Tennessee native James Barker Lowrey, born in 1823, came to Texas in 1859 with his wife, Elizabeth Hunter, and their children. In 1881 he purchased this 124-acre tract of land. Three years later Lowrey conveyed title to the property to his second son, Nicholas, who died in 1897 and continued his father's farming and cattle raising practices. The homestead was divided for a time, but later was reunited by John S. Hurst, who died in 1943, a prominent Lancaster businessman and Nick Lowrey's son-in-law. The Lowrey-Hurst homestead and farm remained in the same family for more than a century.