Tennessee native James Park Fielder, who died in 1948, moved to Alvarado in Johnson County, Texas, in 1884 after earning a law degree from Vanderbilt University. He farmed near Venus and Dallas, entered banking, and acquired large landholdings. In 1887 he married Mattie Barnes, who died in 1950, and they had four sons. Before settling in Arlington, the family lived in Fort Worth and were charter members of Central Methodist Church, which organized in their home. In 1914 Fielder bought a 215-acre hilltop farm and built this two-story brick house there, surrounded by live oak groves, fruit orchards, and vegetable gardens. For a time the Ku Klux Klan met in the woods behind the house, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Interurban track ran in front of it. Known as the Home on the Hill, the residence became a center for social gatherings of many prominent local citizens. Active in community affairs, Fielder served as an early Arlington councilman, helped organize and served on the original board of the present University of Texas at Arlington, and belonged to the Southern Methodist University Founders Club. Funeral services for both James and Mattie Fielder were held in the home.