William Smith DeLano (1819-1901), a pioneer settler in southwestern Michigan and a native of western New York State, came to the area with an uncle in 1837 and first worked clearing farms for neighbors. In 1843, at age twenty-three, he purchased forty acres and began the family farmstead. He built the modest Greek Revival style house in 1858. By 1854 DeLano owned over one hundred acres, and by 1880 he had 235 acres. Over the years, his sons continued purchasing neighboring lands, and the family eventually acquired over six hundred acres. Members of the family lived on the farm until 1963. After several years of neglect, the Kalamazoo Nature Center acquired the house and most of the original DeLano farm in 1968, and the farmhouse was restored and opened to the public in 1975.