 During the 1777 Battle of Germantown, American troops gathered on the site before attacking British forces across Germantown Avenue at Cliveden, Benjamin Chew's mansion.In 1698, the first owner of the property, Heivert Papen, built a small house on the corner of present-day Johnson Street and Germantown Avenue.The land passed to Dirck (or Dirick) Jansen, one of Germantown's earliest settlers, and was purchased in 1766 by John Johnson, Sr., son of the builder of the nearby John Johnson House.