On November 20, 1824, over of land was turned over to a bank in Lancaster by a farmer. The bank sold and 68 square perches (18,513 ft2; 1,720 m2) of that land, on January 29, 1828, for $11,731.87, (equal to $ today), through the use of a straw man, to William Jenkins, a lawyer and, then, president of said bank. Jenkins had a house constructed on the property and named it "The Wheatlands", either after the surrounding wheatfields or because the site of the house used to be a wheatfield. Jenkins sold and 25 square perches (7,010 ft2; 651 m2) of land, including the house, to his son-in-law Thomas Fuller Potter in 1836. William M. Meredith bought the same plot on May 8, 1845, plus an additional , for $6,750, equal to $ today. Meredith used it as primarily a summer house and as a home for his wife and children; Meredith's duties as head of the bar in Philadelphia prevented him from living at Wheatland on a permanent basis.