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This fairy tale romance began in the high Himalayas near the fabled city of Kathmandu, Nepal.
The final chapters were recorded in Thistle Hill, the stately mansion that has been preserved as a memorial to the cattle barons of Texas.
In the fall of 1901 Electra Waggoner was touring in the Himalayan mountains and met Albert B. Wharton of Philadelphia. Returning to her home in Decatur, Texas, she soon announced her engagement to the Philadelphian. The wedding was June 10, 1902. After a honeymoon in Europe they returned. They bought the property on Pennsylvania Avenue from Zane Cetti. Tom Waggoner commissioned the distinguished architects, Sanguinet and Staats who designed and built the eighteen-room red brick structure in the current Colonial Revival style.
Built at a cost of $40,000.00 it was bought by Winfield Scott for $90,000.00 in 1911 and he spent another $100,000.00 furnishing and landscaping the home. When it was determined that this magnificent home should be preserved for history a quarter of a million dollars was needed to buy it. This, however, did not include the costs of renovating the place to make it livable after years of neglect.
Between the expensive imported limestone columns of this home passed some of the most powerful and wealthy people of Texas. Entertainment within these walls was lavish and well-trained servants contributed to the impressive parties held by the people, brought together by the common interests of the cattle kingdoms of seventy years ago.
This book is a history of these events, the people who lived them and the joys and the tragedies they experienced. Finally, the home and the grandeur were abandoned and the property was sold to the Girl’s Service League. Eventually they obtained other quarters and the property began to fall into decay.
Now, through the interest of people who have a feeling for the past and the need to preserve the great things of yesterday, the property has been saved. It is being renovated and is a museum worthy of its history and its background. This is the story of how all that came about.
This fairy tale romance began in the high Himalayas near the fabled city of Kathmandu, Nepal.
The final chapters were recorded in Thistle Hill, the stately mansion that has been preserved as a memorial to the cattle barons of Texas.
In the fall of 1901 Electra Waggoner was touring in the Himalayan mountains and met Albert B. Wharton of Philadelphia. Returning to her home in Decatur, Texas, she soon announced her engagement to the Philadelphian. The wedding was June 10, 1902. After a honeymoon in Europe they returned. They bought the property on Pennsylvania Avenue from Zane Cetti. Tom Waggoner commissioned the distinguished architects, Sanguinet and Staats who designed and built the eighteen-room red brick structure in the current Colonial Revival style.
Built at a cost of $40,000.00 it was bought by Winfield Scott for $90,000.00 in 1911 and he spent another $100,000.00 furnishing and landscaping the home. When it was determined that this magnificent home should be preserved for history a quarter of a million dollars was needed to buy it. This, however, did not include the costs of renovating the place to make it livable after years of neglect.
Between the expensive imported limestone columns of this home passed some of the most powerful and wealthy people of Texas. Entertainment within these walls was lavish and well-trained servants contributed to the impressive parties held by the people, brought together by the common interests of the cattle kingdoms of seventy years ago.
This book is a history of these events, the people who lived them and the joys and the tragedies they experienced. Finally, the home and the grandeur were abandoned and the property was sold to the Girl’s Service League. Eventually they obtained other quarters and the property began to fall into decay.
Now, through the interest of people who have a feeling for the past and the need to preserve the great things of yesterday, the property has been saved. It is being renovated and is a museum worthy of its history and its background. This is the story of how all that came about.