O. Henry House

Seemingly just an ordinary Queen Anne-style cottage, the O. Henry Museum is located just a short walk from Austin’s modern glass convention center and downtown core. The cream-colored bungalow resembles many of the city’s cozy historic homes, but its claim to fame is that a famous – or should we say infamous? – writer once lived here.

William Sidney Porter, best known as the short story author O. Henry, rented this home during the late 1800s, and lived here with his wife, Athol, and their daughter, Margaret. Although he didn’t become a full-time writer until the family moved to Houston, the city of Austin lays claim to Porter as a local author due to his work at the Texas General Land Office and the First National Bank of Austin, both of which inspired some of his short fiction.

In fact, Porter began his writing career as a self-publisher, producing the humorous paper “The Rolling Stone” during his time in Austin. At least three of his stories have roots in the state’s capital, including “Bexar Scrip No. 2692,” “Georgia’s Ruling,” and perhaps his most famous story of all, “Gifts of the Magi.” Visitors to the museum can view two wicker chairs that supposedly inspired his tale of Christmas magic and ill-fated gift-giving: Porter’s wife, Athol, bought the chairs as a gift to help decorate their home, but apparently used money the author had secretly been planning to use for the purchase of tickets to the World’s Fair.

Unfortunately for Porter, his life in Austin was not necessary a happy time. He was accused of embezzling money from the bank where he’d worked, after he’d moved to Houston, and was recalled to the city in 1896 on criminal charges. Though he protested his innocence, he fled to Honduras to escape conviction and lived there for 6 months. Despite being acquitted for lack of evidence, Porter ultimately spent three years in an Ohio prison for the crime.

In addition to tours of the residence, the O. Henry House hosts an annual Pun-Off each May, challenging limber wordsmiths to outwit one another in a battle of words, with two main challenges: “Punniest of Show,” featuring 90-second prepared pieces, and “PunSlingers,” offering head-to-head punning on topics assigned at random. An MVP, or Most Viable Punster, award is also given to the punniest of them all, as voted by each of the year’s contestants.