The original house on this site was built about 1800 by the famous Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea). Two years previously Captain Brant had been granted some 1,415 ha of land in this area for his military services to the Crown during the American Revolution. He died here in 1807, and the house, around which grew the community of Wellington Square, was thereafter occupied by his wife Catherine and his youngest son Captain John Brant (Ahyouwaeghs). The present house, a replica of the original, is the result of an extensive restoration carried out in 1937-38.