DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna pass it right along to you. Now, you might drive past this little two-room house and think, that can't be much of a story. And that right there would be your first mistake of the day.
This dwelling was built by a man named John Kush, right around 1855, and it was put up the way early German settlers in these parts knew how to build — plain, practical, two rooms, and solid enough to still be standing when the twentieth century came rolling through. It originally stood on south Presa Street, which is worth keeping in mind, because this house has done some traveling. But we'll get to that.
First, let's talk about the tenant. In 1895 and 1896, a man named William Sidney Porter took up residence here. Now, if that name doesn't ring a bell, maybe this one will — O.
Henry. That's the pen name Porter would carry to national renown as a short story writer, the kind of renown that outlasts most everything, including the buildings a man lived in. But while he was right here in this little two-room house, he wasn't yet famous.
What he was doing, though, was putting out a weekly humorous newspaper he called The Rolling Stone. Think about that for a second. One man, two rooms, one newspaper, one name the whole country would eventually know.
Then the years moved on, as years do. The house stood, changed hands, held its secrets. And then in 1960 — more than a century after John Kush first built it — the Kush family and the Lone Star Brewing Company moved the structure to this very location.
Two rooms. One writer. A rolling stone that, in the end, came to rest right here.
What the marker says
Typical of the homes of early German settlers, this two-room dwelling was built by John Kush about 1855. It originally stood on south Presa Street. It was occupied in 1895-96 by William Sidney Porter, who gained national renown as the short story writer O. Henry. Here he issued a weekly humourous newspaper, "The Rolling Stone". In 1960 the structure was moved to this location by the Kush Family and the Lone Star Brewing Company.