The front of the house was built around 1740. The stair hall and back section were added 10 to 20 years later.
Betsy Ross may have lived here from 1776, after her first husband John Ross died, until about 1779. But her living here is disputed. The best archival evidence suggests she lived in the house next door, which was later torn down.
The story that she designed and sewed the first flag traces to her relatives, especially her grandsons William and George Canby, and to the 1876 Centennial. Historians call these claims controversial. The house was restored in 1937 and given to the city in 1941.