Vehe family farm typical of the era

A significant portion of Lake County's history centers on its agricultural past. That history is represented in the stories of settler-farmers like the Vehes of Ela Township.

About 1848, John Leonard Vehe (1825-1901) immigrated from Germany with his wife Anna. They settled in New York and then in Palatine. Vehe was a shoemaker, but in 1866, he moved his family to today's Deer Park where he purchased 140-acres along Cuba Road. Vehe built a farmhouse and barn (c. 1872) for his family's new life. The barns of this generation tended to be larger than those of previous eras to accommodate multiple uses. Vehe built the barn's foundation out of the farm's fieldstones, which had been deposited by the melting of the last glacier.

The farm was self-sufficient in many ways. The family planted crops to sell at market, and also retained some of the harvest for their own needs, while maintaining a vegetable garden for variety of produce. They also had milking cows, pigs and chickens.

About 1880, Vehe and his sons, John and Charles, traveled to South Dakota where they staked a claim. The sons remained to farm in Bristol, S.D.

John Vehe died in 1901, but his sons, William, Frederick and George, continued to farm the land, splitting the property. That same year, Frederick married Alvina Hannaly, who had been the family's housekeeper. Frederick was a stockholder in the Palatine, Lake Zurich & Wauconda Railroad, which operated from 1913-24.

Frederick and Alvina's son, Edwin (1905-1988), was the last Vehe to farm this land. In 1939, he married Mae Brandt (1905-1999) of Barrington's Brandt Dairy family. Ed and Mae enlarged the farm's dairy cow operation, and Mae had a thriving egg route, selling to local families. They also kept dogs as pets, and had lots of farm cats.

In their later, years, Ed and Mae sold off the cows and spent time traveling. When Mae died, her heirs intended to sell the farm, but residents of Deer Park appealed to the village to buy and preserve the farm as open space and a unique historical site. Grants and private donations made the purchase possible, and the farm and its remaining buildings were renovated into public spaces.

Inside the barn the hand-hewn beams are still a visible testament to John Vehe's work. The Vehe Farm Foundation recently donated Vehe family farm implements and photographs to the Lake County Discovery Museum to continue the preservation of the Vehe's story.