When the City of Austin was first surveyed, the first hill north of the Colorado River was dedicated to the state capitol. The second hill north of the river was named "College Hill."
On Jan 26, 1838, the legislature passed an act entitled "An Act appropriating certain lands for a general system of education" which set aside 50 leagues of land (221,420 acres). (FYI - The University of Texas was established by the legislature on Feb 10, 1858. It was organized by the legislature in 1881 and opened its doors in 1883.) Of this land, 40 acres were set aside for the establishment and maintenance of an institution of higher education. These 40 acres surrounded College Hill. The original 40 acres were bounded by Guadalupe, Speedway, 24th St and 21st St. (Austin was officially chartered in 1839. The official designation of College Hill and the borders of the original 40 acres would have been officially established when the city was chartered. The deed to the lands wasn't passed to the University until 1881)
The February 10, 1858 act that established the University of Texas also established the University endowment of $100,000 and set forth the designation of the first University lands. On February 11, 1858, the legislature granted lands to the Galveston and Brazos Navigation Company for the establishment of a railroad. The lands granted were in a section by section (one square mile) checkerboard pattern. The lands not granted to the railroad were to be designated as University lands. It was the duty of the Commissioner of the General Land Office to officially make the designation of which lands would be University lands. The Commissioner of the GLO never got around to making the proper designation by the time the Civil War broke out.
During the Civil War, the endowment was invested in confederate debt. By 1865, the same endowment that today is valued at over $14 billion in investments plus over 2 million of acres of land was valued at $0.57. Because the legislature effectively squandered the university's endowment, one million of acres of land were set aside in west Texas to fund the endowment. Technically, the 41st acre of the University of Texas would be out there (a second one million acres was added after the Texas and Pacific Railroad returned lands they were granted to build a railroad, but determined the land was so worthless as to not even be worth the cost of surveying). As for the first acre of land added to the original lands on College Hill, the university first expanded east of Speedway, so the 41st acre on College Hill would be over by Gregory Gym.
This pdf has some of the original maps and a picture of the first expansion across Speedway.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/campusmasterplan/pdf/masterplan-3-spd.pdf
