Join us for a celebration of these historic structures and the woman who left her legacy to restore them.
Dedication of the Leah J. Wightman Round Barns
June 23, 2026 | 4 to 6 p.m.
1393 Saint Mary’s Road, Urbana, IL 61802
A brief program including remarks from campus leaders and friends of Leah J. Wightman will be followed by refreshments and opportunities to view the barns
About Our Donor, Leah J. Wightman
Leah J. Wightman grew up on a farm near Arcola, Illinois, just down the road from a round barn that had been built around the same time as the University of Illinois round barns.
After graduating from Arcola High School, Leah moved to Champaign to work and study at the University of Illinois. She became the manager of the bookstore for Parkland Community College when it opened in the late 1960s and became a national leader in that field. In 1977 she completed her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.
Throughout her life, she remained connected to her family and her agricultural heritage.
When she passed away toward the end of 2024, she left an estate valued at $10 million to name and sustain the three historic round barns at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Leah Wightman’s high school graduation portrait
About the Historic Round Barns
Thanks to the generous bequest by Leah J. Wightman, the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine will restore three historic round barns. The barns will undergo structural stabilization, roof and siding replacement, and framing repairs using historically accurate methods.
The adjacent manager’s house will be refurbished to support future educational and interpretive use.
These restorations will preserve the barns’ unique architecture and legacy while transforming the site into a space for public learning, outreach, and continued celebration of the region’s farming and veterinary history.
The three round barns were constructed between 1907 and 1913 as part of the University’s Experimental Dairy Farm at South Farm to showcase the labor-efficient and cost-effective design of round barns.
In 1994, the barns were designated as contributing structures in the National Register of Historic Places, as part of the University of Illinois Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District.
