Ross never owned this house, but rented here between the years of 1773 and 1786. The house was built about 1740 and consists of 2-1/2 floors and nine rooms. Betsy and her husband, John Ross, lived here and ran their upholstery business out of the house as well.
Other businesses occupied the House, after Betsy moved from here in 1786, until it was acquired by the Betsy Ross Memorial Association. Starting in 1898, two million Americans donated dimes to the Association to help convert the house from a time-worn building into a national shrine. In the 1920s, as the neighborhood declined, serious consideration was given to moving the structure to Fairmount Park (the largest urban park in the U.S.) due to a concern for its safety because of the severe risk of fire posed by two adjacent factories.
Sightseers today find that the factories are gone. In 1937, the building was donated to the city of Philadelphia and restored with the monetary assistance of radio-manufacturing millionaire Atwater Kent.
For more visit: http://www.ushistory.org/betsy
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