Benjamin O. Greene and Salmon Hoisington built this house circa 1830. The Perkins family, a well-known local family, rented it from 1835 to 1837 as their Stone House (now known as the Perkins Stone Mansion) was being built. Colonel Simon Perkins purchased the house, which was originally a two-room structure, in early 1844 and then rented it to abolitionist John Brown and his family. Brown, recovering from bankruptcy in 1844, entered into a wool partnership with Perkins. Brown lived in the house on and off from 1844 until 1854. The house was expanded over the years, and the Portage Golf Club, a Portage Country Club predecessor, operated in the house for more than two decades, starting in 1884.
John Brown House
