The approximately 70-foot tower, officially called the Buford Tower, has stood in downtown Austin since 1930. During the tower’s tenure, it has served many purposes.
For this project, we ask you what you want us to investigate and what stories you'd like us to tell.Editor's Note: This story was originally published on May 24, 2018. Buford Tower sustained fire damage in April 2021 andShelly Reynolds wanted to know the story behind the old brick tower on Cesar Chavez, so she asked about it for our ATXplained project.
In the beginning of the 20th century, cities across the world had bought into an urban beautification movement, so even though the tower would be smacked with ladders and set aflame, it had to look good.article from 1930 promised the tower would be “attractive and really a scenic addition to the site.”
“The flames, of course, will be synthetic, and so will the smoke, but there will be nothing faked in the way adept firemen will slide down ropes, scale ladders, lay hose and play streams of water on their synthetic blaze,” reads a Residents came out to observe the fire drills, which newspaper reports suggest were more spectacle than actual drills.
On June 16, 1972, Buford answered a call of two boys who had been swept into Shoal Creek floodwaters near Spicewood Springs Road. According to newspaper articles from the time, the two high school students were riding a motorcycle to a new park to swim when they were swept off the road by floodwaters.
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