Lost Gardens of Howard Nursery Linger in Austin

For 94 years, the Howard family provided Austin residents with trees, shrubs, flowers, and other vegetation for their gardens and farms at their eponymous nurseries, one on Shady Lane in East Austin, and the other on East Koenig Lane north of Hyde Park. A third Howard establishment could be found for a time on Springdale Road near Givins Park.

The owners served iced tea and offered helpful horticultural advice.

All the Howard Nursery businesses had vanished by early 2006, but overgrown remnants of some nursery gardens remain.

"From the Archives" reader Rick Cloud harks back, especially, to the Howard Nursery founded by Eugene Howard in 1912 on fertile alluvial soil on Shady Lane north of East Seventh Street.

"It extended all the way to old Airport Boulevard," Cloud writes, "but all the acreage has been broken up over the years, much of sold to TxDOT for the interchange at the Montopolis Bridge. The house burned down years ago. The gardens 'exist' — overgrown and now fenced off — and you can still see the twin fountain ponds."

Cloud can visualize the driveway that led from Shady Lane to the house lined with crossbred pecan and hickory trees, called "hicans."

"Big, beautiful trees," Cloud writes, "but the nuts weren't edible and they were large and would certainly hurt if they hit you in the head!"

Who is with me? Let's find a way to explore the last remains of that original Howard Nursery.

What’s buried in the Statesman archives about Howard Nursery?

A lot. So much that it can’t be easily compressed here. But I’ll share some snatches. Likely another column will follow.

• 1910: Brothers Eugene and Travis Howard worked for Ramsey’s Austin Nursery, which encompassed hundreds of acres north of West 45th Street. Much of that land later resprouted as the Rosedale neighborhood.
• 1912: Eugene Howard started the 96-acre Montopolis-area nursery — sometimes identified in the archives as being part of the Govalle neighborhood — in what was a rural area at 719 Shady Lane. At times, his brother Travis joined him, newspaper records show. Eugene's son, Gene, who made appearances on local TV shows, later took over operations of the business with his wife, Margaret, an accomplished artist. Their children — Jim, Robin, Hank, and Marcy — followed in their parents’ and grandparents’ footsteps.
• Feb. 3, 1919: Classified ad: "Beautiful Roses — fresh, hardy, field-grown plants; they are not the budded kind. Peaches, plums, figs, grapes, dewberries, hardy ever-bearing strawberries, ornamental shrub evergreens, Russian violets, palms, lilies, etc. If you appreciate live plants, phone us your order. No agents. Eugene Howard. Phone 3050. Howard’s Montopolis Nursery."
• March 26, 1925: "Brother Saves Life in Fire; Throws Burning Man into Pool." "Travis Howard, who was painfully burned Wednesday night when a gasoline and lubricating oil tank at the Howard Nursery near Montopolis Bridge exploded in a fire, Thursday was reported to be resting better at Seton Infirmary. His brother, Eugene Howard, threw him into a small pool of water, thereby probably saving his life. Though his burns are very painful, they are not thought to be serious. The accident occurred when an oil engine used in a shed on the nursery farm caught fire. Loss is estimated at more than $1,000."
• Feb. 5, 1938: "Howard Nursery Show Place of Austin" Visitors arrive from around the Southwest for native and adapted plants as well as Eugene’s advice. "Serving as a show window for his business, Mr. Howard has beautified the spacious yard around his house with attractive lily ponds, a swimming pool, stone walks and terraces and other appointments that go to make a homesite attractive."
• Jan. 30, 1942: "Appeal Due in Nursery Suit Against the City." "The suit, instituted by Eugene Howard, has been fought back and forth in the courts since the summer of 1938, when a disastrous Colorado River flood swept across the Howard Nursery (near) the Montopolis Bridge. Attorneys for Howard argued that damage to the nursery would have been negligible except the flood waters had been diverted across nursery land by embankments at the city’s new sewerage disposal plant. Howard sued for $10,000 damage to his land and $48,000 to his nursery stock."
• 1950s: An address for Travis Howard Nursery is listed periodically in the newspaper at 1113 Springdale Road. This appears to be another branch of the Howard family business, this one run by Eugene’s brother, Travis. A March 12, 1959, legal notice announced that the assets of Travis Howard Nursery, formerly owned and operated by Travis and Oneda Blanche Howard, were sold Feb. 25, 1959 to J.R. Glash, who then operated the business under his name.
• Feb. 24, 1961: A more modern Howard Nursery retail business — "Austin’s First One-Stop Garden Center" — opened at 111 East Koenig Lane. "20 Kinds of Trees: $1.50-$8," "Holland-Grown Gladiolus, 8 popular varieties: $.59 dozen." It appears from the display advertising in the Statesman that Eugene stayed behind to manage the Montopolis acreage separately. (Historically, Montopolis was founded above the Colorado River. Although today the name is associated with the neighborhood on the other end of the bridge, both sides were identified as "Montopolis" well into the 20th century. It can be quite confusing.)
• June 24, 2006: "Howard Nursery fans say farewell to longtime friend" "For more than 50 years, I’ve been coming to your nursery with my grandmother and my mother," one customer wrote in a spiral notebook at the nursery site. Statesman journalist Julie Bonnin reported that it was "one of Austin’s last family-owned nurseries and one of the oldest nurseries in Texas." Robin Howard Moore and Jim Howard were among those saying goodbye to customers.

The Howards helped mold our city

In many ways, the Howards shaped our city as much as any other family. Even if you live in an area developed after 2006, you could be surrounded by plants nurtured by them, because before becoming a neighborhood, it was likely a farm or ranch, which the Howards also serviced.

"Eugene Howard owned land in addition to the original nursery acreage across the river in Montopolis," Cloud writes. "And many years before, he had a ranch in South Austin. I think he did significant landscaping of the Texas Capitol in early 20th century."