In 1843 Ira C. Goodrich purchased this land from the United States Government. An early settler of McHenry County, he founded the local school system, served as director, and was road master. Farmsteads like this one established by early settlers set the stage for gentlemen farms, where land use changed from agriculture for profit to agriculture for pleasure, and horse breeding and riding became an important part of life in Barrington Hills. This site represents the evolution of land and buildings originally homesteaded in 1843 as a traditional farm to its adaptation as a leisure farm in 1926, and it is one of the last remaining from this era. The property includes the road on what was once an Indian trail that provided early settlers entry into McHenry County. In 1926 Chicago Tribune owner and philanthropist Alfred Cowles Jr. came here with his sons, Alfred 3rd, Knight, and Thomas to enjoy the farm as their country retreat. Cowles was an attorney, president of the Civic Federation and Bureau Efficiency, and a director of Continental Bank of Chicago. The family created a Yale University foundation in 1928 with a gift of $350,000. Alfred Cowles 3rd was an American economist, an author, and founder of the Cowles Commission for Economics, serving as president from 1932 to 1939. Its headquarters was at the University of Chicago, but it moved to Yale University in 1955 and was renamed the Cowles Foundation. Today, the foundation provides funding for research and study of economics. Subsequent owners of Plum Tree Farm continued leisure farming activities.