Richard “Shorty” Dickson stands by the 150-year old barn at the Dickson-Murst Farm where he grew up.

There recently was a barn raising at Dickson-Murst Farm. Literally, it was a barn raising as opposed to building a barn with neighborhood help.

The 150-year old barn at the Montgomery farm was lifted off the foundation so a new one could be poured and also to repair rotted posts and support beams.

“This was the original barn, you can tell by the posts,” Richard Dickson said, referring to the north structure. He grew up there and is the “Dickson” in Dickson-Murst.

Ken Wolf oversees the project and is a long-time volunteer of the Dickson-Murst Partners. The Partners, a volunteer group of The Conservation Foundation, maintain the farm buildings and organize special events such as the Farm Festival and Blugrass Jam to raise money through donations and food sales.

“We put in about $10,000 toward the renovations,” Wolf said. “That’s a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers.”

Indeed. That’s why donations are being sought to help complete the project. Wolf estimates about $40,000 still is needed to replace rotted boards, reframe and rebuild the windows, and to cover the most costly item: painting the large barn.

Wolf said the group has been stacking up boards from older barns in the area to use once the rotted ones are removed.

Dickson said the original farm was about 240 acres, of which about four is now owned by The Conservation Foundation. He lives across the street on about 80 acres.

He said his family emigrated from Scotland to Canada and then settled in this region, raising beef cattle, dairy cows, sheep, and hogs in addition to farming corn, beans, wheat, oats, and hay.

Dickson recalls his father owned “a pair of Dappled Gray mares and we had a bobsled” for winter sleigh rides.

“We’d grab a bowl of chili and the young adults from our church would go bobsledding,” he said.

Dickson grew up on the farm along with two sisters, one of whom married a Murst. He said the Mursts lived there for nearly 30 years, which is how the farm got its hyphenated name.

Anyone interested in making donations to help restore the Dickson-Murst barn can send checks made payable to The Conservation Foundation to Dickson-Murst Farm, 2550 Dickson Rd., Montgomery, IL 60538 and indicate “barn restoration.”

For more information on volunteering with the Dickson-Murst Partners, call (630) 272-0686.

About the Conservation Foundation

The Conservation Foundation is one of the region’s largest and oldest private conservation organizations — with more than 4,000 members and donors, and more than 500 volunteers who contribute 20,000 hours per year.

Work is focused in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will Counties to preserve and restore nature in your neighborhood. Find out more attheconservationfoundation.org.

The 150-year old barn was raised from the foundation to reveal rotted posts and supports which will be repaired and replaced after a new foundation is poured.  Photo by Sandy Kaczmarski courtesy of the Conservation Foundation.