Kone-Cliett House

Among the fine homes built on the bluff created by the Balcones Fault is the Kone-Cliett House, rebuilt in 1902 in a design held over from the Victorian period. Hallmarks of its style are the lavish interior details, asymmetrical plan, and airy double porch. Among the first owner's accomplishments were his roles as County Judge and State Commissioner of Agriculture.

Edward R. Kone (born 1848) came with his family from Montgomery, Alabama, to Stringtown, Hays County, in 1851. He worked as a store clerk and cattle driver before studying law at Coronal Institute. Before he was 21 years old or licensed to practice, Kone had been appointed county attorney. During Reconstruction, he briefly served as sheriff. In 1872, he married Lucinda Martin, who gave him four daughters. While County Judge, a position he filled from 1878 to 1890, and from 1894 to 1908, he and his wife acquired the subject property in 1881. They built their first home here, probably in 1890. In 1896, he became Hays County's first superintendent of education. Also during this period, he served for two years as a special district judge.

January 18, 1902, at least part of the Kone House burned, as irony would have it, while a firemen's benefit party was in full swing across town. Research has not revealed how much of the house burned, and it was not mentioned in a list of well-remembered fires. Perhaps only the rear had to be rebuilt. At any rate, the Kones did rebuild immediately and remained on the property for several years more.

Gov. T.M. Campbell appointed Kone Commissioner of Agriculture in 1908. From 1920 until he died in 1933 Kone was Corporation Judge for the City of Austin, where he had lived since about 1911.

The property passed in 1914 to Oran W. Cliett, owner and operator of Cliett Cotton Breeding Farms and, after 1933, postmaster. The present owner's family acquired it in 1956.