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Photo of arch leading into Hyde Park
Hyde Park: Life on the Avenues Photo of arch leading into Hyde Park
Photo of arch leading into Hyde Park
Detail from PICA 02628
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Attracted to the new suburb by the recommendation of her friend, former Governor Oran M. Roberts, Elisabet Ney built her studio just south of Waller Creek in 1892. The creek was dammed to form a small lake and provided much pleasure to Ney and her friends who enjoyed rowing to its center or simply listening to the serenade of bullfrogs. Ney entertained frequently. Her guests included several governors of Texas and such visiting dignitaries as William Jennings Bryan, Enrico Caruso and Jan Paderewski, who called her one of the most fascinating women he had ever met.

Photograph of Mrs. Ney's home and studio Elisabet Ney purchased seven acres from Col. Shipe and built her studio, Formosa, in 1892. Ten years later she added a tower to the structure.
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Photograph of young women showing their vintage clothing Loriena Cassens of 4401 Avenue H and Bertha Duesterhoeft dressed in old-fashioned clothing for a costume party about 1925. The Cassens lived across the street from the Ney Museum and kept the key. Loriena often accompanied visitors to the museum, waiting in the basement which still held Ney's dishes, pots, and pans until the visitors were ready to leave.
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Photograph of Mrs. Ney speaking to Mrs. Miller outside the Miller's home Elisabet Ney visits her friends the Millers at their home on Guadalupe about 1905. Clarence Miller was the dean of the law school at the University of Texas at that time.
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Photograph of Mrs. Ney seated at a table with a servant standing beside her Elisabet Ney frequently entertained outdoors. Here she awaits the arrival of University of Texas dean Helen Marr Kirby for tea.
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Photograph of rowboat on Boating on "Lake Ney" behind Ney's studio was a popular pastime. The city ordered it drained for health reasons in 1898 causing a local reporter to lament the disappearance of the "music of the bullfrogs" who inhabited it.
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Photograph of woman standing at entrance to Mrs. Ney's studio grounds One of Elisabet Ney's friends stands at her studio entrance gate made of wire mesh. Wire mesh fences were needed in Hyde Park in the 1890s to keep out loose livestock and stray dogs.
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