At what was once the tiny settlement of Hickory Grove, which included three log cabins and the Red House, the four-room Red House was built in 1827 as the first frame home in the area. In 1830 it was converted to a tavern and became a stop on the Alton-Jacksonville stagecoach line, and it also served the Underground Railroad, with slaves hidden in a false cistern reached from a livery stable across the street through an underground tunnel. In 1834, 12 men met there and voted to name the city Jerseyville in honor of the many New Jersey immigrants who helped settle the area. In 1839, Dr. Edward D'Arcy converted the Red House back to a private home, later giving it to his daughter and her husband, Prentiss Dana Cheney, the first of three generations of Cheneys to live there. Over the years the family expanded and improved the home, which became known as the Cheney Mansion. After passing out of the Cheney family in the late 1960s, the home was auctioned in 1998, then purchased by former Jerseyville resident Clayton Brown and his partner, Richard McCauley, who donated it to the Jersey County Historical Society and helped restore it. Today the Cheney Mansion is the cornerstone of the Jersey County Historical Society complex.