The Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center located at 508 Center Street in Kyle, Texas was the author's childhood home from 1892-1901.

click for a larger image of the KAP House

Shortly after Kyle was founded in 1880, Ms. Porter's paternal grandmother built the three-room house on Center Street after the death of her husband (Katherine Anne Porter's grandfather), Asbury Porter.

In 1892, Katherine Anne Porter's father, Harrison, moved into his mother's home with his four children, following the death of his wife, Mary Alice ( Katherine Anne Porter's mother). The residence served as the home for the widower and his children until after the death of Grandma "Cat" in October of 1901.

In April 2000, restoration of the author's childhood home was completed. Many citizens, the Austin Community Foundation, the Lower Colorado River Authority, the Clayton Fund, and others contributed to the purchase of the property.

But it was Bill Johnson and the Burdine Johnson Foundation that funded the historically correct and extensive renovations and landscape architecture necessary to complete the project. Texas State University leases the house as part of a cooperative project between Texas State and the Hays County Preservation Associates.