Friday, June 15, 2018

Grove Trailer Court of Austin, Texas forgotten revisited.

Grove Trailer Court is one of the many forgotten trailer parks of Austin, Texas. Not much at all is known about the Oak Grove Trailer Court. Very few Austinites know of or have whereabout of knowledge regarding Oak Grove Trailer Court itself. Only older Austinites know about this trailer park. This news article will attempt to explain the history behind Grove Trailer Court.


Grove Trailer Court was established as a trailer park in 1950 by Vernon Eugene Grove Jr. and his wife Joyce L. Grove. They both owned land that was a part of their own farmland and decided to establish a trailer park that would become Grove Trailer Court. Dr. Vernon Eugene Grove Jr. was a private practitioner from Austin, Texas. Grove Trailer Court was established at the address of 6200 Grove Drive, Austin, Texas, US 78741. Which located near the intersection of Grove Drive & Montopolis Drive.

They used 11 acres out of 13.11 acres to create the trailer park. The scenic riverside view of the Colorado River made the trailer park an idea location for people to live there. Grove Trailer Court was located less than an acre away from the Colorado River.

Grove Trailer Court began show up on maps by 1956. On the 1956 topographical map for Montopolis Quadrangle, “Grove Trailer Court” appeared under the name “Trailer Park”. A gaging station appeared west of Montopolis Bridge.

The trailer park would later grow to expand up to 13.11 acres by 1961. 2 new gaging stations were installed in 1970. Grove Trailer Court grew up to expand towards 15 acres by 1973.


Vernon Eugene Grove Jr. sold the land for Grove Trailer Court to the City of Austin on the date of 5/6/1981 on a warranty deed. By agreement on the warranty deed, the city could take over the land when Vernon and his wife Joyce were deceased.

By 1994, Grove Trailer Court was demolished and discontinued due to the location being located in a 25 year floodplain. 2 times every 25 years or so, it would flood. Or at least when Austin received heavy amounts of rain. This would flood the trailer park and cause heavy amounts of damage.

The City of Austin made part of the Grove Trailer Court become the Lakeshore Park in 1995. City of Austin replanted glass plats over the roads from the former trailer park.

The road that once connected to Grove Trailer Court continued onto Montopolis Bridge. The road was called Grove Drive. Grove Drive was named after Vernon Eugene Grove Jr. and his wife Joyce L. Grove. An actual road past the trailer park connected to Montopolis Bridge.


By 2003, all 32.53 acres of the property belonging to Vernon Eugene Grove Jr. had beed demolished. The land became vacant land by 2004 as the City of Austin took control over the Estate of Vernon Eugene Grove Jr. at the time from an executor deed and a special warranty deed.


Grove Trailer Court has been mention and reported on in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper a number of times over the years. For instance in 2015 about if Spanish missions really existing in Austin. (Ref: Austin American-Statesman, Did Spanish missions really exist on Austin bluffs in 1730?, Steven Gonzales keeps an eye out for evidence in the Montopolis hills., June 25, 2015)

Today in the 21st century, Grove Trailer Court remains one of the many forgotten trailer parks of Austin, Texas. A weathered sign for the Grove Trailer Court is all that remains of this trailer park enclave.




Grove Trailer Court was located at the address of 6200 Grove Drive, Austin, Texas, US 78741. Grove Trailer Court Headquarters were located at 6218 Grove Drive, Austin, Texas, US 78741.

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