Scholz Garten: Texas's Oldest Beer Garden

Nearby you'll find Scholz Garten, the oldest continuously operating tavern in Texas. August Scholz, a German immigrant who had served in the Confederate army, opened it as a saloon and beer garden on August first, eighteen sixty-six. It quickly became the social heart of Austin's growing German community.

The Austin Saengerrunde, a German singing club, purchased it in nineteen oh eight and still owns it today. The six-lane bowling alley they built is one of the oldest continuously operating bowling centers in the country. Through Prohibition, two World Wars, and waves of anti-German sentiment, Scholz Garten persevered.

In nineteen sixty-six the Texas Legislature honored it on its hundredth birthday as a gathering place for Texans of discernment, taste, culture, and erudition. Politicians, writers, and University of Texas fans have been holding court under these live oaks for more than a century and a half.