The area was originally part of a 365-acre (148 ha) tract of land belonging to Texas Governor Elisha Pease, and in 1871 was sold to Charles Clark, a freedman who would start the community that now bears his name.

Just a mile west of Austin, Clarksville soon became a de facto part of the city, especially when the International-Great Northern Railroad laid tracks nearby in the 1870s.

[3] However, early in the twentieth century developers began to realize the land value of Clarksville, which lay near growing downtown Austin.

Residents of Clarksville began requesting Austin city funds for the improvement and preservation in 1964, but dirt streets crossed the area until 1975, and a creek carrying sewage periodically flooded homes.

In 1976 the Austin City Council approved the use of $100,000 from a federal housing and community-development grant to pave streets permanently, improve drainage, and expand the neighborhood playground.

The same year Clarksville residents and supporters defeated a plan to build a thoroughfare through the community connecting Interstate 35 and the MoPac Expressway.