This house served as the head office of the Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal life insurance society. When the organization first became an Illinois corporation in 1884, the house was the home of Dr. Henry M. Kennedy, who was head clerk of the society from 1884 to 1888. The society had been founded in 1883 by Joseph C. Root of Lyons, Iowa. Between 1886 and 1897, the office occupied three other sites in Fulton before it was moved to Rock Island, where it is presently located.