O. Henry Museum and Marker

O. Henry is diffidently one of the top witters on my personal favorites list. On my trip to this museum and the historic marker in the front yard, I learned some things about the man who gave us "The Gift of the Magi." For example, O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter, was at one point in his life a bank teller at the First National Bank of Austin.  After, money came up missing he was fired eventually charged with embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison, of which he served three years.

Photo at O. Henry House & Museum (Austin, TX) via Wikipedia.  The bank teller in the picture is William Porter (aka O. Henry). The copyright holder grants any entity the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Porter (aka O. Henry was born September 11, 1862, near Greensboro, North Carolina. Despite his time as a bank teller, Henry spent his entire life overspending, drinking and gambeling his money away and constanly asking his friends for money. The museum and historical marker is sandwiched between the fire station (that also contains the Austin Fire Museum) and the Joesph and Susanna Dickinson Hanning Museum.

Home/Museum

photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Hours:
Wednesday-Sunday 12-5

Contact phone:
512-974-1903

Admission:
Free

photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Historic Marker

photo by Kevin Surbaugh

Inscription:
Born in Greensboro, N.C., moved to Texas in 1882, and lived on a ranch near Cortulla. Came to Austin in 1884, and in addition to writing, worked as a pharmacist, musician, draftsman, and bank teller. His first nationally published short story appeared in 1897.

Porter began writing under the name O. Henry during three years spent in prison. The 381 stories published in New York, 1902-10, won him international fame. O. Henry's collected works have been translated into 10 languages.

This mid-1890s home of Porter, his wife Athol, and their daughter, opened as a museum in 1934.

Erected:
1974


Location:
409 East 5th Street, Austin TX 78701 (near 5th and Trinity)


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