Rio Grande City, TX (KRGV) — Rio Grande City is taking over a historic building that needs repairs before it can reopen to the public.

The Robert E. Lee House is currently closed due to safety concerns. The steps on the front porch, parts of the roof, the flooring inside and the air conditioning all need to be fixed.

The city says those issues created a safety hazard and led to a pause on the trolley tour that brought visitors to the house.

The house was built in 1848, 14 years before Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate Army. It served as visiting quarters for troops, including Lee.

"Robert E. Lee came to Fort Ringgold twice to do investigations. He was never stationed here. He was not commanding, so the house was left for him. He did his privacy to do his notes," Rio Grande City Historian Rosbell Barrera said.

Barrera said the history is part of what makes the house an attraction.

"If you give the name Robert E. Lee, it becomes popular and famous and it is an attraction, so people want to see the role he played before he became a Confederate officer," Barrera said.

The house sat abandoned for a few years before Rio Grande City Historian Maria Ramos says two Rio Grande City women helped turn it into a museum.

"They were people who saw a future in it; Josie Guerra and Adelina Villarreal asked for a grant and the grant was used to renovate the Lee House," Ramos said.

The building was owned by Rio Grande City Grulla ISD until last week, when an agreement to transfer it to city ownership was made.

Rio Grande City Mayor Gilberto Falcon says the city has more resources to make the repairs the historic home needs.

"It needs some restoration. Obviously it is a building that's been there since the 1850s and we want to put some into it so we can bring it up to par. Right now it has some issues," Mayor Gilberto Falcon said.

"We want to continue the tour that we have at the fort; that's one of the jewels that we have at the fort. As I mentioned, we are not able to do that as we currently stand right now, but we are going to bring it up to par so we can continue with our tour," Falcon said.

Ramos says she hopes the city's ownership will give the house a new chapter.

"We hope this saves the Lee House and hopefully we get more juice out of this gem that's here," Ramos said.

There is still no timeline for when repairs will begin. The city says grant funding will pay for the project.