Originally built around 1865, the one-and-a-half-story rock home of James G. Willie is typical of the more than 40 stone homes built in Mendon before 1880. Brigham Young encouraged early settlers to use native rock for home construction because he considered stone more substantial and better looking than log houses. Shortly after the Shoshoni Indian massacre on the Bear River in 1863, the fort in Mendon was dismantled and the log homes were moved onto lots around the square. Those log cabins were soon replaced by rock homes that eventually stood on nearly every lot surrounding the town square. James G. Willie, a pioneer of 1847, led the 4th Mormon Handcart Company to Utah after returning from a mission to his native England in 1856. He served as bishop of Salt Lake's 7th Ward and moved to Cache Valley in the spring of 1859, where he helped settle Mendon. In Mendon he served as mayor and postmaster, ran the co-operative store, and operated a small farm as a trained leather tanner. His wife, Elizabeth Ann, served 18 years as Mendon's first Relief Society president. They lived in the home for more than 40 years and were buried in the Mendon Cemetery two blocks west. In 1906 the home was sold to Herbert B. Whitney, a grandson of Newel K. Whitney, Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Later owners included Fred and Colleen Hardman and Eufrosina and Carl Kuntze. The home is on the State and National Historic Register.