It was the boyhood home and sometime residence of Founding Father John Dickinson (1732-1808), principal author of the Articles of Confederation and a drafter of the Constitution of the United States.

The original house suffered major damage during a British raid in August 1781 and was nearly destroyed in a fire in 1804.

John Dickinson lived there for extended periods only in 1776–77 and 1781–82, although he kept up a keen interest in the property and often visited.

[2][3] John Dickinson was a lawyer and politician who spent most of the time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware.

Although refusing to vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he supported the establishment of the new government during the American Revolution and afterward in many official capacities.