Durant-Peterson House Museum c. 1974. Photo from archives of Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley.
In 1969, an old, white-painted brick and clapboard Greek Revival home lay vacant and dilapidated in the newly established LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve. Built by Bryant Durant in 1843, the home was one of the oldest in Kane County and had served as the cozy residence of the Durant and Peterson families during its 100+ year history. The old home told a rich story, but only if it could be restored.
In 1970 the Thornapple Questers, a local chapter of a national organization that studies, restores, and preserves antiques, became aware of the old home and decided to try to save it. They met with the Kane County Forest Commission (now the Forest Preserve District of Kane County) to request permission to restore and furnish the old home for a museum. The Forest Commission granted the request and the Questers got to work on restoring the old home which came to be known as the 1843 Durant-Peterson House.[1]
The Thornapple Questers recruited four other local Questers chapters to help raise money and provide labor for the extensive restoration work needed. By 1973, a new organization was needed to focus on the restoration of the Durant-Peterson House and to open it to the public as a museum. This new organization, made up mostly of members of these Questers groups, was named Restorations of Kane County (later changed to Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley), and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization on March 26, 1974. The first board members were Evelyn Johnson, George Keyser, Barbara Huntley, Norma Shearer, Phyllis Turner, Rosemarie Thomas, Lorraine Miller, and Bea Sutton. Some of the others who volunteered in leadership positions from the beginning included Nancy Polivka, Valery Shulick, Merle Walker Barnhart, Shirley France, Lorraine Phelps, Faye Bramer, Mike Dixon, and June Ziegler.
Throughout the following fifty years, similar grassroots efforts to save and share local history continued from the relentless efforts of hundreds of people, nearly all as volunteers, with the support of Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley (PPFV). In 1982, PPFV acquired the 1850 William Beith House in downtown St. Charles, restoring it for the organization’s office space on the second floor and a museum on the first floor.[2] The first two part-time paid staff members, which have now grown to four, were hired in 1985. They were needed to manage the organization’s growing responsibilities of encouraging the restoration of historic structures, operating museums, and fundraising to finance all this work.
PPFV’s museum operations expanded with the addition of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Fabyan Villa Museum in 1995, the Fabyan Japanese Garden in 2002, and the Sholes School Museum in 2018. These three plus the Durant-Peterson House Museum are owned by the Forest Preserve District of Kane County which contracts with PPFV to operate these historic sites and open them to the public. PPFV continues to own the Beith House, running its operations out of the second-floor office space and exploring more flexible uses for the first-floor museum space while preserving its historic decor.
The museums operated by PPFV have been regularly recognized for outstanding educational programming. Many long-time, dedicated volunteers such as Frank and Susan Wukitsch, Linda Saxer, Janet and Liz Safanda, Norma Smith, Joan Lasken, Janet Herreras, Betty Erickson, Maribeth van Loon, Alice Maupin, Darlene Larson, Marie Frasz, Sherry Whyte, Mary Jean Bankmann, Ayumi Soobratty, and hundreds more made these awards possible. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities was awarded in 1983 for youth programming at the Durant-Peterson House Museum. PPFV won a Certificate of Excellence Award for our Fabyan Villa Museum’s “Family Self-Guided Tour” and a Superior Achievement Award for an educational video about the Fabyans titled “Revisiting Riverbank: The Fabyans’ Grand Vision” in 1999 from the Illinois State Historical Society. The Junior Docent program at the Durant-Peterson House Museum won an Award of Excellence from the Illinois Association of Museums in 2003, as did PPFV’s newsletter in 2004, and children’s programming at the Fabyan Villa and Japanese Garden in 2006.
After working on the restoration of the Durant-Peterson House and Beith House, members of Restorations of Kane County recognized that helping others rehabilitate historic structures was more efficient than taking on those challenges themselves. This led to changing the name to Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley (PPFV) in 1993, clarifying its mission, narrowing its service area to the Tri-Cities of St. Charles, Geneva, and Batavia, and acknowledging the significance of working with many stakeholders “because what we’re going to achieve, we can only do it with partners,” explained Liz Safanda, former PPFV executive director, in a recent interview.[3]
This pivot to preservation education led PPFV to help save other historic properties or inspire their adaptive reuse such as:
Fabyan Villa Museum (Geneva)
Country Day School (Geneva)
Dodson House (Geneva)
Farnsworth House (St. Charles) lost
Riverbank Laboratories (Geneva)
Fabyan Windmill (Geneva)
1893 Viking Ship (Geneva)
South Geneva Historic District (Geneva) unsuccessful
Pure Oil Station (Geneva)
Jones Law Office (St. Charles)
Judd Mansion (St. Charles)
Campana (Batavia) unsuccessful
Alexander Brothers’ Blacksmith Shop / Mill Race Inn (Geneva) ongoing
Amasa White House (Geneva) ongoing
Heinz Cut Glass Factory (St. Charles)
Along the way, PPFV won several awards for historic preservation including a Driehaus Award for Preservation Advocacy for earning a $53,000 grant for the 1893 Viking Ship in 2009 and another a Driehaus Award for Preservation Advocacy for the repurpose and rehabilitation of the Pure Oil Station in 2013. PPFV was also involved in the efforts to rehabilitate the Fabyans’ Riverbank Laboratories, which won a Driehaus Award for Rehabilitation in 2005.
From the passion of a small group of volunteers to save one old home, PPFV has grown to be a vital organization for the saving and sharing of local history. PPFV’s perseverance for fifty years is a testament to the enormous value the people of the Fox Valley place on their history. Without their commitment, the stories of St. Charles, Geneva, and Batavia would disappear, and with it, the quality of life in these communities. The success of PPFV, though, belongs to every resident of the Fox Valley who has visited one of our museums, volunteered, or become a member or donor. Therefore, during our 50th anniversary year, we want to thank you who have believed in and supported the importance history has for the future.
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[1] Ruth S. Pearson, “Past to Live Again in Durant House,” St. Charles Chronicle, October 4, 1972, 21.
[2] Mary Claire Harris, “Restorations of Kane County,” St. Charles Chronicle, November 9, 1988, 38.
[3] Elizabeth Safanda, “Preserving the Tri-Cities: A Fifty Year History of Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley,” by Al Watts, Archives of Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley, St. Charles, Il, September 13, 2023, 30:44.
Additional material for this article was taken from newsletters in the archives of Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley in St. Charles, IL.