This house was the showplace of Waterloo during the 1880s. It was the home of the family of William Snowden, a pioneer businessman who came to Waterloo in 1860 from Pittsburgh. He opened a drugstore but also sold such items as paint, oil, glass and dye.

The Snowden House was beautiful but hard to heat. During the coldest months of winter the Snowdens moved into a warmer apartment over the drugstore.

Snowden's family moved to California after his death and the house was turned into a duplex. Mrs. Snowden sold it in 1899 to Lillian Russell Lamson, daughter of Rensselaer Russell and wife of Clyde Lamson. Some of the furniture on display in the nearby Rensselaer Russell House originally came from the Snowden House.

The Snowden House has been the meeting place of the Waterloo Women's Club since 1922. It survived a 1955 fire and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.