Withers & Spauldings served as a dry goods store, general merchandise emporium, cotton, wool, and mohair warehouse, and youth recreation center, and it has been restored to its appearance about 1915-1920. President Johnson gave it to the American people in December 1972. Several buildings in town were built and owned by Lyndon Johnson's ancestor James Polk Johnson or owned by his father Sam E. Johnson Jr., including the old grist mill building next to Withers & Spauldings. Lyndon Johnson also had a hand in getting a hospital, new post office, and a subsidized housing development for his home town.