Born in Ellington, Connecticut in 1803, Leonard Mariner Hills moved to Amherst in 1827. He ran a tavern and a dry goods store and eventually became very successful manufacturing palm leaf hats. He also became the first president of the First National Bank of Amherst in 1864. In the 1840s to 1860s, Hills built a complex of factories in Amherst. His son, Henry F. Hills, built a house off Main Street in 1863. Leonard decided to hire the same architect, William Fenno Pratt, to design his own Italian Villa home, built in 1863-1864 on the adjoining lot (35 Triangle Street). It is said that he ordered the house, which was called the Hedges, to be one foot larger than his son’s in every dimension. The Hills family owned the house until 1923, when a bequest of Mrs. Alice M. Hills left it to the Amherst Woman’s Club. It is now known as the Hills Memorial Club House.