Florida Educator Would Take Over Historic Trimborn Farm

Trimborn Farm. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will vote on a lease of the historic Trimborn Farm to a private operator in May.

Milwaukee County Parks, which owns the farm in Greenfield, hopes the deal will reactivate the farm and lead to the restoration of the neglected historic buildings.

Milwaukee County Parks is recommending the board approve a contract with Virginia Emmons McNaught, doing business in Wisconsin as Two Weathervanes LLC. Emmons McNaught is originally from Greenfield, and in 2023 she won the contract for the redevelopment and reuse of the Stelzer Barn and Dairy House in the Root River Parkway. She lives in the Miami-area and runs an education nonprofit in Miami Shores, Florida, called Educate Tomorrow and a college-preparatory public boarding school in Miami called The SEED School of Miami.

The 19th-century farm includes nine buildings sitting on approximately 7.3 acres of land at 8801 W. Grange Ave. Throughout its history, the property has been used for a variety of purposes, including lime production and dairy farming. The Milwaukee Parks Commission saved the property from encroaching suburban development in the early 1980s. The Park People of Milwaukee County restored the buildings in 2004, and the Milwaukee County Historical Society has run the farm as a historic park for the past two decades.

The county has a massive backlog of deferred maintenance, including a list of projects in the parks system estimated at approximately $500 million. The county has estimated the farm needs more than $1 million in maintenance, but only spends $15,000 on the farm annually. The proposed deal between Parks and Emmons McNaught requires her business to take on responsibility for renovations and repairs at the farm.

Parks plans to enter into a five-year lease with Emmons McNaught for $1 annually. In exchange, she will pay the county approximately 7.5% of net revenue and put another 7.5% of net revenue into reserves for maintenance, as well as assume responsibility for maintenance and historic renovations. All renovations must be performed “in a manner consistent with its designation on the National Register of Historic Places,” according to the lease agreement. The lease agreement sets a goal for a maintenance fund at $50,000.

Emmons McNaught’s proposal was selected, in part, for her plans to reactivate the farm and maintain public access year-round. She is planning large annual events, a cafe, venue rentals and educational programming while leasing space to artists and makers to sell their wares. In her bid, she estimated her programming and business plans could generate about $333,000 in revenue annually.

The farm is part of District 11, represented by Sup. Kathleen Vincent, who has shown support for the project. Vincent held a well-attended public meeting in February to discuss the project with constituents.

Not everyone who attended the meeting was happy with Emmons McNaught’s plans. Ron Raasch, a historic restorationist who lived on the farm with his family in the 1990s, criticized the plan to lease the farm to a private, commercial entity and called for ownership to be transferred to a nonprofit friends group. He took issue with the commercial activities, like a cafe and vendor stalls, saying they would disrupt the historic environment.

The county board’s Committee on Finance will vote on the contract later this month.

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