Its mission is to "preserve and interpret the cultural and horticultural heritage of Flushing, Queens and adjacent communities to engage their ever-changing populations, through the experience of an immigrant family’s 1890s home.

It was built as an investment two years after the Long Island Rail Road opened the Murray Hill railway station nearby.

The house was then purchased in 1899 by a German immigrant named Conrad Voelcker, who moved in with his wife Elizabeth and infant daughter Theresa.

After Voelcker's death in 1930, the house became the home of his daughter, Theresa Voelker (later generations spelled the name without the 'c') and her husband, Dr. Rudolph Orth.

[9]: 52  After living in Manhattan, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, Conrad eventually moved to the Murray Hill area of Flushing, Queens, where he purchased a house.

[3] Voelcker continued selling his newspaper Der Pfalzer in Amerika until around the time the United States entered World War I in 1917, probably due to Anti-German sentiment.

[9]: 106–108 Conrad's daughter Theresa married Dr. Rudolph Orth, a graduate of Cornell University Medical School and World War I veteran.