Openheimer-Montgomery Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, on the corner here in Travis County, there stands a building with two names on it, and friend, both of those names have a story worth hearing. The Openheimer-Montgomery Building went up in 1894, and the man it was built for was no small figure.

Louis Openheimer, born in 1858 and gone by 1906, carried three titles that don't often travel together: Texas military leader, business leader, and civil leader, all in one. That's a lot of hat for one man to wear. The building designed and constructed for him was the work of John McDonald, and here's where the story gets a little richer, because McDonald was no ordinary contractor.

He was, at the time, serving as Mayor of Austin, a position he held from 1889 to 1895. So Austin's own mayor drew up the plans and put up the walls. That is a thing.

Now, the building McDonald raised for Openheimer is what you'd call Queen Anne commercial style, and it wears that style proudly. Look up at the second story and you'll see bay windows pushing out toward the street, held aloft by Victorian jigsawn brackets, the kind of decorative woodwork that took real patience and a real steady hand. It was built to be noticed, and noticed it has been.

But here's where the tale takes its most unexpected turn. In 1899, the building was sold. Sold to the trustee for a twelve-year-old girl named Fannie Montgomery.

Twelve years old. And just like that, this proud Queen Anne commercial structure, mayor-built and military-leader-commissioned, became part of the estate of a child. The building outlasted them all, standing right here in Travis County, carrying both names forward across the years.

Some structures just have a way of collecting stories, and this one started early.

What the marker says

This structure was built in 1894 for Texas military, business, and civil leader Louis Openheimer (1858-1906. Designed and constructed by John McDonald, a prominent citizen who served as Austin's Mayor from 1889-1895, the building was sold in 1899 to the trustee for 12-year-old Fannie Montgomery and became part of her estate. The Queen Anne commercial structure features projecting second-story bay windows supported by Victorian jigsawn brackets. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983