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Mongerson Farm Opportunity
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Letters Needed to Support $500,000 Federal Grant Request
Vision for the future is a tradition now moving into its third century at Garfield Farm Museum. That tradition began with a 19th century woman's dream that the 1846 Timothy Garfield Inn and Farmhouse would one day be a museum to honor Illinois settlers. A 20th century woman enlarged that vision to establish Illinois' only historically intact 1840s working prairie farm museum. Now with its third century leadership, a greater vision of an educational campus for understanding the interconnections and challenges of farming, the environment and America's cultural heritage will be achieved with the addition of the Mongerson Brothers 99-acre farmstead.
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The "carpenter gothic" style |
The rectangular 99-acre Mongerson farm parcel is nestled on two sides by the L shaped 281 acre Garfield Farm. The Mongerson property is the last available unsecured block of open space in what is becoming a 2000-acre corridor of open space owned by 8 different cooperative public and private entities in the heart of rapidly developing Kane County. Recognized by both the Kane County Board's 2020 Land Resource Management Plan and the St.Charles Planning Commission as proposed, yet unprotected open space, it fits an agenda of smart growth as all land south of it is planned for residential development. It further buffers and affects ground water levels of the adjacent St.Charles Township Park District's Campton Hills Park, a 250 acre prairie and U.S. Fish and Wildlife sponsored wetlands restoration project. The neighboring St.Charles Youth Center owned by the Illinois Department of Corrections likewise benefits from the Mongerson property being a benign farm setting versus a development of over 100 houses.
Historically, the Mongerson farm was part of Timothy Garfield's 440-acre claim, which he purchased from the U.S. government in the early 1840s. In 1859 he gave his son Edward this parcel and while hewing logs for his son's new farm, was stricken with chest pains. Edward Garfield would develop his farm as one of the great dairy farms that dominated northern Illinois agriculture for more than a century. Edward's Carpenter Gothic style house is one of only four intact such structures in Kane County and is so portrayed in the Kane County Board's published Built for Farming. In 1936, Edward's grandson, Everett Garfield, sold the farm to the Mongerson family, reflecting the regional pattern of farm ownership change from New England settlers to Scandinavian farm families.
With the 678 home Foxmill development to the north of Garfield Farm Museum, the 700+ acres to be developed south of the museum and Mongerson farm, this mix of development and open space is what today's smart growth planners aspire to achieve. Such a community once built out would retain residential desirability. Additionally, community diversity would be retained as a local farmer could afford to remain in the community by renting this and the museum's farmland providing additional revenue stream for the museum. This would result in a model of preservation and development for consideration throughout the country.
Garfield Farm Museum regularly receives calls as to how to save and utilize farmland at the urban edge. A model program could be established to demonstrate how to retain a farm in a developing community using its assets and resources to engage the public in a variety of issues. In this era of concern for food safety, a place where the public could go and observe food production with different techniques is rare. As an expansion of the educational campus that Garfield Farm currently provides, the Mongerson farmstead and eight buildings will be a forum for ideas and common ground amongst often disparate yet mutually dependent parties, farmers and consumers. Public access to farms is very rare, as farmers have neither the time nor a liability comfort level for such access.
With preservation of the buildings, keeping the land in agriculture and open space, and using the site for education, the county's desire to see this open space preserved could be accomplished without burdening the taxpayers with an additional long term county management expense, school taxes, and road congestion. Securing the property would also better link the natural areas to the east, west, and north increasing wildlife habitat. Economic benefits include an additional learning site for school children, addition of tourism dollars to the region, and enhanced storm water protection to downstream Mill Creek communities of Geneva and Batavia.
The buildings would offer greater opportunities to other regional and national non profit organizations that share concerns with Garfield Farm Museum. A broader array of programs allowing greater participation by other non-profit organizations that are hard pressed to find new economical ways of reaching and serving their constituencies could be held at the Mongerson farm site. As Garfield Farm Museum's specific focus is on making relevant authentic 1840s farm life for current and future issues, an additional multi-purpose farm site would greatly augment and extend its educational impact. Garfield Farm Museum's long history of partnering with other organizations has helped those groups and made the museum more sustainable. The potential to expand this successful formula is very exciting.
The successful acquisition of the Mongerson Brothers farm would strengthen the image of traditional open countryside at the current edge of suburban sprawl. For urban visitors to Garfield Farm Museum, their experience would be amplified as a real rural experience. They could gain a better sense of just how large an area farms must occupy to produce an abundant food supply. The visitors' would more easily grasp the traditional generational family farm concept by traveling from the father's farm to the son and grandson's farm. Collectively, the two farms represent the evolution of farming in northern Illinois, from wheat to dairy.
Students could see comparable sized herds of farm animals that Timothy Garfield had as the Mongerson farmstead could provide more modern facilities to reduce cost of care of such numbers. These facilities would also allow breeding of the rare farm animals that Garfield Farm needs and thus aid in preservation of endangered breeds. The Mongerson site has two houses that would provide additional space for housing staff making it more affordable for history professionals to live and work in an increasingly expensive neighborhood. The site also provides a more appropriate location for a collection and archives facility to be built at a future date. The historic neighboring Garfield Cemetery, owned and operated by the independent non-profit Campton Cemetery Association, would retain its historic view, surrounded on all four sides by the two farms. This would aid in the cemetery's effort to be landmarked as a historic site.
Overall, the flexibility that the Mongerson site offers to improve the experience of visitors to Garfield Farm and increase sustainable revenues for the project is unparalleled. This opportunity is one that exemplifies the museum's ability to acquire and protect lands that no other entities can do. A fifteen year relationship with the Mongerson family and the museum's demonstrated ability to succeed has made the owners willing sellers to the museum and the museum only provided adequate economic consideration is given and the farm is preserved and used for education. The owners will otherwise hold it off the market until the right real estate development offer is made.
