The Ropes Memorial was established under the wills of Mary Pickman Ropes and Eliza Orne Ropes, "for the preservation of the homestead owned and occupied by Judge Nathaniel Ropes (1726-1774), and his descendants for four generations and for the maintenance of botanical lectures and garden of flowers." By the bequest of Eliza and Mary Ropes, the Essex Institute of Salem was left the Ropes house and its contents, to be used as both a historic house and botany school. The Institute declined the bequest, and the Ropes house was established as an independent museum, the Trustees of the Ropes Memorial, in 1912. The house was first opened to the public on June 25, 1913.

The Essex Institute took over curatorial management in 1978 and assumed legal possession of the property and collections in 1989, replacing the Trustees of the Ropes Memorial.For more information on the Ropes family, please see the Ropes Family Papers, 1702-1907, MSS 190.