The museum was opened on June 21, 1996, in house No. 41 on Tolmacheva Street, previously known as Kolobovskaya.

In this house lived Maria Yakimovna Alexeeva, the first wife of Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak. They met in 1877 in Nizhnyaya Salda.

In March 1878, Dmitry Narkisovich moved to Yekaterinburg and initially rented apartments: from E. I. Zubrinskaya on Bolshaya Voznesenskaya Street, now Karl Liebknecht Street, from the Furman sisters on the same street, from Bezborodov on Razgulyayevskaya Street, now Gogol Street, and in other places.

In 1880, he moved into this house and lived here until August 19, 1883.

From 1881, his essays and stories began to be published in progressive Russian magazines and newspapers. Later, he collected the best of them into a cycle of "Ural Stories," which was published as a separate book in 1888.

Maria Yakimovna, possessing high culture and education, suggested new themes for Dmitry Narkisovich's works, including the novel "Mountain Nest," telling about the life of Ural factories.

Work on the novel "Privalov's Millions" was carried out in this house. On the last page of the final version, the writer left a note: "This manuscript was completed in Yekaterinburg, on Kolobovskaya Street, in Alexeeva's house, 1883. September 2 at 1 hour 34 minutes in the afternoon."

The house was visited by representatives of the progressive public of Yekaterinburg.

In the evenings, the "Mamin Circle" gathered here, which included lawyers N. F. Magnitsky, I. N. Klimshin, M. E. Ketov, A. A. Folkman, writer N. V. Kazantsev, and others. They discussed events in Russia and the Urals, new literature and art.

Dmitry Narkisovich was an excellent storyteller and a witty conversationalist. Maria Yakimovna played the piano beautifully. According to the writer's friends, meetings in the house were extremely interesting.

On January 13, 1982, by the decision of the Sverdlovsk Executive Committee of the City Council, the building at 41 Tolmacheva Street was transferred to the museum.

In May 1990, the house was restored and opened to visitors.

With the opening of the museum, to mark the 130th anniversary of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's birth and the 100th anniversary of his journey to Sakhalin Island, an exhibition "The World of Chekhov" was held, featuring authentic items belonging to Chekhov from the Yalta Museum.

The museum houses documents telling about famous Yekaterinburg residents, contemporaries of Mamin-Sibiryak, as well as about the theatrical and musical life of the city at that time.