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Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Austin is the state capitol and one of the largest cities in the state. Downtown Austin is located on the north bank of the Colorado River. Downtown Austin's borders are generally regarded as Lamar Boulevard to the west, 11th Street and sometimes Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and the University of Texas at Austin to the north, Interstate 35 to the east, and Lady Bird Lake to the south.

Downtown Austin is where the highest concentration of Austin's highrise buildings are located. It is also the center of government and business for the region. The last decade has seen a building boom in the area with multiple condos and skyscrapers being constructed.

Downtown Austin was founded in the 1830's during the Republic of Texas when then Republic President Mirabeau Lamar selected a gentleman by the name of Edwin Waller to direct the planning and construction of the new town. The site selected

The city was laid out in a simple grid pattern on a one square mile (640 acre) plot with fourteen blocks running in both directions. Much of this original design is still intact in downtown Austin today. One main avenue, which Lamar named "Congress," cut through the center of town from Capitol Square down to the Colorado River. The streets parallel to Congress running north-south take their names from Texas rivers with their order matching the order of rivers from the Texas state map. The east-west streets were originally named after local types of trees, even though Waller had recommended using numbers. They were eventually changed to numbers in 1884. Key spots for public buildings and four public squares were set aside. Three of the four public squares are still around today: Wooldridge Park, Republic Square and Brush Square.