Visitors to Deere-Wiman House’s annual Porch Party this Sunday, Sept. 15, will get more than a glimpse into the lives of four generations of the John Deere family. Thanks to generous donors, they will have a front-row seat to restoration of a historic treasure. 

In addition to a scavenger hunt, food trucks, the Porch Party’s inaugural beer garden, music and tours, the bash will celebrate completion of the William Butterworth Foundation’s first-ever capital campaign. The “Honoring our Heritage” campaign was launched in June 2023 to pay for updates at the home at 817 11th Ave., Moline.

The foundation manages the Deere-Wiman home and nearby Butterworth Center through a trust created in 1951 by John Deere’s granddaughter Katherine Deere Butterworth. John Deere descendant Pattie Southall Wiman, who died in 1976, also donated the Deere-Wiman House next door and placed the home in the care of the Butterworth Foundation.

Since then, Deere-Wiman and Butterworth Center have been funded by the foundation established to support a community center that provides free meeting space for nonprofits and educational groups. 

Even with careful stewarding of resources by the foundation, however, those original funds are no longer sufficient to ensure the longevity of Deere-Wiman House, the board said. So it decided to ask the community to help preserve an important link to local history and set its sights high with a $3.2 million goal. 

But despite coming in about $1.1 million shy of that total, the campaign is an impressive community accomplishment, in part, because so many of those who gave were first-time donors, Butterworth Center Executive Director Heather Calvert told the QCBJ.

Local donors thanked

“I’m most proud of the support we got from the community and the progress that we have made,” she added.

“Going from an organization that maybe raised $10,000 a year in the last 10 years –  that was an ambitious goal for them in fundraising,” Ms. Calvert said. “I just can’t help but think it’s pretty amazing to have the support of people in the community and just knowing that people answered the call.”

In addition to the public component of the fundraising effort, $2.1 million has been raised from key supporters including Deere & Co. The Jeffris Family Foundation of Janesville, Wis. also supported the campaign through a challenge grant of $330,000. It required the foundation to raise $660,000 to match. It was met 18 months earlier than planned thanks to local donors that included current and former John Deere executives and employees; Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House staff, board members and volunteers; and members of the Quad Cities community and beyond.

Ms. Calvert has been involved with the campaign from the start. Prior to taking over as  executive director from Stacy Klingler, she chaired the fundraising campaign committee.

She credited that campaign’s success, in part, to a talented group of fundraisers that includes the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Linda Wastyn, of Wastyn and Associates, whom Ms. Calvert said “has really guided our campaign and been a huge support for us.”

Ms. Wastyn has worked with the Butterworth Foundation for the past decade or so, including to create strategic plans. Ms. Wastyn told the QCBJ that the foundation asked her to do the fundraising campaign feasibility study and to talk to potential donors to gauge support for the project. 

Unique, beautiful spaces

When it came time to launch the campaign, she was hired to help manage it.

“I’ve facilitated lots of strategic planning sessions for other organizations in their facilities and I’ve had board meetings there for boards that I sit on,” Ms. Wastyn said. “So with that hat on, I can say it’s an invaluable community resource. It’s not common to have a free space that you can use and for that free space to be so unique and beautiful.”

She added “There’s lots of places in the community where groups can go if they need a space, and there’s not a lot that’s free and a lot of them are pretty sterile. But to be in a 100-plus-year-old room that’s outfitted for today but still retains a lot of the beauty and pictures and every time I go there I always see something new – it’s just an amazing environment.”

Ms. Calvert estimated that some 25,000 visit the Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman properties each year. The fundraiser will ensure they can go to the sites and get a glimpse into the past.

Doug Hultquist was the former director of finance and CFO for the William Butterworth Memorial Trust, which became the William Butterworth Foundation about a decade ago.

He’s no stranger to historic renovation. The financial institution he helped found, Quad City Bank & Trust, located its first Illinois Quad Cities bank in the historic Velie property in Moline. “It was a pleasure to come to work and we had a fair amount of customers that banked with us because they wanted to come into that building,” he told the QCBJ.

Keeping heritage alive

Campaign leaders say he also is an energetic and effective foundation fundraiser. “I think it’s just really important to keep the family heritage alive,” Mr. Hultquist told the QCBJ. “None of us can picture the Quad Cities without John Deere being here for the last 186 years. John Deere was the second mayor of Moline. And just think about it, if John Deere was not here what would the QC look like?” he asked.

