It served as a stopping place for gold-seekers and settlers traveling along the Smoky Hill Trail into the Rocky Mountains.  The trail stop is one of the last two remaining mile houses along the immigrant trail.  Mary Hightower, the earliest known owner of record, moved onto the property in 1866, using a military bounty land warrant originally issued to James Baron in the early 1850s.  Adjoining the house is the original stage barn, built by Nelson Doud in the mid to late 1870s, with its high roof and sturdy interlocking wood-pegged beams.