It was built in 1927 for Hubert T. Parsons, president of the F.W. Woolworth Company. Parsons was financially ruined by the Great Depression and the house was sold in 1939 for $100. Now called Woodrow Wilson Hall, it became part of Monmouth University in 1956.

The building stands on the site of Joseph Benedict Greenhut's earlier estate of the same name, which was destroyed by a fire. That building was the summer White House for PresidentWoodrow Wilson in 1916.

Shadow Lawn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and then declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985