Beginnings

In 1942, the city of Austin purchased land and donated the land to the federal government of the United States for a military installation, with the stipulation that the city would get the land back when the government no longer needed it. This land became Del Valle Army Air Base, or Del Valle Airfield. Del Valle Airfield was activated on September 19, 1942, on 3,000 acres (12 km2) leased from the City of Austin. The name of the base was changed to Bergstrom Army Airfield (AAF) in March 1943 in honor of Captain John August Earl Bergstrom, a reservist in the 19th Bombardment Group, who was killed at Clark Field, Philippines in 1941. He was the first Austinite killed in World War II. With the separation of the United States Air Force and United States Army in September 1947, the name again changed to Bergstrom Air Force Base. It would have this name until it was decommissioned in the early 1990s, with all military aviation ceasing in 1995 after more than 50 years.

By then, Austin had long since outgrown Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Mueller had opened in 1930 and had not aged well. The city began considering options for a new airport as early as 1971, when the Federal Aviation Administration proposed that Austin and San Antonio build a joint regional airport. That idea was rejected, as few Austinites supported driving halfway to San Antonio on Interstate 35 to catch a flight. Afterwards, the city submitted a proposal to the United States Air Force for joint use of Bergstrom Air Force Base in 1976. The Air Force rejected the proposal in 1978 as being too disruptive to its operations.

In the 1980s, neighborhoods around Mueller applied enough political pressure to force the city council to choose a site for a new airport from locations under consideration. In November 1987, voters approved a referendum designating a site near Manor. The city began acquiring the land but faced lawsuits from the Sierra Club and others concerned about the Manor location and its potential environmental impact.

The plans to construct a new airport at the Manor location were abandoned in 1991 when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission selected Bergstrom for closure, and gave the nod to the city for the land and runways to be converted for use as a civilian airport. The city council decided to abandon the original plan to build the new airport near Manor, and resolved instead to move the airport to the Bergstrom site. The City of Austin hired John Almond—a civil engineer who had recently led the airport design team for the new airport expansion in San Jose, California—as Project Director for the new $585 million airport in Austin and to put together a team of engineers and contractors to accomplish the task. The issue of a $400 million bond referendum for a new airport owned and operated by the city was put to a public vote in May 1993 with a campaign managed by local public affairs consultant Don Martin and then-Mayor Bruce Todd and was approved by 63% of the vote. Groundbreaking for the new airport began in November 1994.

On October 23, 1995, with a $10 million budget and after the old tower, previously used by the US Air Force, was demolished, construction began on building Austin's tallest primary building (277 ft [84 m]) that houses air traffic controllers. The new tower, completed a year before then-current president Bill Clinton arrived with his entourage, enabled Air Force One to be granted clearance to land. This made the president the "first passenger" to arrive at the new airport.

The main Air Force runway, 17R/35L, was retained along with most of its taxiways, as its high weight rating and long length would facilitate service by large long-range airliners while reducing construction costs. Bergstrom's original secondary runway, 17L/35R, was closed and partially demolished to accommodate new taxiway sections directly connecting 17R/35L to the new terminal. The remnants of the former runway are used as a service road and a parking area for a Boeing 727 used for emergency training. A replacement 9,000-foot (2,700 m) runway 17L/35R was built east of the terminal, along with a general aviation complex on the southern side of the airport. Most former military buildings, including the original control tower, were demolished and cleared to make way for the new terminal and parking facilities, although some hangars and parking tarmac to the south was retained, along with a section of tarmac to the northeast of the primary runway that became the foundation for the airport's freight terminal. Some existing bridges were converted for ground vehicle access-road use. Military housing in the northwest portion of the former base was leveled, but some of its roads now serve a Texas Department of Transportation service facility. Several Travis County facilities near the airfield, including the county correctional facility and sheriff's training academy, were unaffected by the conversion project.

Bergstrom had the location identifier of BSM until Mueller's final closure in 1999 when it took Mueller's IATA code of AUS.