Born in the Spanish town of Béxar, José Antonio Navarro’s life (1795-1871) and career spanned four distinct periods of Texas history: Spanish, Mexican, the Republic of Texas, and the United States. A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, a writer of the Texas State Constitution, and the namesake of Navarro County, he was a champion of civil rights for Hispanics.

The Navarro complex contains three structures: the house, which dates to the 1850s; a kitchen, constructed in the 1830s; and a two-story office building/commercial space, also from the 1850s.