Manchaca is a census-designated place in Travis County, Texas, located about 12 miles southwest of downtown Austin along the city's southern edge. The community is pronounced "MAN-shak," a name that reflects its origins: it was named for a campsite associated with José Antonio Menchaca, a Tejano army officer who served in the Texas Revolution. A post office first opened in the community in 1851, and the settlement developed around early schools and the rural crossroads that anchored the area's farm and ranch families. Education has deep roots in Manchaca. Early educational efforts included a subscription school in a one-room frame schoolhouse on Onion Creek in the 1870s, and the first public school followed in the early 1880s. The local schools later joined with Oak Hill to form a rural high school district, and in 1967 the Austin Independent School District annexed the Manchaca-Oak Hill district. Today Menchaca Elementary School, named for the Tejano officer, serves the community within Austin ISD. As a new census-designated place for the 2020 census, Manchaca recorded a population of about 2,300. The community has long functioned as a semi-rural residential area at the edge of Austin, and the city's southward growth has brought newer development to its fringes even as older homesteads and larger lots remain. Its position places residents within a short drive of downtown Austin while retaining a lower-density, Hill Country-fringe character. For those seeking space and a relaxed pace without leaving the Austin orbit, Manchaca offers a practical balance of country-flavored living and urban access, anchored by a school and history that predate the surrounding suburban growth.