For the first time in its 151-year history, Moline’s landmark Deere-Wiman House will be restored with the help of a $3.2-million fundraising campaign.
Board members, staff and supporters of the William Butterworth Foundation (which owns and operates the home and nearby Butterworth Center) gathered Tuesday morning to announce the new capital campaign, “Honoring Our Heritage.”
“When I worked at John Deere, I came to appreciate how one man’s remarkable family has served our community since the 1800s,” Jim Field, the honorary campaign co-chair, wrote for the effort’s brochure. “This campaign celebrates the legacy by preserving the Deere-Wiman House for the next generations to enjoy.”
The historic homes Deere-Wiman (built in 1872), at 817 11th Ave., and Butterworth (1892), 1105 8th St., are supported by the foundation created in 1951 by Katherine Deere Butterworth, now with $30 million in assets. They only draw a small percentage of investment income each year for operations and do not get operational funding from Deere & Company, the city or other governments.
Deere-Wiman House, a popular community landmark, has been in the care of the William Butterworth Foundation since 1976, per the instructions of Pattie Wiman (Mrs. Charles Deere Wiman), who donated her home as a sister house to Butterworth Center. Since that time, both Deere-Wiman House and Butterworth Center have been funded by the foundation.
Even with careful stewarding of resources by the board, however, those original funds are no longer sufficient to ensure the longevity of Deere-Wiman House, according to the foundation. The new campaign will give the community an opportunity to invest in preserving this important link to local history.
“After more than 50 years of public use during which the Foundation invested millions of dollars, the time has come to make a large investment in the property,” the campaign website says. “You can easily spot the damage from mitigated water leaks, wear and tear on original rugs and furniture, and similar signs of age on the plaster, art glass, and wood window frames throughout the house.”
To date, $2.1 million of the $3.2 million goal has been raised.
The Jeffris Family Foundation of Janesville, Wis., has supported the campaign through a challenge grant of $330,000, requiring the organization to raise $660,000 to match, and that challenge was met thanks to many local donors, 18 months earlier than planned, said Heather Calvert, executive director of the Butterworth Foundation.
“That was the fastest that anyone had raised matching funds in the foundation history,” she said Tuesday, noting they hope to meet the total $3.2-million goal by January 2024, with the house restoration work done in phases.
In addition to the Jeffris Family Foundation, donors include the Moline Foundation, Deere & Company, current and former John Deere executives, Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House staff, and board members, as well as many members of the local community.
Of the campaign goal, the funds will be used for:
- $610,000 to repair interior wear and water damage, including restoring the plaster and floor of the sitting room and the plaster of the living room.
- $570,000 for foundation and water mitigation, including repairing aged drainage systems, plaster damage and the asphalt driveway.
- $500,000 for fundamental needs such as deferred maintenance, safety needs, and replacement of corroded pipes, an aged boiler, and repair of thermostats.
- $415,000 for repair of exterior stucco, stone, wood trim and windows.
- $380,000 for restoration of retaining walls, the playhouse, and to buy grounds equipment and native plantings.
- $260,000 for climate control and handicapped accessibility.
- $250,000 to create new programs (including boosting diversity and inclusion), improve existing programs (such as website enhancements and technology for virtual programming and community meetings), and better maintain the property.
- $165,000 to improve the Carriage House, including updated carpet, lighting, ceilings, bathrooms and kitchen.
Telling the story of Moline
Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati said Tuesday that the beloved homes tell the story of Moline and its families.
“We engaged with these spaces in so many ways,” she said, noting the “countless” piano recitals she’s been to at Butterworth Center. Rayapati has fond memories of chaperoning her children’s 5th grade school trips there, walking in the tunnel between the two homes.
“It is an amazing space with an amazing history and I’m so glad all of you have kept it going and are preparing for its future,” she said.
Margarita Mojica, a 7th-grade teacher at Glenview Middle School in East Moline, has served as a board member and is donating to the campaign.
“These two beautiful and majestic homes have been open to the community for decades,” she said. “My husband and I want the doors to continue to open, to new generations of young people, families, community and education groups.”
“We are honored to know we are helping to address the needed improvements so that the Deere-Wiman House, the Butterworth Center and Education Center will continue to offer programs of learning and a place for community groups to meet for many years to come.”
More than 90 percent of services and programming at Deere-Wiman and Butterworth are free of charge and available to every Quad Citizen. Annually, 25,000 people take part in arts, culture and educational programs at the homes or use the sites for community gatherings.
About 250 community groups use the facilities each year, totaling 1,200 meetings, equivalent to $400,000 worth of free space and equipment resources.
“What would happen if this place wasn’t here? What do we lose?” Jan Stoffer, director of operations and administration, asks in a Deere-Wiman House campaign video. “We not only lose beautiful architecture and a landmark – very important things. We also lose an anchor.”
6th-generation Deere
Alexander Hewitt, a sixth-generation member of the Deere family (whose father was former Deere CEO Bill Hewitt), grew up in Rock Island, went to Knox College, lived many years in New York City and came to Tuesday’s event from Houston, Tex.
“The homes are beautiful treasures and virtually irreplaceable,” he said. “They’re a wonderful asset to the community and bring tremendous value to the community.”
On the back of his business card, it says, “If you can’t pay it back, pay it forward.”
“I have lived by that; my family lived by that,” he said. “History is a living entity.”
Hewitt, 65, recalled loving playing the Deere-Wiman organ as a child and said the programs at the homes “are just amazing, so I saw the benefit.”
“We learn from our past. We learn through our future, which is dictated by our past,” he said. “This is a place that brings community together. With that, we become more a society, more united.”
In 1976, Hewitt’s grandmother decided to donate their house to the Butterworth Foundation. “I was just thrilled. There’s no better use for this house. What else are you gonna do with it?” he said.
The other campaign co-chair is Jim Field, retired Deere president of the worldwide construction and forestry division.
Watch a video on the campaign below.
For more information on the homes and to make a donation, visit the Butterwoirth and Deere-Wiman website HERE.
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