Harlan House was built in 1874, and was the home of Professor James Harlan, class of 1869, who returned to teach at Cornell between 1873-1914, serving 1908-1914 as Cornell's fourth president. He died in 1933, and the College acquired the house in 1934. At times, Harlan House was the residence of the Dean of the College and other faculty. Around the early 1980s a new housing program was started on
campus for students with similar interests to live together. This program caused a lot of debate due to the increase in an already separated campus. Since 1986 Harlan House has been a women's affinity group residence as part of this program. The previous program was done away with and new ones followed throughout the 1990s, with Harlan House group being the only one to maintain the legitimacy required to exist. In 2001 it was grandmothered into the Living Learning Communities program, a more focused and purpose-driven program; though the name has changed, TWRG was in the first group to be in one of the focused group-living programs, and is the only one that survived till Living Learning Communities (making it the oldest Living Learning Community on Cornell College's campus).
