Preserving History
We preserve & maintain the Jefferson Homestead built in 1856.
The Jefferson Homestead was built in 1856 by a family who helped build a thriving agricultural and commercial outpost. Hiram Jefferson and his family came from Vermont with his family and settled here along the Des Plaines River in 1835, and maintained a large dairy farm on the property until the early 1900s.
The building and property were acquired by the Cook County Forest Preserve in 1918. In 1926 the Des Plaines Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America was formed in Chicago, IL, and in 1929 the Forest Preserve District granted the Des Plaines Chapter use of the building and grounds. We have been located here continuously since, maintaining the building and property entirely at our own expense.
