The Kirwan House, built in 1879, was the home of former Maryland State Senator James E. Kirwan (1900-1908). The attached store, built in 1889, and his various business endeavors became the hub of the Chester/Dominion communities, and also served as a conduit for the lumber and coal that were unloaded from the boats at his wharf on Kirwan's Creek and delivered throughout Kent Island.

In 1917, Senator Kirwan earned the title of "The Grand Old Man of Kent Island", when he and several prominent local leaders successfully led a group of some 500 Eastern Shore delegates to Washington to protest the U.S. War Department's proposal to locate an armament testing site on Kent Island.

In 1994, his granddaughter, Mary Catherine Kirwan, bequeathed the home, store and farm to the Kent Island Heritage Society, Inc., who operated the property as a museum in Senator Kirwan's memory.

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