Kone-Cliett House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. The Kone-Cliett House, out there on a bluff of the Balcones Fault in Hays County. Now, before we even get to the house, let's talk about the man who put it there.

Edward Reeves Kone. Born in 1848, died in 1933. And in between those two years, the man stayed busy.

Starting back in the 1860s, he served Hays County as attorney, as sheriff, as judge, and as education superintendent. You want to run the county? Edward Kone had already done it.

Every way there was. Then, as if county life had grown a little too familiar, he stepped onto a bigger stage. From 1908 to 1914, he served as the state agriculture commissioner.

The whole state of Texas. That's Edward Reeves Kone for you. In 1881, he bought this land, right up on that bluff of the Balcones Fault.

And somewhere around 1890, he built his house on it. A derivative of the Queen Anne style, the marker says, and that phrase carries weight. Not strictly by the book, but shaped by it.

It had character. Like the man himself. Now, 1914 is an interesting year in this story.

That's the same year Kone's run as state agriculture commissioner came to a close. And that same year, the Kone family sold the house. The buyer was a man named Oran W.

Cliett, born in 1882, died in 1959. Cotton grower. And later, postmaster.

Oran Cliett moved into that house on the bluff, and he stayed. He lived there until 1958. One year shy of the end of his life, he finally left the place.

So next time you find yourself out in Hays County, looking up at a house on a bluff of the Balcones Fault, know that you're looking at a house that held two families, two lives, two whole chapters of Texas. And it's still standing to tell it.

What the marker says

Edward Reeves Kone (1848-1933) served from the 1860s as Hays County attorney, sheriff, judge, and education superintendent, and from 1908 to 1914 as state agriculture commissioner. He bought this land on a bluff of the Balcones Fault in 1881 and built his house, a derivative of the Queen Anne style, about 1890. The Kone family sold the house in 1914 to cotton grower and later postmaster Oran W. Cliett (1882-1959), who lived here until 1958. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986