The owner of the Homer Township farm where the steel plow was invented wants to erect a mural to commemorate the act she says “opened up the whole world for farming,” but Will County officials will have to revise current law to allow it.
More Top Picks How To Lower Blood Sugar Naturally
“I think it would be cool if they could just see that on the barn,” said Sylvia Zielke, owner of the 3.44-acre John Lane farm at 16217 S. Gougar Rd. in unincorporated Lockport in Homer Township. Lane was a blacksmith, farmer and early settler who invented the plow in 1833 on the property, she said.
“At that time it was the biggest invention there ever was,” Zielke said.
Homer Township’s flag depicts a steel plow in honor of John Lane, Homer Township Clerk Linsey Sowa said.
Zielke proposes having a volunteer artist paint the mural, about 10 feet by 20 feet, which would be mounted on a metal pole barn within view of a historic landmark monument noting Lane, she said.
Her plan has run into a roadblock in the form of a county ordinance prohibiting any murals that are not governmental or institutional.
“Her property is private property,” said David Dubois, county director of the Development Review Division and zoning administrator.
Zielke has appealed to the Will County Planning and Zoning Commission, which agreed it was not allowed, but officials have indicated the law may be revised.
“This summer we will be revisiting the zoning ordinance,” Dubois said, explaining that allowing a mural like what Zielke has proposed “may be one topic” that could be considered.
A few years ago, a hotel expressed interest in purchasing the John Lane farm, but Zielke did not sell because of uncertainty over whether the history would be preserved. While she is not a descendant of John Lane – her late husband’s grandmother purchased the farm in the late 1940s from a family that had married into Lane’s family – she said the property has historic importance.
“This is the one and only site,” Zielke said. explaining that there is nowhere else that the first steel plow was invented. “….If I don’t try to secure this and keep it designated as John Lane’s site, it will get lost.”
There is also a large dairy barn on the property that may be nominated for historic preservation, she said.
Recently, Zielke, who had taken a break from farming to pursue a career in business, established Sunny Lane Acres, a takeoff on her nickname “Sunshine” and John Lane, which sells naturally farmed fruits and vegetables. In late August, she hopes to have a John Lane Day on the property, perhaps giving artists the opportunity to come there to draw, she said.
The muralwould “keep the identity of this man in front of the public so they can understand the value of what he created,” Zielke said.