In 1838, Richard Lawrence DeZeng (1788–1848), a retired engineer and canal builder from Oswego, New York, bought the 220-acre property in Skaneateles for $12,000.

DeZeng hired George Casey of Auburn, New York to construct the 25-room Greek Revival mansion at a cost of $18,000 (with an additional $11,000 spent on interior furnishings).

[7] In September 1849, the home and 113.78 of the original remaining acres were sold by DeZeng's estate (who died in 1848) to John Legg for $10,000.

He was the uncle of New York State Senator Nathan Lapham and was a cousin of Susan B. Anthony (his paternal aunt, Hannah Lapham Anthony, was Susan's grandmother), who visited the home frequently with fellow suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

In November 1878, two years after Lapham's death, his widow sold the home to her son (from her first marriage), William Russell Willetts (1842–1917) for $20,000.

In 1930, then Governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, along with his wife Eleanor and son John, stop to visit and have lunch at the Hall.

After he wins the presidency, Franklin appoints Harry Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a role he serves in until his death in 1936.

[16] In 1967, Dunning sold Roosevelt Hall to Dennis Owen, who, in 1974, built a separate home for himself on the property and donated the mansion to the De La Salle Christian Brothers.