Yes, it's a rose bush. It's probably a shoot coming up from the root stock of another rose that was grafted on to it and has died off. Once the graft dies the root variety takes over and grows. Most root stock varieties are once bloomers. That means they only bloom once during the season and only on one year old wood. Because the previous owner cut them to the ground there was no one year old wood to bloom on. If you let it continue to grow it should bloom for you next spring. Most root stocks are very vigorous growers, which is why they're used as root stock, so 10 feet in a season sounds about right. Your root stock is probably one called Dr. Huey. It's a dark red color and blooms for me in mid-June. I would try to put some kind of trellis behind him and tie him to it. If the canes are flexible enough you can bend them down and tie them to the trellis. That will create what are called laterals along the curve of the long cane. It will give you more bloom that way. We usually recommend to people to remove Dr. Huey and plant something else, maybe a repeat bloomer, but since you are new to roses the good Doctor might be a very good way to get your feet wet and learn about roses. He's very hardy and a fast grower and you can experiment on him to learn more about roses. He's a tough cookie and won't mind, lol!