Historic Ferguson House restored to former glory - Temple, TX - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

The house served as the home of James E. and Miriam Ferguson from the time it was built in 1907 until James was elected governor of Texas in 1915. The Fergusons moved back to the house in 1917, after James was impeached.

The Fergusons lived at the house until 1925, when Miriam Ferguson was elected the first woman governor in the United States.

The Ferguson House was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1967, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The two-story house, which is almost 3,000 square feet, had fallen into disrepair and was in danger of falling apart or being torn down when Jim and Linda Ellis of Troy purchased it.

It was restored over an 18-month period by Jim Ellis, a retired homebuilder.

He recalled he was inspired by an article about the house that ran in the Temple Daily Telegram on April 1, 2012.

“The biggest challenge was the foundation,” Jim said. “Getting it level was difficult.

“The house had good bones to it, although the roof was bad. Once we got the foundation, I felt a lot better. The cedar posts were leaning and some were rotting, but the woodwork was in good shape.”

Linda said her husband had to convince her that the project was worthwhile.

“I wasn’t convinced at first,” she said. “There were some days I thought, ‘What are we doing?’ He worked on this six days a week. Saying I had second thoughts would be an understatement. I thought he was out of his mind.

“He came by the house after reading the article, and then he brought me back. He had to talk me into this. It wasn’t anything I wanted to do.”

“The porch was falling off, columns were falling off, there was graffiti on the house.”

When the porch was fixed, she finally began to realize the restoration project would be successful, Linda said.

“It really was beautiful to see it evolve into what it used to be,” she said. “I could finally envision how grand it was going to be.”