The Elisabet Ney Museum was established in 1911 in what was once Elisabet Ney’s Formosa studio in Hyde Park. Today, the museum houses the largest collection of works by Ney. Her sculptures can be found at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Statuary Hall in Washington D.C.. In 1892, she was commissioned to sculpt life-size marble statues of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, both of which are on display at the Texas State Capitol here in Austin.

As a child, Ney assisted her father, Johann Adam Ney, who made a living as a stone carver. This lead her to develop a passion for the arts, and when her parents opposed her decision to become a sculptor, she went on a weeks-long hunger strike. They finally relented and she became the first female sculpture student at the Munich Academy of Art in 1852.