Onion Creek

Onion Creek is an upscale residential community located east of Interstate Highway 35 about six miles south of downtown Austin in south central Travis County. Settlement had occurred in this area as early as the 1850s when the Onion Creek Masonic Lodge was chartered, and Onion Creek Cemetery, also known as Boggy Creek Cemetery, dates to the 1880s. The present-day community of Onion Creek began by the early 1970s when Lumbermen's Investment Corporation and C&D Investments started development of 960 acres along Onion Creek. Partners included Wayne McDonald, president of Lumbermen's Investment Corporation, golfer Jimmie Connolly of C&D Investments, and golfer Jimmy Demaret. Construction began on a 33,000-square-foot country club, and Demaret designed an eighteen-hole golf course which opened in the fall of 1973. The Onion Creek luxury subdivision and country club officially opened in 1974 with a celebration that included Bob Hope, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and other celebrities as guests. Over the years the golf course gained a national reputation as a premier destination. The first senior professional golf tournament, The Legends of Golf, was held there for eleven years, beginning in 1978. Golfer Ben Crenshaw designed nine additional golf holes into the course in 1996, and the LPGA held its Harvey Penick Invitational at Onion Creek from 1999 to 2001. The development of Onion Creek, a census-designated place, reported a population of 1,544 in 1990. In 2000 the population was 2,116. By that time Onion Creek was within the city limits of Austin.