Kyle, Texas (unnamed copywriting)

Kyle, Texas, a small suburb of Austin, has a surprising amount of notable historical figures claiming it as their home. Despite being a town with only 5314 residents as of the last census count, Kyle can boast a Rhodes scholar, a professional baseball player, an international ambassador, and a Pulitzer prize-winning author.

The small town of Kyle was formed originally as a stopping off point for the International-Great Northern Railroad line. Its proximity to the line made it an ideal spot to start a small general store in town. In 1881 Capt. Fergus Kyle founded the small community. The town was named after him, and he later became a state legislator.

In the early 1900s, a local author, Katherine Anne Porter, began her writing career. She jumped from field to field throughout her career, acting as a journalist, short story writer, and eventually an activist, but is best known for her collection of short stories, The Collected Stories, which he wrote in 1966, and which would later go on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

C. C. "Tex" Hughson, another area resident, started his baseball career in the small town of Kyle, Texas, playing for the high school team. He showed great talent baseball, specifically pitching. Hughson would later go on to pitch in the major leagues for the Boston Red Sox.

The small town is home to many other local celebrities, some of which even branch outside of the sphere of its influence. Terrell Sledge, the US ambassador called Kyle his home, and the composer Fitzhugh Andrews was also a resident.

The town is proud of its heritage of notable figures, especially of Porter. Her former home has been converted to a writer' s retreat, and can be visited at any time and used by writers with appointment.

Another notable fact about the history of Kyle, Texas is one of their progressive nature. In early 1940s, when the rest of the nation was strictly adhering to the divide between men and women, Kyle not only had an all woman government, but was the only city in the state to have one.

Like most of Austin's surrounding suburbs, Kyle has been largely unaffected by the economic decline in housing crisis. Unlike the majority of the rest of the country, during this past recession, Kyle has actually seen an increase in housing values. For the majority of the years 2007 and 2008, the average home price in Kyle solidly hovered around the $135,000 mark. However, the last quarter of 2009, the average home price actually increased to the $165,000 mark.