When the Latter-day Saints came to this area, this home was one of the only structures here. It was then a two-story log building with a summer kitchen, also made of logs. The property was purchased in May 1839, and Emma and Joseph Smith moved in with their four children, Julia, Joseph III, Frederick, and Alexander. Joseph's parents, Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, lived in the summer kitchen for a short time with their daughter Lucy. The home became a place of refuge for the Smith family and a center of activity for the Latter-day Saints, who looked to Joseph as a prophet of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1840, Joseph added a one-story room where friends and family often gathered. Joseph III later recalled that the home was generally overrun with visitors, with the yard crowded with teams and the house crowded with callers on many Sundays. A two-story, four-room structure was added to the original home later. In 1843, Joseph and Emma moved to the home they called the Nauvoo Mansion.