The first owner of this house as Domonic Petrus Tesschenmaker, who built a one-room stone shelter here in 1685; the foundations of his house now form half of the present basement. Jacques Poillon purchased the property in 1696 and enlarged the shelter into a farmhouse. The farmhouse was remodeled twice: first in 1837 when it was enlarged to thirteen rooms, and again in 1848, when Frederick Law Olmsted added a one-and-one-half story wooden extension.