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News from Garfield Farm |
On Friday, April 27th at 6 pm Garfield Farm
Museum will hold its 19th annual awards ceremony and dinner recognizing
individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions
to historic preservation, agricultural preservation/education and
environmental conservation at the Dunham Woods Riding Club in Wayne, IL.
This year, award recipients hail from
Aurora, St. Charles, Chicago, Big Rock, Virgil, and Maple Park,IL. The
evening will also recognize Garfield Farm Museum?s founding 30 years
ago.
The very existence of Garfield Farm
Museum may not have come into being if it weren’t for the
founding in 1967 of the Thornapple Chapter of Questers International.
The late Iva Storch established the chapter in St. Charles for fellow
antique collectors and enthusiasts. Going through their 40 years of
minutes, there is hardly a historic preservation entity in the
Tri-cities that has not received help from this group. Members of
Thornapple started the restoration of the 1843 Bryant Durant House in
LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve that was continued by Restorations of Kane
County, now renamed Preservation Partners. Members of Thornapple went
on to found Garfield Farm Museum. For this long record of inspiring and
supporting restoration, the museum is awarding Thornapple a Historic
Preservation Award.
When the museum was founded in 1977, one would
be lucky to identify even one historic preservation entity of note in
any one year. Today, Garfield Farm Museum is proud to recognize two
others for Historic Preservation. Although as a driving force behind
the Aurora Firehouse Museum is enough to make David Lewis a worthy
recipient, he has personally taken on the restoration of the oldest
factory structure in Aurora, IL. The Holbrook Mill, a river stone
building, has endured through the years and has sat by itself in a
parking lot waiting an uncertain fate. Lewis plans to rehabilitate it
and thus recognize the early industry that made the Fox Valley an
important industrial center in the 19th century.
It often takes a person from the outside to
help local residents recognize the values of a community. MeJay Azemi
and his sons of rural Maple Park, have brought such a perspective to
the rural countryside and villages with their old world skills and
craftsmanship, giving new life to a number of barns and historic houses
in Kane County. They readily recognize the skill that went into making
these buildings 100-150 years ago. It has compelled them to bring their
carpentry, masonry and building skills to historic structures that few
would undertake. As long time friends of the museum it is an
honor to recognize Azemi & Sons Inc. with a Historic Preservation
Award.
It took a few years to realize her desire to
preserve her land and the rural heritage of Big Rock, but Marvel Davis
has become a great proponent for the preservation of both heritage and
the land that feeds a nation. From supporting forest preserve
referendums to donating a corncrib for the Big Rock Historical Society
to use and most recently selling part of her farm to the forest
preserve, Marvel is this year’s winner of the Agricultural
Preservation Award.
What seems wildly impractical can sometimes
become reality but in Virgil, IL the impossible happened. When local
farm owners are faced with the dilemma of leaving their land, usually
only investors and developers can afford to buy it, be it near a
metropolitan area. What seemed highly unlikely was that the rural
community of Virgil Township could be such a candidate when the nearest
town to the east was St. Charles, a good 7-10 miles distant. Yet such a
proposal was being put together. Local citizenry recognized the
impact this could have and with ingenuity and persuasiveness came up
with an even more pie in the sky scenario. Take that 1000 acres
and make it Virgil Township’s first forest preserve. For their
credit, tenacity and audacity, Garfield Farm Museum is pleased to
present Preserve Virgil with an Environmental Conservation Award.
Many of these award winners have contributed
time and personal resources that will provide for a better future. Just
as important though are those who will at least consider cooperating
with non-profit or public agencies to help with the common good. In
Campton Township, the home to only the 4th of 5 open space township
programs in the state, Garfield Farm Museum recognizes Cooperators for
Campton’s Conservation. The Brown Road Investment Group does not
sound like an entity that would consider anything but the grandest of
development proposals. Yet the Steve Lu family and their partners were
willing to listen to the township?s proposal to add their property for
open space. Critically located across the street from Campton Township
Park, it is with great appreciation that the Brown Road Investment
Group was willing to sell its holdings to the township. In the same
spirit, Campton Township was most fortunate when the Keith VanderVeen
family took the township?s proposal seriously to acquire part of their
horse farm thus adding acreage and additional access to the Headwaters
Conservation Area.
It is unusual for the museum to publicly
recognize individuals posthumously as it is important to encourage
those for deeds done today. In fact, the award for Campton’s
Conservation was privately presented to David Bielenberg in December of
2006. In 1960, as an architectural student, David came across the
beautiful rolling woods of Mr.& Mrs. Garfield Harley. So taken by
it, he convinced his parents to help him acquire these woods to enjoy
in future years. His vision was not limited to this sylvan glade as he
also was one of the first to recognize the historic architecture and
great historic resource of the Pullman Community in Chicago of which he
also championed.
A chance meeting of museum officials in
1986 lead to his considering willing the Harley Woods to the farm. In
2002, a series of grants from the Kane County Riverboat Fund and from
the Army Corps of Engineers were received by Garfield Farm
Museum’s land preservation agency, Campton Historic Agricultural
Lands, to acquire the Garfield Harley Vernal Pond and Woods next to
Bielenberg woods. Protecting this special wetland required Bielenberg?s
upland woods to be saved. Unfortunately, David’s health
prematurely declined and in 2006, he needed funds for healthcare. Upon
learning of his situation, CHAL approached the township and the
Conservation Foundation for help. Though bedridden and afflicted, David
was most willing to talk to find a solution. In December, the
Conservation Foundation completed negotiations to save David’s
woods and met his needs. David passed away in February in his beloved
Pullman home but at least knowing he had found a way to give so much
for future generations.
Garfield Farm Museum is a 370 acre
historically intact former 1840s prairie farmstead and teamster inn
that is being restored as an 1840s working farm museum. Located in the
village of Campton Hills, the farm was first settled in 1836 by the
Culverson family who sold their 440 acre claim to the Timothy Garfield
family in 1841. Elva Ruth Garfield, the 3rd generation owner of the
farm donated it to be a museum in 1977.
To make reservations for the $45 dinner, call 630 584-8485 or e-mail info@garfieldfarm.org