Melinda “Linnie” Bell Jones was born in Cheyenne WY and was living in Spearfish when she married Bernard McCrossan in 1886. They moved to Sioux Falls in 1887, built this home in 1888, and in 1898 incorporated the McCrossan Fruit Co., for which Linnie held the position of vice-president. A few years after Bernard’s death in 1903, Linnie sold the company in 1908. For most of 1909-1910, she actively supported the state suffrage amendment campaign. She later moved to New York City and Amarillo TX. In the late 1940s, she funded the McCrossan Boys Ranch outside Sioux Falls, a non-profit offering transitional housing, respite care, and life skill training for at-risk young men, which is still in operation. The McCrossan House is part of the Cathedral Historic District, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.