DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, there are buildings that leave a mark on a place long after they're gone — and this one, right here on this site in Travis County, was exactly that kind of building. It went up in 1875, during the term of County Judge James W.
Smith. And they didn't just slap it together. The committee overseeing the site and the building read like a roll call of Texas power: Governor E.
M. Pease, Secretary of State C. S.
West, Attorney General N. G. Shelley, Treasurer James H.
Raymond, and legislator George Hancock. When you want something done right, you get the right people in the room — and they certainly did that. What rose from this ground was a massive three-story Victorian limestone structure, fortress-style, with an impressive carved entrance.
The kind of building that made you stand up a little straighter just walking past it. And it had the courts to match — outstanding courts, able judges, a brilliant bar — all of it rising right alongside Texas itself as the state was gaining world renown. Now here's where the story takes a turn worth slowin' down for.
One of the tenants of that fortress-style jail was a man named William Sidney Porter. You might know him better as O. Henry.
He returned to Austin in 1897 — returned, mind you, to be with his dying wife and to face trial on embezzlement charges. Whatever else you want to say about that chapter of his life, those are the facts, and they're heavy ones. The same walls that housed serious courts and serious men of law also held a writer who would go on to leave his own kind of mark on the world.
The building carried on. Time carried on. And then in 1931, things shifted.
The county accepted a block of land in exchange for the cancellation of its 99-year lease on this site. The courthouse towers and jail were removed. State offices moved in — the Game, Fish and Oyster Commission, the Department of Education, the Banking Department.
And the building got a new name. In a public competition, "Walton Building" was chosen — honoring two Waltons at once. One was Izaak Walton, born in 1593, died in 1683, patron of fishermen, a name that fit right in with that Game, Fish and Oyster Commission tenancy.
The other was Wm. M. "Buck" Walton, 1832 to 1915 — adjutant general in Terrell's Confederate Brigade, attorney general of Texas, and a man famed for a colorful law career. Two Waltons, one name, and the people of Texas picked it themselves.
But even limestone meets its end. That massive, impressive, fortress-style Victorian structure — the one that had housed governors' committees and O. Henry's jail cell and state offices and a name chosen by the public — was razed in 1964.
Gone. Just like that. And what's left is this marker, and the story it carries, and now this road stretching on ahead of you.
What the marker says
Built 1875 in term of County Judge James W. Smith. Former state officials on committees for site and building include Governor E.M. Pease, Secretary of State C.S. West, Attorney General N.G. Shelley, Treasurer James H. Raymond and legislator George Hancock. In era when Texas was gaining world renown, home of outstanding courts, able judges, brilliant bar, one tenant of its fortress-style jail was author William Sidney Porter (O. Henry), after his return to Austin in 1897 to be with his dying wife and face trial on embezzlement charges. In 1931 the county accepted a block of land in exchange for cancellation of its 99-year lease on this site. Courthouse towers and jail were removed. State offices moved in – Game, Fish and Oyster Commission, Department of Education, Banking Department. In public competition for a name, “Walton Building” was chosen for fishermen’s patron Izaak Walton (1593-1683) and for Wm. M. “Buck” Walton (1832-1915), adjutant general in Terrell’s Confederate Brigade, attorney general of Texas, famed for a colorful law career. The massive 3-story Victorian limestone structure with impressive carved entrance was razed in 1964. (1965)