The company’s reach extends beyond its factory doors and includes contributions like the John Deere Classic. Then, Mr. Hultquist said, “You think of how many businesses are here because they are suppliers of Deere or whatever and the thousands of employees that they have here, it’s just so important to what the Quad Cities has become and how it continues to be.”

And while funds raised so far won’t do everything the foundation hoped to do to preserve and restore the home “it is going to get us quite a bit,” Ms. Calvert said.

One project that has since been completed Ms. Calvert said today is meticulous recreation and restoration of the beautiful art glass windows in the living room by restoration contractor Glass Heritage. 

Then there is what Deere-Wiman staff calls the “Sitting Room.” It also was identified in a 1908 architectural drawing as the “Family Room.” And when the Wiman family lived there, Ms. Calvert said it is believed to have been used as an office or study by Charles Deere Wiman until his death in 1955. 

Charles pivotal leader

He was the son of William and Anna Deere Wiman, the great-grandson of John Deere, and the nephew of his predecessor, William Butterworth, Katherine Deere Butterworth’s husband.

Charles Deere Wiman began his Deere career earning 15 cents an hour as a line worker. He became company president at age 35. 

During Mr. Wiman’s tenure, and in between taking leaves from Deere to serve his country in wartime, the tractor-maker focused on research and new product development. For example, Deere introduced its Model A tractors in 1934 and a year later it added the Model “B.” Both were in demand and in production until 1952.

Work going on in the house, which was made possible by a two-year $40,000 grant from the Moline Regional Community Foundation, includes much-needed carpet and drapes for the living room. That has already made a marked difference in one of the home’s most used public spaces.

Even painting requires significant planning and testing. A company called Historic Surfaces took samples of the walls and trim to examine in its laboratory to determine layers of paint and finishes, Ms. Calvert said. Their data will inform decisions throughout the restoration process.

Future restoration work also includes the Carriage House, where Ms. Calvert said, “We’re working on ideas we’d like to do.” The foundation has already replaced old carpet tiles and hopes to do more with lighting as well as refresh amenities including a “little kitchenette” that’s “a little worse for wear,” she said.

Porch Party stars

This Sunday’s Porch Party also will be the first one celebrated since the City of Moline designated the Deere-Wiman house, carriage house and grounds as a city historic landmark in May.

Those who join the Gone Wild Porch Party from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday also can enjoy a free slice of cake to celebrate the fundraising campaign and the ongoing updates. 

True to its theme, the party also will feature an exclusive exhibition of the Butterworth Foundation’s collection of Audubon prints. Quad Citians are encouraged to join the nature-inspired activities and its small herd of working goats. Guests can tour all four buildings on the Deere-Wiman and Butterworth properties, including the tunnel that connects the Deere-Wiman House to the Carriage House. 

An interactive digital scavenger hunt will take participants across the properties. Guests are invited to bring a lawn chair to enjoy a lineup of music provided by Frankie Joe and the Kinfolk  at Deere-Wiman, The Velies at Butterworth Center Gazebo, and Jed Poust, who will play the historic Butterworth house organ.

Historic preservation and home repair experts also will be available to answer common homeowner questions.  

The Porch Party is free and open to the public. Food trucks will have a variety of food and beverages for sale and, new this year, the Butterworth Grounds will house a beer garden. The full line up of activities and events may be found at https://www.butterworthcenter.com/services.

Porch Party partners include: Figge Art Museum, Illinois Master Gardeners, Moline Horticultural Society, Popular Astronomy, Wild Ones, Quad Cities Photography Club, Quad Cities Basketry Guild, Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild, Illowa Orchid Society, QCPastPort, Moline Community Development Corporation, Blue Bench Workshop, City of Moline Historic Preservation Commission, Rockingham Farms, Beloved Widows and Olde Town Bakery.

Donations welcome

“The Porch Party is the perfect opportunity for the community to celebrate the close of our first capital campaign,” Ms. Calvert added. “The funds raised by the campaign are contributing to the restoration of the Deere-Wiman House, which is still in progress; but enough work has been done that folks can see that we are wisely investing their donations.”

That restoration work is expected to continue through 2028.

Quad Citians also are urged to make donations to preserve Deere-Wiman House. They can be made online here, by sending a check payable to the William Butterworth Foundation with a notation of “campaign” mailed to Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House, 1105 8th St., Moline, IL 61265; or giving a gift of stock, IRA contribution or other pledges.