Shortly after Kyle, Texas was founded in 1880, Ms. Porter’s paternal grandmother built a three-room house on Center Street. Following his wife’s death in 1892, Porter’s father and his four children moved into the house where Katherine Anne Porter, born in 1890, lived until 1902.
History
Beginnings
Purchase and Renovation
In 1997, Kyle residents, the Austin Community Foundation, the Lower Colorado River Authority, the Clayton Fund and the Burdine Johnson Foundation purchased Porter’s childhood home. Afterward, Bill Johnson and the Burdine Johnson Foundation funded renovations according to national landmark standards. Restoration was completed in April, 2000.
Readers and Writers
A gift from the “Angel” Foundation, established by Curt Engelhorn, a nephew of Katherine Anne Porter’s childhood friend, Erna Schlemmer, initially funded the operation of the Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center. From 2002-2004 the Burdine Johnson Foundation funded the Katherine Anne Porter Young Writers program. Subsequently, an annual gift from the Burdine Johnson Foundation expanded the Visiting Writers Series, which has brought to the Center writers such as Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx—the first writer to read at the Center—as well as National Book Award winners Tim O’Brien and Robert Stone, Booker Prize winners Roddy Doyle and Marlon James, Pulitzer Prize winners Richard Ford, Tyehimba Jess, Stephen Dunn and Jericho Brown, and U.S. Poet Laureates Robert Haas, Charles Simic, Ada Limón and Joy Harjo. Each year six to eight writers read at the Center. Interviews with each author are made available in Porter House Review, the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Texas State University’s online journal.
The House Today
In 2002 the house was designated a National Literary Landmark. In 2006, due to the efforts of Kate Johnson, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, Texas State University leases the house as part of a cooperative project between Texas State and Preservation Associates, Inc. Since 2010 the Burdine Johnson Foundation has funded all events at the Center, its daily operation and its writer-in-residence.
Texas State Pres. Jerome Supple
Read the remarks from President Jerome Supple at the Katherine Anne Porter House
Laura Bush's Remarks
Read Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the Katherine Anne Porter House Dedication
Courting Miss Porter
Read the story of the restoration of the Katherine Anne Porter House