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Introduction

Welcome to Illinois Windmills, dedicated to the history, preservation, and continuing story of windmills in Illinois. With recent “green” energy initiatives, many associate Illinois with hundreds of wind turbines spread over thousands of acres of farmland. Others remember Illinois from a simpler time when wind engines quietly pumped water out of the ground.

What many do not know is that during the nineteenth century, Illinois’ countryside could have easily been mistaken for Holland; the state was once home to FIFTY custom-built wind grist mills. Sadly, only four have survived, and a fifth was constructed in 2000.

If you have any information about any of the windmills (even those already listed), including articles, photographs, postcards, pamphlets, records, or even personal memories, please feel free to contact info@illinoiswindmills.org.

New to Illinois Windmills? Start Here!

Maybe you’re here for fun, you’re doing research on wind power for a school project, or you’re trying to understand how your ancestors lived in nineteenth century Illinois. If this is your first visit, the best place to begin is at Illinois Wind Power in the left navigation bar.

Have a question on your mind? See if it has already been answered on the Frequently Asked Questions page

If you’re not quite sure where to find the information you’re looking for, try typing a few key words into the site search engine above.

Windmill DVD Now Available

Living Mills of Holland

DVD featuring famous working windmills and watermills located in Holland; many scenes also include the mills’ inner workings and the millers who use them.

News and Updates

July

Governor Pat Quinn signs the School District Intergovernmental Cooperation Renewable Energy Act; see the Wind Turbine page for more details.

More Millwrights and Living Mills DVD links added to Tourism page.

June

Page “jump” links added; index updated; wind engine and wind turbine pages updated; new pictures added; FAQ updated; and more!

May

Museums and new websites added to the Tourism and Links page; events added to 2010 Mill Calendar

March

On January 9, 2010 Anna Wienke, one of the founders of the Golden Historical Society, author of When the Wind Blows, and windmill enthusiast, passed away. The Board of Directors for the society plan to name the windmill museum after her. Her collections are currently on display.

Mount Emblem Cemetery now has its own website. Note that the history section was edited from the Wikipedia entry, created by yours truly! New pictures and postcards uploaded; 2010 Events updated.

February

Veterans will notice many changes to the site, which is turning 5 years old this year! With the discovery of windmills in Chicago, Belleville, Auburn, Teutopolis, and one built by Levi Z. Leiter, there are now 50 Custom Windmills for you to explore.

You asked for it; you got it. Illinois Windmills has branched out to include surviving custom windmills across the United States of America. The Tourism page now features a complete list of existing windmills in our country.

January

What’s this? Carding mills? Water mills? I have no intention of adding a page for each of the 1,800 mills that once operated in Illinois; however, I have created pages for the Graue and Franklin Creek grist mills. After all: both are directly related to windmills mentioned in this site, and they are the only surviving, operating water grist mills in the state. There is also a profile for the New Salem Carding Mill, the only operating animal-driven mill in the entire country.

New photos just taken from my trip to De Immigrant in Fulton are now online. Be the first to take a virtual tour of Illinois’ youngest custom windmill. See photos and information from the Mendota Hills wind farm, “Big Windy” in Schiller Park, and the Sanders Windmill in Somonauk.

Map locations are back (where available), new detailed information about how to operate a windmill, new wind farm projects added, a site search engine, and a whole lot more. Check it out!