William Sydney Porter — later known as O. Henry — rented this Queen Anne cottage in Austin with his wife Athol and daughter Margaret from 1893 to 1895.
He worked as a bank teller and published a humor weekly called The Rolling Stone. Charges of embezzlement from the bank later sent him to prison, where he began using the name O. Henry.
The cottage was moved to its current site and opened as a museum in 1934.
Timeline
- 1893The Porters rent the cottage.
- 1894Porter starts The Rolling Stone.
- 1934Opens as a museum.
Before the famous pen name, there was a rented cottage and a family trying to make it.
