jeremiah the Innocent” mural, which is so beloved it was saved from demolition? Or even the Willie Nelson statue — sure, it’s only been up for ~12 years — in front of ACL Live? We want to put these places on the map — literally.
Rules + details
Submit your historic place for a chance to be featured nationwide on our historical marker map. Our favorite submissions will then be featured in our newsletter, where we’ll put it to a vote. Who knows? Maybe it will receive an official historical marker.
Submissions are open through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
Finalists will be selected by our team and announced in our newsletter. These finalists will then go head-to-head in a vote for our readers’ favorite. The winner will be announced later in December. No promises that it will get an actual historical marker, but it will in our hearts.
Want to know more about official historical markers around town? Check out Texas’ Historical Marker Database.
The results
The votes are in for the ATXtoday unofficial historical marker contest. Check out the finalists below, including the contest winner our readers voted for.
Winner: “Jeremiah the Innocent” mural
50% of voters selected this mural as the winner of our competition. So loved by the Austin community, Daniel Johnston’s iconic frog mural was saved from demolition when its building was knocked down in 2023. The mural was created in 1993 on the wall of the Sound Exchange Record Store, which was a well-known haunt for UT students at the time. Aside from losing its building altogether, the mural on 21st and Guadalupe streets has survived several changes in business.
The motif has since become an unofficial symbol of Austin and inspired artists like Kurt Cobain. The mural has even received calls from The Daily Texan to make it into a Historical Landmark.
Don’t live in Austin but still want a taste of The County Line? The restaurants ships its barbecue to all parts of the United States by Air Ribs.
Photo by amanderson2 via OpenVerse
The County Line
Serving up melt-in-you-mouth barbecue since 1975, The County Line has two Austin locations: The County Line on the Lake, where you can eat lakeside and watch turtles sunbathe, and The County Line on the Hill, the first location, which opened in a former speakeasy. Since then, it has expanded to seven locations across Texas and New Mexico.
If you’ve been in Austin long enough, you’ve probably met here with family and friends over the restaurant’s famous ribs. The County Line was submitted by reader Linda C., who called it a “legendary” beer hall and restaurant.
“We Rise” mural
Local artist Chris Rogers originally painted this mural — a tribute to the history and culture of east Austin — for free in 2014. It was painted over by a new store that moved in in 2017, and six months later, Rogers was recommissioned by the owner to paint a new one.
Now the mural, located at the intersection of East 12th and Chicon streets, not only represents important Black and Latin icons, it also marks love and support in east Austin. Reader John S. said the mural already shows the “beauty and significance of the area, but a historical marker should also be placed there.”
It doesn’t stop there — we got more submissions than these. Just check out our map of unofficial historical locations — both locally and across the nation.
