Rollingwood

History

The George B. Hatley Company purchased 382.76 acres of land in December 1945, from S. Finley Ewing, less 86 acres of land that went to A. B. Hatley, George’s brother. The property was known as The Rollingwood Addition and cost $67,690.

Most of the streets in Rollingwood are named after various Hatley relatives or participants in the original George Hatley Company. George Hatley installed the original water system, which was fabricated of surplus oil field pipes.

The Village of Rollingwood was established in 1955, and the first city council and town marshal was elected at the incorporation election that year. In order to obtain operating funds to finance the Village’s 1955 expenses, an assessment of $25 per house and lot was made; each vacant lot and undeveloped acre of land was assessed at $3.

Rollingwood was quite rural then, and there were numerous complaints from citizens about hunters coming into the area to ‘spotlight’ deer. This led to a subsequent ordinance prohibiting the discharge of firearms within the Village. At that time, the City of Austin would bring some of its prisoners to the municipal pistol range in Zilker Park at the foot of Rollingwood Drive to work out their fines by maintaining the area, often leaving them without supervision and free to wander. This led to complaints from citizens about prisoners accosting residents of Rollingwood for handouts of food.

Rollingwood is a ‘general law’ municipality, operating in accordance to the state’s general law applicable to smaller towns, rather than under a city charter. The city is governed by a city council composed of the mayor and five council members/aldermen elected at large for 2-year term. The term of council members is staggered.