Construction on the Pennsylvania House began in 1838 and it opened as a tavern and inn in 1840 with David Snively of Pennsylvania as the builder and first proprietor.
Over the next thirty years, it had several owners before closing in 1869. For a short time is was used a barn for draft animals of the Springfield Street Railway before serving as a doctor’s office and boarding house through the early 1890s.
After 1905 a second-hand shop opened on the first floor and the second floor housed tenants until it was condemned by the city in 1937, having fallen into major disrepair.
In 1939, the Lagonda Chapter of the Daughter of the American Revolution saved it from demolition and restored it to a museum, which opened in 1941. It underwent another major renovation in 2005 and can still be toured today.
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