Custom Windmills
Heidemann Windmill
Heideman Mill, The Old Mill
Ronald Drive and Sharon Drive
Addison, IL 60101
Status
Destroyed by fire, 1958
Tower Height
55' - 5"
Sail Span
72'
Uses
(1868 - 1900) Wheat
(1868 - 1928) Corn
(1868 - 1900) Feed
(1868 - 1900) Buckwheat
Constructed
(1867 - 1868)
Millwright
Christian Heidemann
Owners
Christian Heidemann (1867 - 1900)
Henry Heidemann (1900 - 1956)
Independent Developer (1956 - 1958)
Honors
1934: Historic American Buildings Survey
The Heidemann Windmill in 1934.
Note the similarities between
it and the Fischer Windmill
Photo from the Historic American Buildings Survey
History
Christian Heidemann was born in Rodmaldt, Germany, in 1847. He and
his family were among the first to arrive in Addison Township of DuPage
County, settling on 39 acres in Section 20 of what is now the town of
Addison. As a trained craftsman (a cabinet maker by trade),
farmer, and son of a miller, Heidemann enthusiastically aided the
construction of
Fischer’s mill in Elmhurst and examined Emminga’s
Custom mill in Golden. After taking notes and sketches of
these two mills, Heidemann began to build his own after completing
Fischer’s.
Construction on the Heidemann mill began in May of 1867. Like
Emminga, Heidemann used local resources to build his windmill, which
undoubtedly helped to speed the construction process (unlike Fischer,
for example, whose construction was delayed as he made alterations to a
prefabricated Dutch kit), and thus most of the mill was made of oak and
pine. With Heidemann’s knowledge and the help of at least nine
workers, the construction of the mill was both swift and smooth; the
only delay in construction occurred in Heidemann’s shipment of the 18”
thick, 6’ diameter grinding stones from France. The mill was
completed in January of 1868 at a final cost of $5008.10.
Certain design features from the other local mills are evident in
Heidemann’s design. The sails, cap, winch, bolting machine, grain
elevators, gears, and even the gear locations, are all virtually
identical to Fischer’s mill. The windows, stage, and wing
buildings resemble those of the Custom mill. Unlike either mill,
however, Heidemann had a more reliable iron wind shaft installed.
The mill began grinding wheat, buckwheat, corn, and feed; when
Christian’s son Henry took control of the mill’s operation in 1900, only
corn was ground, probably because of the low profits from wheat farming
in Illinois. The mill stopped grinding altogether in 1928 when the
last of its stones cracked apart. In spite of its disuse, the
Heidemann family chose not to destroy the windmill but to preserve it.
Other than one damaged sail, the mill did not suffer any critical damage
during these years.
The Heidemann family was once asked if the windmill could be temporarily
put on display in Chicago for the 1933 World’s Fair “Dutch Village”.
The family was promised that great care would be taken in relocating the
mill and, when returned, the mill would be restored; however, the family
refused. One year later, the landmark windmill was registered by
the Historic American Buildings Survey.
Like many outlying farm areas in Chicagoland, Addison was beginning to
develop into a suburban town through subdivisions of the land and the
erection of new homes. In 1956, the Heidemann farm was bought by a
developer who promised to preserve the mill and incorporate it into a
neighborhood park. Unfortunately, in 1958 mischievous children
entered the mill through a trap door in one of the wing buildings and
set the mill on fire. The ruins of the Heidemann windmill were
cleared, and new homes were built in its place.
Some years later money was raised to install an historical marker on the
approximate location of the mill on the corner of Sharon and Ronald
drives, about 300’ east of Mill Road. As part of Addison's
hometown improvements, the windmill’s image appears in Addison's
entrance signs, water towers, and downtown street signs.
Sources
-Pirola, Louis. Historic American Buildings Survey.
Heideman Mill, Addison IL. Chicago: HABS, 1934.
-Vierling, Philip E. The Fischer Windmill. Chicago: Illinois Country
Outdoor Guides, 1994.
-“Windward ho!” Addison Press. 26 June 1998.
-1874 Combination Atlas of DuPage County
-Addison,
Village of Friendship. Addison: Addison Centennial Commission,
1984.
-Article
image from the Chicago Daily News, April 28, 1934
Images
Photo (1920s) courtesy Paul van den Berg
Photo (1920s) courtesy Paul van den Berg
Photo of the mill with a damaged sail (1930s) from Addison Public
Library
Photo of the deteriorating mill (1954) courtesy Paul van den Berg
Painting of the deteriorating mill (based on the previous
photograph) (c.a. 1954) by Pope
Photo of the mill, the last known photo before its demise (1957) courtesy Henry Nichols
Drawing of the Addison logo incorporating the mill. This
emblem is still in use (1984)
Marker embedded in the sidewalk at Ronald and Sharon drives (2006)
by Tom Haskell
