Robert Valentine Muir, an early resident of Brownville, was born in Scotland in 1827, came to America in 1835, and moved to Nebraska in 1856 as treasurer for the Nebraska Settlement Company. He operated a sawmill, flour business, and ferry, was involved in real estate, and published the Nebraska Advertiser. Active in public life, he was for years a key figure in the Prohibition Party of Nebraska and ran for governor as its candidate. He died in 1917. During 1868-1870, he erected one of Nebraska's most elegant early homes, built of native Nebraska brick in the Italianate style. Its butternut, bird's-eye maple, and black walnut paneling was made from native woods cut in Muir's own sawmill across the river in Missouri, and the house has been restored by Mrs. Harold D. LeMar.