Garfield Farm Museum, owned by Campton Historic Agricultural Lands, Inc., a 501(c) 3 non-profit land preservation agency, consists of 281 acres of open farmland, natural areas, and original historic buildings. The founding of Garfield Farm Museum necessitated development of self-reliance to survive and grow. A tradition of successfully meeting large challenges began within months of the museum's founding in 1977. The unexpected death of the donor left the then 163-acre project in immediate need of $200,000 to secure a remaining 50 acres. Identifying individuals that would co-sign a loan kept the farm intact in its infancy. The museum's innovative methods, shared and copied by others, drew upon all the museum's at hand resources to maximize on its educational impact while undergoing restoration and capital expansion. Recognizing and seizing undeniable opportunities as they arose, the museum has grown through less favorable economic times. By using the land, the buildings, the history, the talents of volunteers and staff and partnered programming. Garfield Farm Museum generates sustaining revenues that foster new opportunities for such vision quests.
The purchase of the Mongerson farm will be accomplished with the successful fundraising efforts that are the hallmarks of Garfield Farm Museum. The museum has had over 2300 households from 37 states and three countries donate funds and volunteer labor. Over $2.7 million has been put into Garfield Farm Museum with tens of thousands of hours of volunteer time. From 80 to 100% of the five capital campaigns' and the annual operating funds have come from individual donors and visitors. Just one letter in September 1999 to the museum's donors suggesting the opportunity to buy the land resulted in $70,000 to insure staff salaries for the next 12 months so larger purchase funds could be pursued. Remarkably, an additional unsolicited $125,000 was pledged for purchase of this land. Several public funding agencies have expressed interest in helping with this campaign as well. As the museum has anticipated the need for such a fiscal campaign, regional and corporate entities will be solicited. A well-established track record and visibility in the community will generate excitement from such regional entities and corporations that have purposely not been approached in the past.
Garfield Farm Museum has three thematic assets: its cultural history, its agriculture and its natural areas. With these themes and the related physical resources, the museum has partnered since its inception with other non profit groups.
Realizing the need for cooperative effort with different expertise, the museum was founded with two agencies. In addition to Campton Historic Agricultural Lands, Inc., Garfield Heritage Society Inc. was formed to deal with the day to day historic interpretation of the site. As an independent entity, GHS, Inc. has an annual budget of $70,000. It would provide a key role in the interpretation of the Mongerson Brothers farm. For over 22 years these two organizations have work together to insure the realization of the donor's wishes (Miss Elva Garfield) that the land and the history of Garfield Farm be preserved for public education.
At the cultural level, the museum has worked with the National Trust, Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, the Illinois State Questers and local Quester chapters, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Children of .the American Revolution, the Campbell Center Restoration College Association, the Kane DuPage Regional Museums Association, Kane County Historic Preservation Office, the Lincoln Highway Association, the Mid-West Tool collectors Association, the Early American Industries Association, the Warrenville Folk Music Society, numerous local museums and preservation groups, for group meetings, conferences, consultations, and projects.
Partnering with national agricultural interests such as the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and the Seed Savers Exchange has involved annual shows at the museum featuring these organizations and their members, generating extensive press coverage of these groups, obtaining new members for them, and raising funds shared with these two groups. The museum also supports the annual Ag Days held by the Kane County Farm Bureau.
Environmental related organizations Garfield Farm Museum has worked with include Chicago Open Lands, Lake Forest Open Lands Association, Conservation Foundation, Campton Woods Homeowners Association, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Conservation Fund, Sierra Club, Campton Hills Park and Kane DuPage Soil and Water Conservation District. Combined projects, providing services to these groups, and/or promoting their work have been an ongoing tradition.
The museum's proudest work has been with youth groups such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Illinois Math & Science Academy students, area high school students, and others to help these young people with projects they must complete for scholastic or extra curricular requirements. The museum has helped over 70 Boy Scouts achieve Eagle rank by providing a laboratory for these young people to learn civic responsibility and community involvement. At the professional level, the museum has housed and trained undergraduate and graduate students in museum operations and development.
A $2.5 million fund is being established to acquire the 99-acre Mongerson Brothers Farmstead for the Garfield Farm Expansion.
| Purchase Price: |
$2.227,500 |
| Financing costs |
$ 185,000 |
| Development Staff |
$ 70,000 |
| Professional services |
$ 10,000 |
| Materials |
$ 7,500 |
| Total |
$2,500,000 |
Time line: for Fundraising and Purchase
In 15 months: $1 million cash raised and financing the remainder at closing
In 27 months $500,000 + $96,000 interest
In 39 months $400,000 + $58,000 interest
In 51 months $327,500 + $26,000 interest
Beginning after closing, the museum will realize $10,000 annually in cash rent of the farmland.
Funding Sources
The museum has 15 months to raise and arrange financing of the $2.5 million goal.
$ 150,000 pledged
$ 100,000 CHAL revolving land acquisition fund
$ 500,000 sought from public sources
$ 250,000 from foundation donors
$1,500,000 from museum donors
$ 2,500,000
Several options exist for short or long term financing if needed to complete the acquisition. These include a traditional mortgage, low interest loans from land preservation agencies' revolving funds, or issuance of a tax-exempt 30-year bond. The museum has a well-established record of managing and negotiating favorable debt loads to advance the Project. The 1987 38-Acre acquisition was done with a negotiated interest free loan and the Mill Creek Prairie was purchased as a bargain sale. The $200,000 initial loan at the museum's founding has been reduced to $22,000 from memorials and bequests.
Questions or comments about this web page: rjan@galleonslap.net
