The original Brown/Damonte Ranch included about 620 acres (250 ha) at the north end of Steamboat Valley, in the southern Truckee Meadows, roughly bounded by South Virginia Street (U.S. Highway 395) and Old Virginia Road on the sides.
1857 pioneer rancher Peleg Brown, a Rhode Island native arrived in the Truckee Meadows with his brother, Joshua. The two brothers introduced alfalfa to the Truckee Meadows and built their home and ranch 150 years ago which still stands today.
The main house was built in 1864 and has Greek Revival architecture; it was renovated in 1940 and in 1955.[2]
A play house, built around 1900, is a Craftsman-style 8-by-10-foot (2.4 m × 3.0 m) bungalow.[2]
It was deemed significant "for its association with the development of agriculture and irrigation in the Truckee Meadows in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries", including its serving the Comstock Lode mining area. It served as a stagecoach stop, too.[2]