When entrepreneur Jonathan Farrar (1771-1838) came from Bloomfield (Skowhegan) in 1817, he bought this house on the Main Street hill and ran the first store and post office in the front portion. He bought saw, grist, and carding mills in the area, dug a canal and mill pond, began a grist mill on the site of the present museum in downtown Dexter, and soon began a tannery (later Shaws). In 1835 he began a woolen mill with Lysander Cutler that eventually became Dunbarton Mill. He also donated land for a common (the present skating rink), and the land for the Univarsalist church. The telephone company building is now on the site of this house.

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