Built in 1859 using enslaved labor, Ashton Villa served as Confederate and then Union military headquarters during the Civil War before becoming, in 1979, the site of Galveston's modern annual Juneteenth commemoration, organized by former city manager Doug Matthews and State Representative Al Edwards. Although a persistent local legend holds that General Order No. 3 was read from the home's iron balcony, historians have found no contemporary evidence supporting that claim; the actual reading took place at the nearby Osterman Building. In 2006 the city dedicated a nine-foot bronze statue of Edwards, known as The Legislator, on the grounds, and the property's carriage house has held a permanent Juneteenth history exhibit since 2022.