Historic Kane County Farm Given National Designation

The George Crego Farm is located on Finley Road in Blackberry Township, just south and west of IL Route 47.

The farmstead consists of the main house, worker’s house, granary, smoke house, machine shed, banked barn, a ceramic structural tile silo, hog furrowing house and metal grain bin. It has historical significance from 1852 to 1920 for agriculture and is a significant example of a successful 19th century dairy and grain farm.

The once prevalent farmsteads of the 19th century is an endangered resource that have been rapidly vanishing since the 1950s. As a result, few farmsteads, like the Crego Farm are associated with farm production today.

In April, the Kane County Historic Preservation Commission approved the nomination of the Crego Farm for the National Register of Historic Places. The request for the designation was made by the current owner of the farm.

Over the summer, the County was notified by the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office that the Crego Farm was entered in the National Register of Historic Places.

Since the creation of the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, thousands of Illinois historic and prehistoric places have been designated as important resources worthy of preservation.

According to the National Park Service, under federal Law, the listing of a property in the National Register places no restrictions on what a non-federal owner may do with their property up to and including destruction, unless the property is involved in a project that receives federal assistance, usually funding or licensing/permitting.