Austin was planned on a 15-block grid plan developed by
Edwin Waller that was bisected by
Congress Avenue running north–south. The Bastrop Highway linking the town to earlier settlements in
East Texas was charted in 1839 and chose the route into Austin along Pecan Street. The
stagecoach followed this route when it arrived in Austin in 1840, and used the Bullock Hotel at the northwest corner of Pecan and Congress as the stage stop. The Bullock, built in 1839 by Richard Bullock, was a complex of log building which served as the quasiformal and informal meeting place in Austin for several years. That particular intersection quickly became the focal point of town life. The town grew like a cross up and down Congress and Pecan. Pecan had an obvious advantage for development. The street was far enough from the river to escape flooding, which occasionally spread as far as Cypress Street (3rd Street), and it was the last east–west street flat enough for wagons and pedestrians to travel comfortably. Following an explosive growth in town population between 1850 and 1860, Pecan soon contained not only
log and
frame houses, but also was lined with wagon yards, livery stables, and saloons to meet the needs of travelers. Austin's first bridge was built to carry Pecan Street across Shoal Creek in 1865, though the narrow iron
footbridge, built by the
United States Army, could not carry wagon traffic. While the Civil War interrupted Sixth Street's growth in the 1860s, the following years were the height of Sixth Street's importance as a commercial center. The arrival of the railroad in 1871 was very much to Sixth Street's benefit, as some of Austin's most prestigious business enterprises were located here to be near the railroad depot. Lots along the street were in great demand and fine two- and three-story
limestone Victorian commercial structures began to line the streets where one-story frame buildings or vacant lots had been. In 1887, a new, larger bridge across Shoal Creek was built to match the full width of Sixth Street and permit wagons to cross; this
West Sixth Street Bridge is still in use today, and has since been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Scarbrough and Hicks department store, founded on the southwest corner of 6th and Congress in 1893, decided to remain in this same location in 1909 when it undertook the construction of Austin's first modern skyscraper; the
Scarbrough Building is an eight-story brick building in the
Commercial style. George Littlefield chose the northeast corner of that intersection in 1911 for a 9-story brick and limestone building to be built to house his American Bank. A biracial character was evident along Sixth Street during this period of development, although it became more pronounced in the 1890s and early 1900s. For example, a black physician had an office in the 300 block of East Sixth, and several businesses on the north side of the 400 and 500 blocks were operated by blacks and catered to Austin's black community. By the early 20th century, racial and ethnic diversity had become one of Sixth Street's most striking characteristics. Lebanese businesses also began to appear on 6th Street in the 1890s. One of the first Lebanese immigrants to Austin, Cater Joseph, opened a confectionery on Congress in the 1880s. The Joseph family still maintains a business on East 6th Street, as do several other Lebanese and Syrian families who founded businesses there in the early 20th century. By 1940, businesses on 6th Street were owned by blacks, Jewish, German, Chinese, and Mexican-Americans, as well. A steady erosion of the commercial importance of the East 6th Street area occurred in the 1940s and particularly accelerated after
World War II. A proliferation of second-hand stores, chain and discount stores catered to a lower-income clientele, followed by an increasing number of vacated buildings. A skid-row atmosphere was fostered in the 1950s and 1960s by the multiplying number of pawn shops, loan companies, and bars in the area. However, a number of owner-operated businesses kept the area alive for commercial activity. One of the last residents on Sixth Street was local architect David Graeber. Graeber purchased the building at 410 E. 6th Street and made it his family's residence until he died in 2010. The building is notable as the last building on Sixth Street to be used exclusively as a primary residence. The building's interior was modern for the time, including an indoor swimming pool, and substantial sound mitigation. The
Ritz, a historic theater, open its doors on 320 East 6th Street in 1929. Throughout its history, the Ritz was used as a movie theater, music hall, club, comedy house, and more. It reopened after renovations in fall 2007 as the new downtown location for
Alamo Drafthouse. On March 20, 2007,
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema announced that they would be relocating their downtown cinema, which was the original theater opened in 1997, to the Ritz. They began construction on April 1, 2007, to revive the Ritz as a movie theater. The theater was subsequently closed in 2021 after Alamo Drafthouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In March 2023, comedian
Joe Rogan repurposed the theater as The Comedy Mothership, a comedy club. Plans to make the Sixth Street district vehicle free were considered prior to a SXSW 2014 drunk driving incident where several pedestrians were struck. In December 2024, the city began a pilot to restore vehicular access to the entertainment district and, as of 2026, has proposed plans to redesign the street to better prioritize pedestrian access. During the early midnight hours on March 2, 2026,
a mass shooting took place at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden, killing three people and injuring 15 others. The perpetrator was also killed at the scene by responding police officers. ==Pecan Street Festival==