Oak Hill, Austin, Texas
| Oak Hill | |
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| Unincorporated community | |
A post office in Oak Hill
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 Oak Hill
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| Coordinates: 30°14′7″N 97°51′35″W / 30.23528°N 97.85972°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Travis |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
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Oak Hill is an unincorporated community and collection of neighborhoods located in southwest Austin, Texas.
The area now known as Oak Hill was initially known as Live Oak Springs in the 19th century. The land was awarded to William Cannon by the Mexican government in 1835, attracting settlers into the area. In 1865, unsuccessful attempts were made to change the community's name to Shiloh, after the American Civil War battle. In 1869, however, the community was given the name Oatmanville. Following the Civil War, the cedar forests around Oatmanville attracted settlers, particularly from the Appalachian Mountains, due to high demand for lumber-related production. Due to the increased demand for cedar, localized conflicts broke out between woodcutters. In 1870, a post office named Oak Hill was established, though the community would not immediately adopt that name.
During the construction of the Texas State Capitol in Downtown Austin during the 1880s, stone quarries near the community were used for the capitol building's construction, resulting in a boom in the community's economy. The construction project also spurred the creation of the Austin and Oatmanville Railway, which was purposed to ship limestone from the community to the city, and was later abandoned in 1888. In 1904, Oak Hill's population grew in excess of 200 people, doubling by the 1970s. In 1910, the local post office was discontinued, with mail forwarding to the city of Austin instead. Nearly a century later in 2000, the area defined as Oak Hill was absorbed into Austin's city limits.
When the area around Oak Hill was first settled in the 1830s and 1840s, there was very little population growth. However, as a result of demand for limestone to construct the Texas State Capitol and demand for cedar wood in the latter half of the 19th century, the population of Oak Hill quickly grew, reaching 200 by 1904. The community's population doubled between 1904 and the 1970s to 400, and then grew even faster with the development of suburban housing in the region. By 1990, the population of Oak Hill was 11,572. Over the ensuing decade, the combined Oak Hill planning area saw rapid population growth, more than twice as rapid as the Greater Austin metropolitan area. West Oak Hill saw population growth three times more rapid than Austin in the same time period.
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