Santa Rita Courts

East Austin Barrio LandmarksMexican American History
Written By Preservation Austin

This post is a part of our East Austin Barrio Landmarks Project honoring the historic and cultural significance of East Austin's Mexican American community. For more information on the project—including our complete blog series and self-guided tour—click here.

Santa Rita Courts Public Housing Project, January 25, 1940, Bureau of Identification Photographic Laboratory (Austin History Center via the Portal to Texas History)

Santa Rita Courts: How Austin’s Mexican American Community became some of the first in the nation to live in public housing.

BY KATHERINE ENDERS

Santa Rita Courts, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, is a public housing community in Austin. It is significant on a national level as the first public housing project finished under the 1937 Housing Act, and also important to the history of the Mexican American community in East Austin. Constructed during the racially segregated Jim Crow era, Santa Rita Courts only housed Mexican American families until it was desegregated in the 1960s.

Preservation Austin: Santa Rita Courts

Future President Lyndon B, Johnson (Right) as a Young Congressman, 1939, Neal Douglass (Austin History Center via the Portal to Texas History)

The need for public housing in the United States was clear in the 1930s. As the effects of the Great Depression dragged on, many families found themselves living in poverty. Affordable housing was in short supply, and many were forced to live in substandard dwellings that lacked basic amenities such as indoor plumbing. In addition to the need for affordable and accessible housing, FDR’s administration was also motivated to produce public housing as a way to boost the economy and create new jobs. Although the first public housing in the nation was constructed in Atlanta in 1936, it wasn’t until FDR signed the 1937 Housing Act into law that the federal government became involved and the nation's public housing system was truly created. First-year Texas congressman, and future president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson saw an opportunity to bring public housing to Texas.

LBJ was the driving force behind Austin being one of the first three cities in the United States to receive federal funding for public housing projects. Following the codification of the 1937 Housing Act, LBJ went before the Austin City Council and encouraged them to form a housing authority so the city could begin to tackle its affordable housing crisis. The Austin Housing Authority was established the next day, and by the end of the year the city had applied for $500,000 in federal funding. Its application was approved within two weeks making Austin, along with New York and New Orleans, one of the first cities to receive federal funding for public housing in the United States. Austin was much smaller than the other two cities selected and LBJ’s enthusiasm and political prowess is widely credited as the reason Austin was able to make such important strides in public housing so early.

Preservation Austin: Santa Rita Courts

Examples of Substandard Housing in Austin, (C00736) (Austin History Center, Austin Public Library)

Unfortunately, not everyone was thrilled with the direction the city was moving in. Realtors and landlords turning a profit from the substandard housing in question strongly opposed the supposed government interference in the real estate market. They claimed that these affordable units would stifle private construction and negatively affect the economy. In an effort to combat this negative discourse surrounding public housing, LBJ gave an impactful radio address on January 23, 1938 that became known as the “Tarnish on the Violet Crown.”

In this widely circulated speech, Congressman Johnson described the housing conditions he had observed in Austin on a Christmas-morning walk he had taken a few weeks earlier. He described one “typical” family he saw on his outing, a group of seven living in a single-room home without windows or running water. He was disturbed by what he saw and openly criticized the landlords that were taking advantage of the poor by renting out shacks and hovels that were overcrowded, unsafe, and unsanitary. He argued that if landlords provided quality housing for their tenants, they should feel no competition from the city’s public housing projects. To refute those who said Austin did not have a housing problem, Johnson pointed out that the Austin Housing Authority had found that 1,030 out of 1,697 homes surveyed in East Austin were found to be substandard.

LBJ said that he was “unwilling to close [his] eyes to needless suffering and deprivation, which is not only a curse to the people immediately concerned, but is also a cancerous blight on the whole community.” Of course, LBJ’s commitment to public housing served a political purpose as well as an altruistic one. He was determined to succeed in his political career and his enthusiastic advocacy for public housing did much to win him support from a broad base of voters.

Preservation Austin: Santa Rita Courts

Kitchens in Santa Rita Courts Units Featured Gas Stoves , (Austin History Center via the Portal to Texas History)

Soon plans were underway for three public housing communities in Austin, and Santa Rita Courts would make history as the first public housing project completed with funding from the 1937 Housing Act in the United States. Due to racist Jim Crow-era “separate but equal” legislation, it was determined that the housing projects would be segregated. Santa Rita Courts would house 40 Mexican American families, 60 Black families would make Rosewood Courts their home, and Chalmers Courts would be built for 86 white families.

The three public housing projects would remain segregated until the passage of the Fair Housing Act in January of 1968. Santa Rita Courts were designed by Austin-based architectural firm Giesecke & Harris. The dwellings were constructed by San Antonio firm Vincent Falbo & Sons under the direction of the founder of the University of Texas School of Architecture, Hugo Franz Kuehne. The single-story concrete homes were simple in design and were either rectangular or L-shaped, with modern amenities such as a gas hot water heater, gas range, and gas heaters. The development was designed to encourage a strong community, demonstrated by the shared laundry lines and children’s playground at the center of the plot.

To move into any of the three public housing projects in Austin, potential tenants had to demonstrate that they were currently living in substandard housing. There were also income thresholds and tenants were not allowed to make more than 5x the rent, unless they had more than two children in which case they were permitted to earn 6x the rent. The City of Austin claimed that at the time of construction Santa Rita Courts had the lowest rent in the country. In 1939 residents paid anywhere from $10.20 - $11.70 per month, and the average annual income of a family that lived in Santa Rita Courts ranged from $330 to $840.

LBJ Visiting the First Tenants in Santa Rita Courts, 1939, (Santa Rita Courts National Register Nomination)

The first tenants, a Mexican American family of seven, moved into the Santa Rita project on June 24, 1939. Its dedication was a significant event attended by Congressman Johnson, Governor W. Lee O’Daniel, Mayor Tom Miller, and Nathan Straus of the United States Housing Authority. The celebration featured Mexican musicians, along with Mexican folk dancing known as “jarabe” that was performed in traditional Charros and China Poblana attire. The festivities were recorded and a 4-minute film that commemorated the occasion was shown in the Paramount Theater throughout 1939. All 40 units were continuously rented, so 60 new units designed by Jessen, Jessen, Millhouse, and Greeven, were added to Santa Rita Courts in 1954.

Santa Rita Courts provided a strong sense of community to its residents and to the Mexican American community at-large. One of the goals of early public housing was to foster strong communities, and to that end “home counselors” were available on site to help families adjust through classes and group activities. Fiestas, community events, and dances often took place at the Courts. The residents also served their community by participating in Christmas gift drives and other community fundraisers. During WWII, a group of over 40 women gathered weekly to knit sweaters for the Red Cross to distribute in England. The Red Cross reported that the knitting from Santa Rita Courts was some of the finest to come from Travis County.

Santa Rita Courts and Rosewood Courts still exist in their original form today, while Chalmers Courts has been largely demolished. Santa Rita Courts are significant nationally as the first public housing to be funded and inhabited under the 1937 Housing Act. Additionally, Santa Rita Courts still functions as public housing today, making it some of the oldest continually inhabited public housing in the country.

Preservation Austin: Santa Rita Courts

Early Tenants at Santa Rita Courts, July 10, 1941, Neal Douglass (Austin History Center via the Portal to Texas History)

PRESERVATION AUSTIN IS INDEBTED TO THE FOWLER FAMILY FOUNDATION FOR SUPPORTING THIS WORK AND FOR MAKING THE EAST AUSTIN BARRIO LANDMARKS PROJECT POSSIBLE.

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