The St. Croix County Historical Society maintains the Octagon House museum complex. In addition to the gracious, restored house with Victorian era furnishings, the complex includes the Garden House with its 19th century life, domestic arts, carpenter, blacksmith, and general store tableaux; and the Carriage House, which includes the Museum Gift Shop and research center. All structures are set amid expansive, beautifully maintained gardens.

The house was built for Judge John Shaw Moffat and his wife, Nancy Bennet Moffat, New Yorkers who arrived in Hudson in 1854 with their young daughter, Mary. Four generations of the musically inclined Moffat-Hughes family lived in the home over a span of 102 years.

The Octagon House is a fine example of the novel eight-sided dwelling popular in America in the mid-1800s. Such a house was considered conducive to healthy living as light and air could enter from eight directions.

The St. Croix County Historical Society purchased the Octagon House in 1964 with funds obtained mainly through private donations. The Society maintains the house in the authentic tradition of a fine mid-19th century home.