TexasFreeway

Preserving the travel history of Texas.

AUSTIN / THE MAP ARCHIVE

Hyde Park and Austin Dam map, circa 1890–1895

The reverse side brings Hyde Park into focus, down to individual lots and blocks. Below the subdivision, an illustration of the Austin Dam and lake offers another attraction. Together, the two drawings show how promoters presented a new neighborhood and a city investing in electric power.

Explore the map

THE MAP AT A GLANCE

A closer look
at 1890–1895 · reverse.

Dates, details and the people behind the drawing.

TSLAC date
1890-1895 c

TSLAC records the paired object as circa 1890-1895; the GLO record for Map of Hyde Park lists 1895 in brackets.

Compiler/cartographer
Augustus Koch

The GLO record identifies Augustus Koch as compiler for the Hyde Park map; the local wrapper and TSLAC record identify Koch as cartographer for the paired object.

Main reverse map
Hyde Park

TSLAC describes the reverse side as showing streets, lots, blocks, lakes and the park for Hyde Park and Hyde Park Addition.

Second reverse inset
Dam & lake

TSLAC identifies the second reverse-side inset as an illustration of the lake, dam, hills and railroads in the vicinity.

Now explore Austin in 1890–1895 · reverseZoom in to find streets, landmarks and familiar places.
EXPLORE THE DETAILS

1890–1895 · reverse · Austin

Partial View of Austin (Back), 1890-1895; features described in Look closer below
Open the complete map image

The complete map is also available as a single image.

Courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Open full-size map image (opens in a new tab) ↗3,400 × 4,920 pixels · JPG · 4.4 MB

LOOK CLOSER / EDITORIAL NOTES

Find it on the map.

  1. Hyde Park becomes lots and blocks

    Most of the sheet is a plan of Hyde Park and Hyde Park Addition. Streets, blocks and lot lines fill the page, turning the distant label from the front view into a property map you could actually use to point at a parcel.

  2. The park interrupts the grid

    On the left side, curving drives, trees and lake shapes break away from the rectangular lots. That contrast is the sales pitch in miniature: orderly subdivision on one side, pastoral scenery on the other.

  3. The dam scene sits below the subdivision

    The lower-left illustration shows the City Dam and Lake with water, hills, structures and rail lines compressed into a scenic inset. It sits under the Hyde Park map like another reason to believe Austin was about to grow.

Back to the map ↑

AUSTIN / HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The reverse side maps a suburb and pictures the dam

The back of the sheet explains why the front view gives Hyde Park such a prominent place on the horizon. The City of Austin says Hyde Park was platted in 1891 by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Land and Town Co. and marketed under Monroe Martin Shipe as an affluent suburb. The same city history notes that Shipe's streetcar line, completed in 1891, gave the area reliable transportation to downtown. The reverse map turns that larger story into blocks, lots, streets, parkland and lakes.

The dam inset should be read as illustration, not as the evidence for when the project was built. Austin Energy records that the Austin Dam was completed in 1893, with Lake McDonald forming behind it; Austin Water notes the dam failed catastrophically on April 7, 1900. Those dates make the sheet more interesting, because the reverse side preserves the promotional moment: Hyde Park laid out above, the dam and lake pictured below, and Austin still expecting both to help carry the city forward.

PRESERVED FROM THE HISTORICAL WEBSITE

Partial View of Austin (Back), 1890-1895

Created 09-July-2004

Cartographer: Koch, Augustus

Description: Birdseye view showing streets, public and private buildings and residences, railroad yards, trolley car lines, rivers, creeks, and territory surrounding the city. Illustrations of buildings, carriages, trees, and other topographic features. Reverse side has the following insets: 1) Map of Hyde Park and Hyde Park Addition, showing streets, lots, blocks, lakes, and the park; 2) The City Dam and Lake, which is an illustration of the lake, dam, hills, and railroads in the vicinity.

Courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Sources & further reading

New editorial notes accompany the preserved archive description. The viewer uses the original map tiles; the full-size JPG assembles those tiles into one image.