Daniel and Margaret Nelson settled here in 1844, a year after this part of Iowa was opened to settlement by the U.S.

[2] Their first home was a log structure, non-extant, located northeast of the present house.

The farm remained in the Nelson family until 1941 when it was abandoned with most of the original furnishings intact.

The property was donated to the Mahaska County Historical Society, which now operates it as a museum.

This article about a property in Mahaska County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.