Born in Liverpool of Scots parents, Alexander Douglas Milroy immigrated to Houston in 1877 to work in a cotton exporting business. After amassing wealth in the cotton trade, Milroy settled with his family in Brenham in 1893. There he fulfilled his dream of having a country retreat. On forty acres near Brenham, he created an English-style country garden with bridle paths, a carriage house and an orchard of fruit and nut trees imported from England. Surrounded by a thick hedge of thorny plants, the orchard was cared for by an English gardener. Milroy died in 1931, at age 72 years, and was buried in the Prairie Lea Cemetery. In the 1950s, his orchard became the Walnut Hill Subdivision.