It was six o’clock on Friday morning, at least 15 minutes before dawn over Texas’ capital city, and scores of vehicles had already crowded into the parking lot at Barton Springs Pool, a few miles — and in some ways, an entire world — from the lighted skyscrapers of downtown. Jeremy Baumann, a local health care worker, had already been in the water for an hour, getting in his daily laps. When Austinites talk about Barton Springs, they do so in almost spiritual terms. “It’s very much a sacred place,” said Kim McKnight, manager of historic preservation and tourism for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. “I recognize not everybody goes there, but for those who do they can’t imagine life without it.”

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Persons: Jeremy Baumann, ”, Kim McKnight, “ Organizations: city’s, Recreation Department Locations: Texas, Barton Springs, city’s Parks