[2] A United States Navy captain during the War of 1812, Vicary was rewarded by the government for his services with 500 acres (200 ha) of land in the Northwest Territory.

After settling in Sewickley, Vicary met members of the Harmony Society, which had recently established Old Economy Village along the Ohio below Pittsburgh.

Consequently, Vicary bought 604 acres (244 ha) of land near Economy,[3] where he platted a community called "St. Clair" and began to build a stone mansion in 1826.

Disputes with one of his builders led to a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and was not finally settled until after Vicary's death in 1842.

The exterior stonework has been seen as particularly significant — the large stone blocks are believed to be the work of skilled masons, and are of a quality rarely seen in Western Pennsylvania in the early nineteenth century.