HUNTLEY – Membership is trumping museums these days in the fledgling Huntley Historical Society.
“We are focusing now on building up our membership and gaining more financial and human resources,” Jake Marino, one of the founders of the organization, said last week. “Our plan to establish a museum in the Deicke farmhouse has become more of a long-range project.”
Marino gave the Sun Day an update on the society’s activities during an interview in the Huntley Library, where he is a full-time member of the staff.
While it is a historical organization, the society is a very young one. It was established in 2009 by a group of area residents who wanted to formalize their keen interest in the area’s history, form an organization that would be¬come a prominent part of the community, and preserve and display historical information and artifacts. One of their first priorities was to establish an administrative home and museum.
The Huntley Historical Society is still hoping to move into the farmhouse located near Deicke Park, (pictured) but is currently more focused on building membership and financing. (Chris LaPelusa I Sun Day Photo)
At first, things moved quickly.
Society members identified the 170-year-old Deicke farmhouse at Main Street and Lee Lane as a possible site for a potential office-museum. The house is located on Huntley Park District property and has been used as a storage facility by the park district in recent years. Initial discussions with park officials led to an agreement in principle that the museum idea was potentially feasible.
But challenges remain. A formal agreement between the society and the park district must be adopted. Extensive and costly exterior and interior renovation of the house is needed. Funding sources must be established, and the society needs to develop into a viable organization.
“We spent much of 2012 discussing the legal aspects of developing our organization and the details of the museum project,” Marino said. “We weren’t focusing on history. Our membership dwindled. Some important people moved on to other things. We are slowly but surely recovering from that, but it will take time. We are still talking with lawyers and park officials about the museum idea, but on a more long-range basis. We have a long way to go to finalize an agreement with the park district and define the financial and administrative responsibilities of each party.”
But the talk with Marino wasn’t all about challenges. He also revealed some of the history of the Deicke home and some of his own ideas about what can be done with it.
“Our research reveals that this home is one of the oldest buildings in McHenry County, and maybe the oldest one still standing,” he said.
The Deicke farm was one of five in the Huntley area owned by Edwin Deicke, who moved here in the 1840s after establishing an insurance business in the DuPage County area. He was one of the wealthiest farmers in Huntley in the mid- 19th century. Research also reveals that he built the house around 1841. He probably built the barn first because that was the way farms were developed in those days. Deicke also later built the home that still stands on the north side of Main Street, across from the original farmhouse.
Deicke holdings extended south and east over most of what is now Deicke Park, Sting Ray Bay, several athletic fields, and the Cosman Center.
“We have talked about eventually renovating the house back to the way it was in about 1900, in its heyday as a prominent location in the community,” Marino said. “We have been trying to find pictures of the building, but so far we have been mostly unsuccessful. Old photos would be valuable to tell us how to take the building back to a certain historical time.”
Marino is an original member of the Society board. The group meets every other month in the park district’s Cosman Center. It is planning a series of promotions and events to increase its visibility in the community.
As an example, it set up shop at a table at the first 2013 Farm¬er’s Market in the village square on May 25 and conducted activities honoring current and former Huntley-area firefighters.
