Built in 1830 by Nicholas Adolphus Sterne, a prominent merchant and Texas revolution leader, the house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the oldest structure still standing on its original site in Nacogdoches, Texas. Sam Houston was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church here, because Mexico required landholders to be Catholic. Guests in the home included Thomas J. Rusk and Davy Crockett, and a company of New Orleans Greys who bivouacked here in 1835 on their way to Goliad and the Alamo.

Mrs. Eva Catherine Sterne sold the house to Mr. Joseph Von der Hoya in 1869. Only two families owned the home before it was gifted to the city in 1958. The collections in the museum include Hoya objects from the Victorian Age as well as objects from the Empire period when the Sternes' owned the home. A small reference library is also part of the collection and is still used by visitors looking for information on local and Texas history, and genealogy.