This substantial, two-story frame house built for merchant and property owner Cruse, has two rooms each side of a central hall and a two-level gallery across the front. Jigsaw trim ornaments the beams and posts of the gallery to

create a Queen Anne character. Large gabled dormers on each side of the house project from the hipped roof. Threatened with demolition to make room for a motel, the house was purchased by former Texas governor Alan Shivers in 1963 and moved one block north to its present location. New York City interior designer Melanie Kahane and Associates converted it into a museum for the historic records and personal memorabilia of Shivers’s career. A compatible, one-story wing was added to the rear and north side for the county library.