In his day, Allan Macpherson was the most prominent resident of Napanee, known as Clarksville, in the early 1800's. He owned the local mill, the distillery and a store. He assisted in civic ventures like building churches and schools, the first printing press and macadamizing the road to Kingston. His house was the first to be built on the north side of the river. Until then the town was located on the opposite bank, but soon gravitated toward Macpherson's manor. When it was new, the house was the finest in town. Equipped with a lovely ballroom, the Macphersons enjoyed entertaining and among their frequent guests was a relative - John A. Macdonald. At the time, before his political debut, John was practicing law in town. Little did they know that he later would become the first leader of the country called Canada.