Austin, Texas, Then and Now
Dear Hyde Park Neighbors,
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Have you ever heard the story of Mirabeau Lamar and his buffalo hunt?
Did you know that large buffalo herds once roamed the grassy plain between
present-day Hyde Park and the Colorado River? Were you aware that your
modern, shaded neighborhood was once a treeless landscape, but before that
a thickly wooded hunting ground for the original Indian inhabitants?
Until a little over a year ago, I knew none of this. Then I stumbled across the tale of Texas Vice President Lamar's 1838 hunting trip on which he shot an enormous buffalo at what is now 8th Street and Congress Avenue in our own city. Buffalo! On Congress Avenue! What must the area have looked like back then? My upcoming book, Austin, Texas Then and Now is the result of my attempt to satisfy my own curiosity. In this book, which will be available toward the end of November, I have paired each of over 100 historic Austin photographs with its modern counterpart shot from precisely the same vantage point. Accompanying text provides historic context and relevant vignettes. Greg Free, local restoration architect and past president of the Heritage Society of Austin, wrote the book's foreword. |
Early in my research, I realized that Hyde Park's status as the city's first
planned suburban neighborhood justified giving it a separate chapter in
the book. Stories about the old State Fairgrounds, the moonlight tower
(the city's first) at 41st and Speedway, Monroe Shipe's streetcar company,
and the nearby State Lunatic Asylum carry historic importance extending
well beyond neighborhood boundaries. Ten historic photographs from
within and around your neighborhood are featured in the Hyde Park chapter.
Sarah and Thad Sitton's fine work in Austin's Hyde park . . .
the first 50 years: 1891-1941 proved an invaluable resource. Excerpted
below (or somewhere in this issue!) is the introduction to the Hyde
Park chapter.
Best Regards,
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