The Joseph Smith Sr. family moved into a new frame home in late 1825. Alvin Smith, Joseph's older brother, started construction on the house on the Smith farm in 1822. After Alvin's death in 1823, the family completed it.
Joseph brought his new wife, Emma, to live here in January 1827. Eight months later, he and Emma drove a carriage to the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph received the golden plates from the angel Moroni. The Prophet often kept the plates hidden inside and around the frame home. Persecution forced him to leave Manchester in late 1827, and Joseph and Emma went to live with her family in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
In this home, Joseph learned that his scribe Martin Harris had lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation. Later that year, a schoolteacher named Oliver Cowdery came to board here with the Smith family. Oliver learned of Joseph's work, and in the spring of 1829 he went to Harmony and became the Prophet's new scribe.
Elder George Albert Smith purchased the frame home and farm in 1907 and later conveyed ownership to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The home was renovated and restored to its original condition in 2000.
