History of Flowmaster in Austin, Texas explored. An Austin water park long forgotten but well remembered.

Flowmaster was one of the three water parks which opened in South Austin in the summer of 1978. The water park was located at the address of 3811 S Congress Ave. Included with this water park was a skate park called Flowmotion. The full name for Flowmotion was Flowmotion Skateboard Park. Both Flowmotion and Flowmaster shared the same property. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37959292/south_austin_water_slides/)

Aquatractions designed Flowmaster’s waterslides. The big concrete wall was painted a light blue color. Their waterslide was the longest and slowest. Rolling Stone lips were placed on the curves. Flowmaster’s waterslides were 400 feet in length. 1,200 sliders each day rode Flowmaster’s waterslides. John Howard said, "The people that designed our slide have done it before. This one's built pretty good." (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20083354/austin_americanstatesman/)

The waterslide was dug into the hillside rather than propped up on top of the ground as Wet Willie’s Water Slide was. It was a great location for a water slide. However all of the walls were not high enough and you could get airborne on the turns. You could easily change sides with enough speed. Located at the bottom were two 'holding ponds' which served as the landing area.

John Howard was part owner of Flowmaster and Flowmotion. Don Willie was the general manager of the Flowmaster water park and Flowmotion Skateboard Park. (Ref: Austin American Statesman, Page 64, June 10, 1978)


A new attraction called Ski & Skate was established in 1980. Flowmaster would later change the name of their business to Ski & Skate in 1980. Ski & Skate was located on the same property as Flowmotion which was a skate park. Ski and Skate Family Center was the full name. Ski and Skate was where Penn Field is on South Congress Avenue.

A Statesman newspaper article shows rates of Ski & Skate being $2 for 30 minutes or $3 for 1 hour. Patrons chose $2 for 30 minutes as the most common rate. They had a great snake run, double-bowl, half-pipe and freestyle area. It was the full concrete skatepark. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/379181754/)

The park offered grass skiing. The grass skiing was an attempt to get more people to come to their water park. You could get airborne going down hill while on the skis. The slope on Congress has one jump and several hundred feet of grass. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37971913/grass_skiing_at_ski_skate/)


Flowmaster was one of the four water parks in Austin that closed during the 80s. The new wave of water parks in the Austin area is what killed Flowmaster. The park shut down by 1984. Eventually all structures were removed and demolished. All that remained was grass in 1985.

Expose Men's Club was built on the property where Flowmaster was once located. A new United States Postal Service branch was built south of where the hill was once located in the year of 2009. Today Expose Men's Club and a United States Postal Service branch have taken the place of Flowmaster and Flowmotion.


Flowmaster was located at 3811 South Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, US 78704. The other address for Flowmaster was 3801 South Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, US 78704