Modern Times Lecture Series | From Cotulla to Capital City: O. Henry in the 1880s

$10 General Admission | $5 Student | Free for NCHM Members
Available in person and online!

When former ranch hand and future short story writer Will Porter stepped off the train into the rapidly changing Austin of the 1880s, his future, like that of the city itself, was uncertain. In the next few years, he would reinvent himself time and time again—from reticent country boy to dashing man-about-town, from pharmacist to bookkeeper to musician to artist.

His most startling reinvention—from convict to short story master O. Henry—was still around the corner. But his observations of the people and places of Texas in his first decade here echo through his stories and provide a glimpse into a turbulent and transformational decade.

The lecture begins at 2:30pm with doors opening at 2:00pm. All registrants will receive an email link with the option to attend online through Zoom. Free parking is available behind the Neill-Cochran House Museum, off 23rd St.