Texas has known its share of colorful politicians. Among the most memorable are James E. “Pa” Ferguson and Miriam A. “Ma” Ferguson, who both served as governor of Texas in the early part of the twentieth century. Each made history along the way. (She was the first woman elected to the office; he was the first one removed via impeachment.) But prior to the couple’s time in the Governor’s Mansion, they maintained a homestead in Temple. And, if you’re either a Texas history buff looking for an extremely large and unique collectible or just, say, somebody who wants to buy a house in the Central Texas city, we’d like to inform you that the Ferguson Home, as the realtor’s listing says it’s termed in the community, is for sale.
What does a 3,012-square-foot historical artifact that also includes hardwood floors and a detached garage cost? The property is currently listed at $440,000 (down from the original price of $499,500), which is actually pretty reasonable these days. Other houses with similar attributes in the same part of town range from $385,000 to $464,900, and there is no evidence that any of Texas’s other 46 governors spent so much as a single night in any of them.
If you’re less interested in collecting a 117-year-old piece of Texana that sits on a .38-acre lot and more interested in owning a house with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths in a city that sits between Austin and Waco on Interstate 35, you might find that this place seems pretty nice. The exterior facade is fairly grand, befitting the stature that its first owners would ultimately enjoy. Two impressive wraparound porches—one on the ground level and one on the second floor—provide ample space for sipping sweet tea on a hot summer day, while the turret on its corner adds a pop of visual interest and a cozy, sunlit space that would probably make for a nice reading nook. But if you buy it, you can do whatever you want with that space; it’s really none of our business. Get a ferret and let it live there if you want! It’s your life.
The home, which is on both the National Register of Historic Places and the registry of the Texas Historical Commission, has two living areas and a formal dining room. Those will come in handy when you’re entertaining your fellow Texana enthusiasts. The large kitchen also has a breakfast area for less extravagant meals, and connecting the two spaces is a butler’s pantry, which you might use to store your fine silver and china or, again, to keep a ferret.
In addition to the sizable main house, the property includes a separate three-car garage and two photos of the house’s historic first residents. You can proudly show these off to other Texas history buffs or, you know, just throw them in the garbage. Would Pa Ferguson approve? Who cares? He was impeached and disgraced, and maintained his grip on power only by orchestrating his wife’s political rise. Really, what we’re saying is it’s up to you how much you care about the historic nature of the house. Either way, it seems like a pretty nice house. One thing you can be assured of is that the spectral apparitions of Ma and Pa Ferguson will not be watching and judging your choices with disapproval—ghosts aren’t real.
