Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail

Lady Bird Lake
View from Lady Bird Lake toward Downtown Austin.
Location	Central Austin, Texas, United States
Coordinates	30°15′03″N 97°42′49″W / 30.25083°N 97.71361°W / 30.25083; -97.71361Coordinates: 30°15′03″N 97°42′49″W / 30.25083°N 97.71361°W / 30.25083; -97.71361
Type	Power plant cooling/recreational reservoir
Primary inflows	Colorado River
Primary outflows	Colorado River
Basin countries	United States
Built	1960
Surface area	468 acres (189 ha)
Max. depth	18 ft (5.5 m)
Surface elevation	428 ft (130 m)

Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pond for a new city power plant. The surface area of the lake is 416 acres (168 ha), and it is currently used primarily for recreation and flood control. The reservoir is named in honor of former First Lady of the United States Lady Bird Johnson.

Lady Bird Lake is the easternmost lake of a chain of reservoirs on the Colorado River. This chain, known locally as the Texas Highland Lakes, also includes Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls, Lake Travis, and Lake Austin.

The City of Austin constructed Longhorn Dam in 1960 to form Town Lake. The city needed the reservoir to serve as a cooling pond for the Holly Street Power Plant, which operated from 1960 until 2007.

Before 1971, the shoreline of Town Lake was mostly a mixture of weeds, unkempt bushes, and trash. Local television station KTBC referred to the lake as an "eyesore." Some concerned Austinites had tried to clean up the lake, but the effort was only partly successful. During his two terms in office (1971–75), the Mayor of Austin Roy Butler led the Austin City Council to establish the Town Lake Beautification Committee, and he appointed Lady Bird Johnson as the project's honorary chairman. Johnson's involvement brought attention and money (including $19,000 of her own) to the Town Lake project, allowing for the planting of hundreds of shrubs and trees. The city also built a system of hike and bike trails along the shoreline of the lake.