The original structure was a 22-story gray fieldstone house built in the 1790s by John Barclay. Andrew Gray purchased the home in the 1820s, made additions to it, and named it Chestnut Hill, where the Gray family lived for more than 50 years. Gray served in the state senate and was instrumental in passing legislation that founded a state college in Newark, which became the University of Delaware. In 1933, Judge Hugh M. Morris, a native of Delaware, purchased the house and surrounding acreage as a home for his family. Morris was a respected attorney, distinguished judge, and president of the University of Delaware's Board of Trustees from 1939 to 1959. He left instructions that the house and land be given to the University of Delaware upon his death, and the university later named the Hugh M. Morris Library in his honor. In 1998, the Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation purchased the land from the University of Delaware to preserve it as part of White Clay Creek State Park. Today, the estate is open to the public for enjoyment of the grounds, tours, programs hosted by the park, and special events.