Restoring A Dream - The Greene Farm Barn

The Tribune has an article today about the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County's efforts to restore and reuse the Greene Farm Barn in the Greene Valley FP. Bill Greene had originally sold most of his farm to the District in the early 70's at a below market price, because he had wanted it to be preserved as open space for the people in DuPage County. Bill Greene was one of the founding members of the Conservation Foundation. He only sold the land around the house and barn for the full value, so he could set up a trust fund to help maintain it. His intent (that he had included in the paperwork when he deeded the land to the District) was for the buildings to be used for historical, educational, recreational and cultural activities for the people of DuPage County.


Portions of the barn are pre-Civil War. A walk through the barn is a walk throught the history of barn building. At the one end, the beams are put together with mortise and tenon. At the other end, they used steel rods and nails. Many of the stones in foundation was taken from the quarry (Centenial Beach) in Naperville. They paid for the stones by cutting ice in the winter and selling it around town. It took two years to get enough stones for the work. My guess is that the older beams were acorns when George Washington was a boy.


Bill Greene was a Man of Vision. He gave us a marvelous gift. Let's make Bill's dream come true!