The land originally was claimed by David Clinton and Archibald Welton in 1852.

In 1857, a 640-acre holding was acquired by Michael and Martha Hanley. The farm was developed by Hanley, a prosperous southern Oregon stock raiser, until his death in 1889. Thereafter, a hundred-acre section containing the Hanley Farmstead was managed by Hanley's daughter, Alice, until 1940.

Alice left the farmstead to her nieces, daughters of Michael Hanley's oldest son, John.

In 1957, eighty acres were sold to the Southern Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station by Claire Hanley reducing the farmstead to thirty-seven acres which were later deeded to the Southern Oregon Historical Society with the understanding that the farmstead be operated as a living historical farm.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1983.

This 370-acre historic district contains nine contributing buildings and one contributing structure.