Paul A. and Mary Dinsmore acquired property on 11th Street near the University of Kansas campus in the 1920s and built a home there. After Dinsmore's death in 1940, Mrs. Dinsmore sold the property to J.L. (Tommy) and Frances Constant, who later turned the property over to the Phi Kappa (later Phi Kappa Theta) fraternity.

In 1968 the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity took over the home when Phi Kappa Theta moved to larger quarters. Phi Kappa Tau disbanded its KU chapter shortly thereafter, however, and eventually the KU Endowment Association acquired the property, which was used for storage throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s.

Fundraising throughout the 1980s, including a significant donation from the Louis and Dolpha Baehr Foundation of Paola, Kansas, meant that by early 1988 Audio-Reader could move into the remodeled building and out of the Sudler House next door.