Stopping By: Funk Prairie Home offers 'jaw-dropping' tour
SHIRLEY – Looking for a place to visit that truly offers something for everybody? Then you're going to love this find in nearby McLean County – the Funk Prairie Home and museums at rural Shirley, southwest of Bloomington.
If you are interested in beautiful homes and furnishings, period herb gardens or formal flower gardens, local, state or national history, farming, early inventions, rock collecting, Indian artifacts, farm-drawn vehicles and implements – or the development of Funks G Hybrid seed corn – you should definitely consider "stopping by" this site.
And once you get there, everything is free, thanks to a trust established from the international sale of the family-owned corn company, ensuring that the site is beautifully maintained and that its museum space is being expanded.
The only catch is you need to call ahead to arrange for guide and historian Bill Case to be available.
Marquis de Lafayette Funk (named in honor of that famous French general) was born in 1834 in a nearby log cabin, but during 1863-64 he built a large house as a surprise for bride Elizabeth on the 2,000-acre farm given to him by his parents.
Most of the wood used throughout the home came from nearby Funk's Grove, which is another interesting stop in the area. As Case is fond of saying during the tour, "they used what they had." That includes original furniture on the wide veranda fashioned from grapevines.
A display in a sewing room in the Funk Prairie Home and museums in McLean County, south of Bloomington. By Vanda Bidwell
In fact, nearly all the furnishings and artifacts are original to the home. A family member lived there until 1971, and what was divided up after that time has been returned by generous family members.
It was family member Rey Jannusch, a great-great-granddaughter of Lafayette Funk, who was instrumental in restoring the home. She took on the project because she believed if the home continued to be open to the public, "we needed to be stepping it up." She chose all the paint and wallpaper, which are period-specific.
Two highlights of the interior furnishings are a suite of heavily carved pieces from a Pennsylvania cabinetmaker, who made similar pieces for President Ulysses S. Grant, and a square grand piano.
While Case terms the home "middle class," there is nothing middle class about the family's accomplishments. Case relates that the agriculture curriculum at the University of Illinois was originally based largely on the farming practices of the family.
Family members were also active in public service. In addition to elected office, they were instrumental organizers of the first Illinois State Fair, World Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair of 1893) and Chicago's Union Stockyards.
"They used their heads for more than a hat rack," Case is fond of saying as he relates many interesting stories throughout the hourlong tour.
One of Lafayette Funk's sons, DeLoss Funk, did not inherit the family fondness for farming. Instead, he used a car engine to power an electric generator he built in 1910 to provide the rural home and grounds with electric lights before most of Bloomington had them. This led a journalist from New York City to dub the site "City on the Prairie," according to Case.
Original light fixtures designed and built by DeLoss are still in the home and the original outdoor fixtures that illuminate the garden fountain and grass tennis courts provide "enough light to read by," according to Case.
Another of DeLoss' contributions is the advanced plumbing and accompanying electrical appliances he bought for his mother's kitchen. He even fashioned what Case terms "the first kitchen island," outfitted with an electrical outlet.
After a tour of the home and grounds, you are welcome to visit the Funk Gem & Mineral Museum, also on the property. Built in 1973, it houses a collection amassed by LaFayette Funk II, an engineer who traveled the world helping nations learn to use hybrid seed corn.
In addition to precious minerals and gems, the building houses rare fossils, Indian artifacts from the area and a huge collection of hard-to-find splash pot lids. There is also sandstone art, not made by human hands.
It's just plain hard to do justice to the museum's contents with mere words. "When we've had professors visit here, their jaws drop open," Case said.
There's even more to see if you continue through two additions added to the rock museum. The additions feature saddles and horse-drawn vehicles of all types that belonged to the family, plus an entire room devoted to memorabilia about Funks G Hybrids, historical political memorabilia, and the one-room Ben Funk School. Outside is the largest wood-peg construction barn standing in McLean County, with two Percheron draft horses and a pair of friendly goats in nearby enclosures.
It's truly worth the drive to this site because it's a rare bargain, especially with Case's narrative.
A piece of advice: wear comfortable shoes and prepare to spend an entire morning or afternoon if you want to see it all; more if you intend to stop at the other nearby attractions. Also, plan a repeat visit – you'll learn more each time.
Where: Funk Prairie Home and museum, 10875 Prairie Home Lane, rural Shirley.
Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, March through December.
Call ahead to arrange tour for individuals or groups by Bill Case, guide and historian.
Admission: Free to both adults and children.
Directions from Champaign: Take either I-74 or Route 136 west to I-55. Exit at Shirley (exit 154) and go east to blacktop road 1355E, marked by a Funks G Hybrid sign. Go south about 1 mile and the large white home will be visible on your left.
Telephone: 309-827-6792
Other nearby places: Visit historic Funk's Grove (take Old Route 66 south and west of Shirley). In this area are stands of virgin prairie timber, the new Sugar Grove Nature Center (309-874-2174; www.sugargrovenaturecenter.org), an historic clapboard church and the large family cemetery (maintained by relatives to the Funk family, the Thaddeus Stubblefield trust) and the nearby site of Funk's Grove Pure Maple Sirup, where maple sap is still gathered and boiled each spring. Also, you can get a pretty good meal any time of the day (or just a piece of pie with coffee) at the Dixie Trucker's Home in nearby McLean.
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