| Additional News -
WHEATLAND PLOWING MATCH MONUMENTS
BY G. Alan Diehl
There are two monuments on 119th Street, Ľ mile east of Route 59, owned and dedicated to the Wheatland Plowing Match Association. The first monument came about when Will County was 100 years old in 1936. Each township was invited to do something special to commemorate the centennial year, so Wheatland Township erected the monument at 111th Street and Route 59. At the time, this was considered the center of the township. The monument states that the first plowing match was held on September 22, 1877. Forty years later in 1976, after the 100th annual Plowing Match, the matches were discontinued and the WPMA bought a 100 x 100 foot lot on the Byron Haag Farm, where Spaulding School was located. Back in 1977 this was Alexander Brown Farm, which was where the first Wheatland Plowing Match was held.
When the decision was made to erect the monument on the site, there was some opposition in the community to moving the original stone from Rout 59 and 111th Street, so a new monument was erected. The inscription on this monument is follows: “Dedicated to all the people who tilled the land and furthered agriculture during this 100 years of progress”.
In spring of 1990, the Wheatland Plowing Match Association came to be recognized when a lot of the old-time members joined with the Farmers Riverwalk of Naperville members. Our organization’s new goal and purpose became “Dedicated to the preservation of our rural heritage”.
Several years ago our original monument on 111th Street and Route 59 was hit by a motor vehicle (a visible black “scar” can be seen from the accident). At that time, the decision was made to move the monument to our historical lot on 119th Street.
And that is why you see two stone monuments dedicated to the Wheatland Plowing Match Association at the site of the first Plowing Match in 1877. |
