Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House

What Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House does

Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House is a dual-venue historic house museum and community center in Moline, Illinois, operated since 1956 by the William Butterworth Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 46-4274627) that receives no financial support from the City of Moline or Deere & Company. The organization stewards two Victorian-era mansions — the 1872 Deere-Wiman House (originally Overlook), built by Charles Deere, and the 1892 Butterworth Center (originally Hillcrest), built as a wedding gift for Katherine Deere Butterworth — along with two ancillary venues, the Butterworth Education Center and the Deere-Wiman Carriage House. Its portfolio includes an 18th-century Italian Venetian ceiling painting (one of six known in the U.S.), Bennett-Stannke and Kimball pipe organs, Steinway grand pianos at both homes, and period furnishings tied to four generations of John Deere descendants.

The operating model layers three revenue and service streams. First, the foundation provides free docent-guided tours and free meeting space to more than 200 not-for-profit and educational organizations, hosting over 1,400 meetings and activities annually on a no-fee basis supported primarily by donations and the foundation's underlying endowment. Second, a slate of paid rentals launched from 2023 onward monetizes the estate: weddings at Butterworth Center, corporate events, qualifying nonprofit galas, music recitals (nominal fee), photography permits ($75-$300), and Family History Camps ($70 per family of four). Third, a William Butterworth Foundation Scholarship program awards $2,500 to students at five regional colleges (Augustana, Black Hawk, Scott Community College, St. Ambrose, Western Illinois-Quad Cities) pursuing arts, culture, education, or charitable-work programs.

Distribution is purely regional, anchored in the Quad Cities and executed through direct on-site reservations, a multilingual website with Eventbrite tour registration, a monthly YouTube 'Deere Family Homes' series, Facebook and Instagram accounts, and Constant Contact email. Educational outreach includes classroom visits, teacher lesson plans, school-age field trips (priced free), and paid summer day camps for ages 6-10. Customer segments split between non-paying 501(c)(3) / educational tenants, paying private renters (couples, corporations, photographers, music instructors, families), and general visitors; there is no enterprise SaaS, developer-facing API, or technology stack beyond standard web and event-management tooling.

Name

Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House

Legal name

William Butterworth Foundation

Website

https://butterworthcenter.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1956

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House is a Quad Cities, Illinois-based 501(c)(3) operating two 19th-century Deere-family Victorian mansions as a community center. It hosts free tours and meeting space for 200+ nonprofits annually alongside a paid rental program for weddings, corporate events, and educational programming.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Moline

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House operates two historic Victorian-era mansions in Moline, Illinois as a community center offering free docent-guided tours, free meeting space for over 200 nonprofit organizations, educational programs for schools and summer camps, and paid private event rentals including weddings, corporate events, nonprofit galas, music recitals, and photography permits. The organization is supported by an annual fund, the Deere-Wiman House Campaign, and the William Butterworth Foundation scholarship program.

Product overview

Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House is a dual-venue historic house museum and community center operated by the William Butterworth Foundation. The organization offers two primary historic house venues—Butterworth Center (an 1892 Victorian mansion) and Deere-Wiman House (an 1872 Swiss Villa-style home)—plus two ancillary venues: the Butterworth Education Center and Deere-Wiman Carriage House. These venues serve three core functions: (1) guided docent tours of the historic homes, (2) free meeting space and programs for over 200 not-for-profit organizations, and (3) paid rental services including weddings, corporate events, nonprofit galas, and music recitals. Educational programming includes school tours, summer day camps, and scholarship support at regional colleges.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Butterworth Center (Hillcrest) venue Historic 1892 Victorian mansion in Moline, Illinois available for tours, meetings, and private events. Includes library with theater-style seating for 60, Steinway grand piano, and dining room seating 38 (up to 58).
• Deere-Wiman House (Overlook) venue Historic 1872 Swiss Villa-style home built by Charles Deere, son of John Deere. Open for guided tours and private events with living room theater-style seating for 40, Steinway grand piano, and dining room seating up to 36.
• Butterworth Education Center Converted carriage house/garage facility used as a meeting venue with meeting room accommodating 40 in classroom setup or up to 80 at banquet tables, and a small auditorium with built-in AV equipment seating up to 30.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,400 meetings and activities hosted annually
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Hearst Castle: Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California is a National Historic Landmark estate museum offering guided tours, special events, and educational programs operated through California State Parks. A scaled-up reference point for a historically significant residential property converted into a museum and event venue.
• Meadow Brook Hall: Meadow Brook Hall is a Tudor-revival historic house museum in Rochester, Michigan operated as a self-supporting nonprofit, offering tours, weddings, corporate events, and educational programs. Shares the same combination of mansion tours, paid event rentals, and nonprofit governance model as Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House.
• Biltmore Estate: Biltmore is the largest historic house museum in the U.S., operating guided tours, weddings, event rentals, wine revenue, and educational programming on a Gilded Age estate. It is a scaled-up analog of Butterworth's mansion-tour-plus-event-rental model, illustrating the upper bound of monetization potential for a historic house museum.
• Lyndhurst Mansion: Lyndhurst is a Gothic Revival mansion operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Tarrytown, NY, offering tours, educational programs, and event rentals. Comparable to Butterworth as a Victorian-era historic house museum that combines heritage tourism with paid and free programming.
• Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: Vizcaya is a historic Italian Renaissance-style estate museum in Miami, Florida offering guided tours, weddings, corporate event rentals, and educational programming. Comparable to Butterworth as a Gilded Age/period mansion museum monetizing through tours, event rentals, and a small operating staff.

Regional players

• Figge Art Museum: The Figge Art Museum is a regional art museum in Davenport, Iowa, directly across the Mississippi River from Moline. It is a close Quad Cities cultural peer sharing the same regional donor base, school-tour audience, and event-rental market.
• Naper Settlement: Naper Settlement is an outdoor history museum in Naperville, Illinois featuring historic buildings, school programs, summer camps, and event rentals. Operates a similar multi-building historic site model with K-12 education and private-event revenue lines.
• German American Heritage Center: The German American Heritage Center is a small heritage museum and cultural center in Davenport, Iowa focused on immigration history, exhibits, and community programming. Comparable in scale, mission, and Quad Cities regional audience to Butterworth's community-center-meets-museum model.
• Rock Island Arsenal Museum: The Rock Island Arsenal Museum is a free U.S. Army museum on Arsenal Island in Rock Island, Illinois, offering historic tours, exhibits, and educational programming. Comparable to Butterworth as a Quad Cities heritage/education institution with similar audience and mission.

Direct peers

• John Deere Historic Site (John Deere Home & Shop): The John Deere Home & Shop in Grand Detour, Illinois is a Deere-family historic property offering public tours, school programs, and heritage education. It is the most directly comparable Deere-heritage historic site, sharing the same family story, regional Illinois setting, and education-tourist operating model as Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCh_fE8Yu73pde2VPtzJ8tUQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/ButterworthCenterAndDeereWimanHouse
• Instagraminstagram.com/butterworthcenter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/butterworth-center-deere-wiman-house

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House