Deere-Wiman ‘special house’ worth preserving

“If these walls could talk,” is often said of places that bear witness to history. But given the Deere-Wiman House’s 150-year run and the influence, power and reach of the people who once lived there, visitors can practically hear them shouting. The stories it tells were born of an innovative blacksmith named John Deere, the […]

"If these walls could talk,” is often said of places that bear witness to history. But given the Deere-Wiman House’s 150-year run and the influence, power and reach of the people who once lived there, visitors can practically hear them shouting. The stories it tells were born of an innovative blacksmith named John Deere, the self-scouring steel plow he invented, and four generations of his family who helped to shape his original John Deere Plow Co. into the global corporate giant of today.  Sharing the story of the Moline home and the neighboring Butterworth Center – once home to John Deere’s granddaughter Katherine Deere Butterworth – has taken on special significance during a year-long sesquicentennial celebration running from June 2022 to June 2023.

Commemorating history

Events commemorating the 1872 construction of the house have included a recent Porch Party that featured food, music, history and fun as well as historic presentations. Then, of course, there are the tours – lots of tours – of the two grand homes and the converted two- story carriage house and garage.  Knee deep in it all are Stacy Klingler, executive director of the William Butterworth Foundation, and Gretchen Small, Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House director of programs and collections, who is a human encyclopedia of information about the house and the people who lived there.  Between planning 150th anniversary events, blogging, filming for the historic site’s YouTube channel and exploring the things she hasn’t uncovered, Ms. Small is kept hopping with tours. A recent Wednesday, for example, found her leading groups of Viking Mississippi riverboat passengers. Ms. Small estimates tens of thousands of people have visited the Deere-Wiman House property since it opened to the public in 1979. Despite such busy days, the pair found time to share some details about the history of the house, its 150th events and the Deere family. For more than a century, Deere & Co. was led by a member of John Deere’s family, Ms. Small said. William Hewitt, who was married to Patricia “Tish” Wiman (daughter of Charles Deere Wiman) was the fifth and last Deere family member to lead the company in 1982.  “All of them had their strengths and all of them had their weaknesses,” Ms. Small said. “And they all made important contributions to the growth of the company.”

A story of global importance

The John Deere family isn’t just a local history story, it’s a story of American and global history as well, she said. And the Deere homes reflect that. Charles Deere, John Deere’s son, planned the Deere-Wiman House for his wife, Mary Little Dickinson Deere, and their daughters, Anna and Katherine. Construction began in 1872 on the family’s Swiss Villa-style home.  The location of the home high atop the hill in Moline, its design along with elegant furniture and furnishings were intentional, Ms. Small said.  “He was making a business statement that he was president of one of the most important businesses in the community and he was overlooking the town,” she said of the home dubbed “Overlook” by the couple.

For Charles Deere that image might have been particularly important since it was his older brother who was being groomed to lead the company. But when Francis Albert Deere died unexpectedly at age 18, Charles Deere got a crash course in the business, before taking over at age 21 during challenging times. He would guide and grow the company for 46 years.  As the home of the second president of Deere, the grand house at 1105 Eighth St. also was designed with modern conveniences to reflect the company’s innovative reputation and the Deere families who lived there were careful to keep up with all the latest styles and innovations to impress their business and community guests, Ms. Small said.   Even the choice of the home’s architect was notable. In 1884, William Le Baron Jenney would go on to design the world’s first steel-framed skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building in Chicago. But 15 years before that, he had helped design a planned community, the “railroad suburb” of Riverside, Illinois. He brought those skills to work at the Deere-Wiman house around 1871. In 1874 Mr. Jenney also designed Moline’s Riverside Cemetery. It features unique, picturesque terracing and a view of the Mississippi River. (Fittingly, John Deere lies among the 28,000 people buried in the historic cemetery.)

A family home

The Deere-Wiman home may have been designed as a statement, but it was first a family home and still looks like one.

“Of all the spaces on our site, Deere-Wiman House feels like a home..."

“Of all the spaces on our site, Deere-Wiman House feels like a home – sometimes despite its grandeur,” Ms. Klingler wrote in the latest issue of the site’s “Artifacts” publication. As a result, it “still evokes a unique family history that exposes both frailty and strength and makes our imaginations race with visions of the past,” she added. “Perhaps I see Deere-Wiman House as a home because I’ve heard Alexander ‘Sandy’ Hewitt, great-great-great-grandson of John Deere, describe sliding down the banister in the entry hall and narrowly avoiding the uncomfortable-looking newel post,” Ms. Klingler wrote. “Even though the home was built by ‘the’ Charles Deere, in the end, to Sandy it was simply grandma’s house, and seven-year-olds always find places to play.” “I imagine the lives, joys, and heartbreaks of each generation of the Deere Family,” she added. “I’m reminded that the ability to connect with people of the past, regardless of their position in life or accomplishments, is one of the best reasons to keep the character and integrity of historic sites like the Deere-Wiman House both accessible and preserved.” During a recent visit by the QCBJ it was easy to see what she meant, even absent the extensive knowledge of family history the center’s experts boast. Fortunately Ms. Klingler, and Ms. Small were happy to fill in some of the gaps. And even with her grounding in Deere family history, the things uncovered in and about the home and the Butterworth Center continue to surprise Ms. Small. So do the people who take her tours or watch the site’s YouTube channels. In one of those video reports, for example, she talked about uncovering ornate plasterwork hidden under peeling wallpaper, Ms. Small said. She later was contacted by a woman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The woman had recognized the unique workmanship and she shared a family member’s handwritten journal entries which showed he had been working in this area around that time. The hope is to restore that plaster and resurrect the room’s earliest paint colors. These days, Ms. Small and Ms. Klingler remain busy telling the Deere-Wiman House story and staging events for the rest of this sesquicentennial year, including more tours and the 19th Century Christmas celebration, which will be back in its full glory in 2022. An essential chapter of that generational story centers on philanthropy, Ms. Small said. Katherine Deere Butterworth, who was an influential woman in her own right, was a longtime philanthropist who gave to the community, including after her death when she gave her home to the community to be used as a gathering place. “She learned about how to be a philanthropist from John Deere and her father Charles Deere before the word was really around,” Ms. Small said.  Mrs. Butterworth wasn’t alone. After the death of John Deere descendant Pattie Southall Wiman in 1976, the Deere-Wiman House also was donated for public use. And fans of the house, includings its biggest cheerleaders, Ms. Small and Ms. Klingler are thrilled about it. “Deere-Wiman is such a special house that’s worth preserving,” Ms. Klingler said.