Elizabeth Cudahy Nelson (1867-1948) was the oldest child of Michael Cudahy, the pork and beef tycoon who bought this land in 1893 for his stockyards but wound up subdividing it in 1907, naming streets for his daughters in the process. (See also Cecilia and Clara streets.) Elizabeth Julia Cudahy was born in Milwaukee and raised in Chicago. In 1888, she married William Paul Nelson (1850-1932), owner of a wallpaper and home decor company. Their Chicago mansion, built in 1916-1917, still stands (as condos), but in 1926 they set up an 11 acre estate in Montecito, CA and dubbed it “Edgewylde”. (It appears that the estate – at least part of it – has been owned by Law & Order creator Dick Wolf since the 1990s.) The childfree Nelsons divided their time between Montecito, where Elizabeth was renowned for her chrysanthemums, and a posh apartment on NYC’s 5th Ave.
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