Burditt’s Prairie

Burditt’s Prairie was developed after the Civil War around the former Burditt Plantation, near the area that is now known as Montopolis. At the corner of Felix Avenue and Valdez Street you can find the Burditt (Burdett) Prairie Cemetery which contains numerous enslaved and African American unmarked graves. Unfortunately, the cemetery is currently in a state of neglect.

According to Michelle Mears, an Austinite and archivist, many formerly enslaved people still attended worship at the Burditt Plantation for several years after emancipation. By 1903, the church, known as St. Edward’s Missionary Baptist Church, relocated to Montopolis Road. The church, affiliated with the St. John Regular Missionary Baptist Association, served the African American congregation until the mid-1930s before it was destroyed in a storm. A new building was erected and the church moved to its current location at 702 Montopolis in 1991 and has an active congregation. There are several plaques mounted near the bell tower noting that the church was established in 1863 making it one of the earliest African Americans churches in Travis County.

Various rural African American schools, including one known as Burditt’s Prairie, are mentioned in a 1917 Austin-American Statesman article. The “Colorado Negro School” or Colorado School No. 2 was located near the Burditt’s Prairie community and is identified in the 1932 Topographic and Road Map [of] Travis County. The Travis County Historical Commission’s African American Rural Schools of Travis County (TCHC) also identified the Montopolis School for African Americans that was located near what is today the intersection of Highway 71 and US-183. 

Founded in 1891 the first Montopolis School, initially part of the Colorado School District, was located on the north side of the old Bastrop Highway (now Highway 71) south of the river. In 1935 a storm destroyed the school but was later rebuilt out of a former two-room army barracks with a new classroom, lunchroom, and toilets added. The land where it was rebuilt was donated by the St. Edward’s Baptist Church.The Montopolis School was consolidated with the Austin Independent School District in 1952 but the school later closed in 1962. The former school building still stands at 500 Montopolis Drive.

Information provided by the African-American Settlement Survey Travis County, Texas prepared by prepared by Hicks & Company Elizabeth Porterfield, MSHP for Travis County Historical Commission.

This information was supplemented by archivist at the University of North Texas, Michelle Mears, from her book And Grace Will Lead Me Home African American Freedmen Communities of Austin, Texas, 1865-1928.

We recognize that this research is ongoing, drawing extensively from historical documents, archives, and oral histories passed down through generations.

Given the evolving nature of information, it is important to note that details may change. And while inaccuracies may arise, we actively strive to update our records as we acquire new knowledge.