This land was made available for purchase by Euro-American settlers after its acquisition by the State of New York in a series of agreements with the Oneida Indian Nation in 1840 and 1842.

The initial farmstead of the Oneida Community was purchased by Jonathan Burt, an early convert to the religious doctrine known as "perfectionism."

[5] Following the designs of carpenter and self-trained architect Erastus Hamilton, with the collective guidance of the community and its founder Noyes, the first Mansion House was erected in the winter of 1848.

The 35 by 30 foot space consisted of twelve tents that conveniently denied members of isolation and encouraged social interactions.

The architecture of the Mansion House, and the process of designing the home, reflected the communal values prized by the Oneida Community.

The ideas for the 1862 house were discussed in evening meetings, with the group eventually settling on a plan for an Italianate Villa-style structure.

A five-story Italianate tower was located at the northeast corner of the House, overlooking the site and designed with its own access stair and entry[9] Communal space was important to the Community, and thus the most prominent interior feature of the 1862 House is a two-story Family Hall with a capacity for several hundred persons and which served as the daily gathering place of the whole Community.

The 1869 South Wing, constructed in Second Empire Style, was added to the Mansion when the Community inaugurated an intentional plan for members to have children.

They asserted that religious devotion was inheritable, and that they could pass on their own strong sense of spirituality to successive generations by careful breeding.

Children had many toys—blocks, marble rollers, rocking horses, and homemade picture books, and received lessons in a variety of subjects.

Their manufacturing enterprises included canned fruit and vegetables, animal traps, silk sewing thread, and tableware.

These young teachers paid a very low rent and were served four dinners a week, Monday through Thursday, during the school year.