William Cannon Drive

William Cannon Drive

Written by Karin Shaver Thursday, 08 May 2008

Local Industry

1. Austin is home to the headquarters of Freescale Semiconductor. They have 2,600 employees at the William Cannon location and more than 24,000 employees worldwide. The $5.7 billion-company was previously part of Motorola. Freescale designs and manufactures embedded semiconductors. The company describes the technology as the “brains” for automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless applications.

Retail

2. The Shops at Arbor Trails began construction in November 2005. Costco opened in June 2006 and the shopping center now includes Haverty’s Furniture, Stein Mart, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Jared Jewelers and many others. The center has more than 40 acres of open green space and includes hike and bike trails and water features. New stores opening soon include Panda Express, Smoothie King and Willy O’s.

Education

3. Covington Middle School is located at 3700 Convict Hill Road. It was built in 1986 and houses more than 1,300 students in grades six through eight. The school is named after Weldon and Verna Covington, Austin Independent School District teachers whose teaching careers spanned more than 50 years. Weldon began teaching in 1932 and built the band program from eight members to more than 1,000. Verna was one of the first women band directors in Texas.

4. Patton Elementary School, located at 6001 Westcreek Drive was built in 1985 and is now home to 758 students in grades Pre-K through five. For more information, visit www.austinisd.org/schools.

5. Built in 1998, Clint Small Jr. Middle School is located at 4801 Monterey Oaks Blvd. The school is named after AISD Board of Trustee Clint Small, Jr., who served on the board from 1960-1968 and was an attorney with Small, Craig & Werkenthin. Small served as president of both the State Bar Association of Texas and the Travis County Bar Association.

Recreation

6. Hampton Branch at Oak Hill is an Austin Public Library branch located at 5125 Convict Hill Road. The branch was opened in April 1997 and was named in honor of Austin civic leader Will Hampton. The 8,400-sq. ft. facility is one of the busiest branches in the Austin Public Library system with an average monthly circulation of 30,000 items. Library hours are Monday–Thursday 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and closed on Sunday. For more information, call 892-6680.

7. Dick Nichols Park is a 152-acre park located at 5011 Beckett Road. The park has a swimming pool, picnic tables, walking trail, covered pavilion, softball fields, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts. For more information, call 974-6700 or visit www.austinparks.org.

8. Oak Hill Youth Sports Association has an active schedule of programs at the corner of Hwy. 290 and McCarty Lane. It has six baseball fields and two softball fields and more than 1,200 children are participating this year.