Alta Loma was laid out in 1893 by the Alta Loma Improvement and Investment Company along the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe rail line on what is said to be the highest point in Galveston County, and the new community soon attracted families and businesses including the Alta Loma Lumber Company purchased by Henry Miller. In 1896, Miller and his wife, Effie Shaw, bought this site and built their home, sold it that same year, and regained ownership by 1910 after the house survived the disastrous 1900 hurricane. The residence changed hands several times between 1915 and 1930, when Albert F. Brautigam bought it and moved his family there. A carpenter, Brautigam worked at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and fashioned artificial limbs for patients. The home remained in the Brautigam family until 1996. It largely retains its original appearance, though in the 1930s the Brautigam family lowered the house about five feet; originally built six feet above grade, it was probably elevated to avoid floodwaters. Its Queen Anne design, with a modified L-plan and a prominent projecting bay beneath a front-facing gable, makes it an important link to late 19th-century residential architecture in Texas and to the history of the Alta Loma community.