Our offices, located at historic Windy Hills Farm, include modern design studios, conference facilities, materials and research libraries, and a model shop. Technology keeps us in close touch with our clients and project members no matter where they are.
The story of Windy Hills Farm goes back almost 200 years. Purchased in 1817 by William Donaldson I from lands owned by the Ohio Company, Ephraim Cutler, and Thomas Hamilton, it has remained in just two families since then; the Donaldson/Beasley/Mathews family and the Howland/Hilferty family. One hundred and fifty acres remains intact from the original 500 acres.
The farm succeeded to William Donaldson Jr., who was an ardent abolitionist prior to the Civil war. A cave on the property sheltered many escaped slaves making their way across the Ohio and then northward to Canada. One son, William Wallace Donaldson died just after the Civil War battle of Shiloh; another Ed Donaldson married Johanna Starr from Athens. Their daughter, Jennie L. Donaldson married Fred R. Beasley, son of Frank Johnson Beasley, a prominent miller and wholesale grocer from nearby Amesville. Beasley Mills moved to Athens and its warehouse building is now an apartment building across from the old Athens Railroad Station.
In 1913, Fred, with the help of his father, started a new business selling Model T Fords. His first Ford was delivered from Amesville on the back of a farm wagon pulled by a 4 horse hitch. Encouraged after selling several more from his wagon, he told his father that someday he might own all the Ford agencies in Athens County.
He went on to own dealerships in Glouster, Athens, Nelsonville and Logan; then Columbus and several adjacent states, eventually as far away as Dallas/Ft.Worth. Before he retired, he was the largest Ford dealer in the United States and his Beasley Industries, one of the nation’s largest car and truck engine re-manufacturing firms, had spread to 17 states. Fred’s business ventures took him in many directions, and he owned many properties including the Berry Hotel in Athens and the Deshler Hotel in Columbus. The Berry Hotel, founded by Ed Berry, a prominent black business leader, was bought by Ohio University and incidentally became the home of OU’s design department. Hilferty founder, Gerry Hilferty, taught there in the early 1970’s.
In 1941, after the passing of her father, Jennie Donaldson Beasley and her husband, Fred, returned to Windy Hills. They extensively remodeled the main house whose great room has hosted many visiting dignitaries, reportedly including President Eisenhower, and many leaders in the Ford Corporation.
Jennie and her daughters, Marjorie, Virginia and Alice were accomplished horsewomen, competing in 4-H, regional shows, and National Championships. They built a beautiful Kentucky inspired horse barn to house their growing herd of American Saddlebred horses. Fred built a handsome glazed tile Class-A Dairy Barn, and when not running his far-flung enterprises, tended a prized dairy herd. They also raised sheep, goats, and fancy ponies. Cornfields filled the bottomland along Bryson Branch and corn was stored in perforated metal silos. There were up to seventeen farmhands and house servants at Windy Hills in its prime. Many lived on the farm, which at one time had 27 buildings. Several of these homes have been restored and now house tenants who enjoy the peace and beauty of the farm.
Marjorie Beasley married Bob Mathews, a longtime associate of Fred Beasley, and the Ford agencies became Beasley Mathews. The Athens Beasley Mathews Ford agency was housed in what is now the Carpenter Apartments on Carpenter St. in Athens. Jennie died in 1963 and Fred in 1976, and both are buried at the McDougal cemetery. The Mathews family continued to live at Windy Acres until they moved to Arizona in 1978.
Gerry Hilferty’s late wife, Dr. Ann Howland, purchased the property at that time, accomplishing her dream to own a horse farm. She was well known in the Athens area and carried out a successful psychology practice until her death in 1991 after a long illness. She and Gerry raised Morgans, Tennessee Walking horses and eventually Paso Finos. Her son, Josh was devoted to horses also and trained and showed many Paso Finos at the National level.
In 1998, Gerry married Jackie Fokes, an accomplished horsewoman. She and Gerry have hosted numerous horse workshops, clinics, open houses and the Beasley/Donaldson Family Reunion in 2005. Maintaining their own herd, they also accept boarders, and offer therapeutic riding services. Both have dedicated their love and energy to preserving this historic estate.
Gerry, while an assistant professor at Ohio University, began a small exhibition design practice. It grew quickly following a commission to co-design the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Contracts for museum design for the Kentucky Derby, the American Quarter Horse and the American Saddlebred soon followed. To house the rapidly expanding company, Fred’s dairy barn was renovated in 1979. At times employing as many as 36 planners, designers, architects, and developers, Hilferty grew to be one of the nation’s top museum planning and exhibit design firms. The historic dairy barn’s parlors and hay loft have been converted to grand studio space on four floors, while several other farm buildings have been converted to shops to build architectural/interior models. The firm has inspired projects from coast to coast including the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, many national museums and visitor centers as well as numerous regional museums and halls of fame.
