Henry Overholser built the Overholser Mansion in 1903 on farmland well away from the city center, Oklahoma City's first mansion. It was raised by Henry Overholser — whom many consider the “father of Oklahoma City” — and his socialite wife Anna Ione Murphy Overholser, and it is regarded as Oklahoma City’s first mansion. Overholser bought the land in 1901 for the purpose of building a residence; when the house rose it still stood away from the city center, surrounded by farmland.
Henry Overholser died in 1915, and the house stayed close to family life: their daughter Henry Ione Overholser, born in 1905, married David Perry in 1926 and lived in the mansion with Mrs. Overholser until her mother’s death in 1940. Mrs. Overholser transferred ownership to Henry Ione in 1937. After Henry Ione’s death in 1959, the property passed to David Perry, who sold the mansion and its furnishings to the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Historical Preservation Inc. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, later donated to the State of Oklahoma and became a museum, with the Oklahoma Historical Society managing the property from 1982.
Farmland once ringed this house; today the streets of Heritage Hills do.