John Rider, a local carpenter who served as a captain in the Connecticut state militia during the Revolution, built this wood-frame house in 1785; it would remain in his family until 1925.

    By 1941, the house had deteriorated badly and was about to be razed to make way for a gas station when local preservationists rallied to save it. It became the first of several buildings owned and operated by the Danbury Museum and Historical Society. The John and Mary Rider House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

  Today it is operated as a museum. It is closed until further notice due to the current health crisis.