William Butterworth Foundation
We are excited to partner with local teachers and education majors to create lesson plans about              local history.

Both Iowa and Illinois require teachers to include local history at all classroom levels. To help meet that requirement, in collaboration with a growing number of local historical organizations—such as the John Deere Archives, Putnam Museum, and Rock Island County Historical Society—the historic Deere family homes will serve as resources for local teachers.

This project began in Spring 2024 with input and lesson plans from local high school history teachers with intentions to add both middle school and elementary levels in the future. Please continue to watch this project grow as plans become available to introduce more students to our rich local history. If you are a teacher and would like to participate, contact Gretchen Small for more information, at gsmall@butterworthcenter.com.