Historic Homes & Grounds

Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House offer a glimpse into Victorian family life and architectural innovations of the past century.

In 1872, John Deere's son, Charles, built the Deere-Wiman House for his wife, Mary Little Dickinson Deere, and their daughters, Anna and Katherine, born in 1864 and 1866, respectively. They named their Swiss Villa style residence "Overlook" because of its desirable hilltop location above the growing city of Moline, Illinois, and the family business, the John Deere Plow Works.

In 1892, Charles Deere built a new home a block from his beloved Overlook as a wedding gift for his youngest daughter, Katherine, and her husband William Butterworth. Over the years, the Butterworths tripled the size of the original house. After Katherine’s death in 1953, Butterworth Center was opened as a civic center to perpetuate her lifelong pattern of giving back to the community she loved.