German immigrant Fred Muehlhause, Sr. arrived in Texas in 1885. He married Louise Albrecht in 1892, and later that year the couple moved to a home adjacent to this homesite. A craftsman shoemaker and repairman, Muehlhause established the Belton Shoe Shop in the city's downtown business district in 1906, became active in community affairs, earned respect as a civic leader, and was elected Belton city alderman in 1907. Prominent Belton builder James M. Scott constructed this residence in 1908 using written specifications provided by Fred Muehlhause. The house exhibits elements of the Queen Anne architectural style, including a hipped roof with lower cross gables, a wraparound porch, a bay window, hipped dormers facing east, south, and west, and shingled gable ends. Water for domestic purposes came from an 18-foot-deep spring-fed cistern lined with limestone blocks just to the rear of the house. Two of the Muehlhauses' seven children eventually lived in homes built by their father on nearby lots along this avenue. This house and its outbuildings, including a carriage house, wash house, and smoke house, remained in the Muehlhause family until 1992.