The Robert Irwin Howard Museum is located in Callahan County, Texas. It is the type of house-museum where the writer Robert Howard actually lived. The house was transferred to the Callahan County National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
History
The white-colored T-shaped house was built by the couple J. M. Coffman in 1919. Dr. Isaac M. Howard and his wife Esther Irvin Howard purchased the house almost immediately after it was built. Their son Robert Howard was a teenager when he moved in. The back porch and bathroom were built by Isaac Howard. Robert Howard committed suicide in a car on the highway near the house. His father sold the house to Nancy Elizabeth Grisham in 1944.
The building was purchased by Project Pride, a local non-profit organization. The organization restored the house to match the period of the home’s first owners. After the 1994 tornado, Project Pride repaired damaged areas of the house. In addition, Project Pride built a pavilion addition to facilitate visitor activities. That same year, Project Pride added the house museum as an official Cross Plains historic property.
The Robert E. Howard Press Association, an amateur organization, and the nonprofit Robert H. Howard Foundation sponsor an annual event held in June to celebrate Robert Howard’s birthday and preserve his legacy. During the June exhibit, the local library extends its hours of operation so that visitors can become more familiar with Howard’s work and materials about him.
Museum hours are by appointment only, except for the annual June event.