There is a tradition in Connecticut of super-artists- souls that are completely indifferent to the marketability in their works. Two classic examples are Wallace Stevens, considered one of the great American poets of the 20th century and Charles Ives, considered one of the great American 20th century composers. Both men worked as executives in the insurance industry. “I was not myself born in the state,” Stevens wrote. “It is not that I am a native but that I feel like one.” Ives, on the other hand, came from a family whose roots went deep into the pre-Revolutionary history of the town of Danbury.
   
    In 1828 Isaac Ives bought the house now known as the Charles Ives House. He was in his 80sat the time, and it would become identified with the family primarily due to his son George White Ives, Charles Ives father. George White Ives would help found the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, still in use today as the Danbury Branch of the Metro-North’s New Haven Line, and the Savings Bank of Danbury, one of the earliest local banks.
   
    Charles Ives was born in the house in 1874, while it was still located at 210 Main Street.
   
    Ives still visited the house over the rest of his life, even after he gave up composing and moved to nearby West Reddiing, where he died in 1954. It is the only extant former residence of his that is connected to his musical career, since the two houses where he lived in Hartsdale, New York during most of his productive years are no longer in existence.
   
    In 1967 Fairfield County Trust wanted to expand its parking lot adjacent to the house. The bank conveyed the house to the Danbury Historical Society, which bought a 14-acre site south of Rogers Park and moved it to Memorial Drive, since it was too small to be added to the museum’s existing property at The John Ride House. It was moved for the last time in 1971, four years later, when the local school district built Rogers Park Junior High School. To facilitate this move, the schools leased the eastern seven acres from the museum for 99 years with an option to renew. The Danbury  Museum and Historical Society Authority is fundraising to rehabilitate the house to open as a museum.

The Ives Birthplace is currently closed due to the ongoing routine maintenance.