Custom Windmills
Holstein Windmill
Heideman Mill, The Old Mill
Section 15 of Bloomingdale Township
Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Status
Partially destroyed by tornado, 1899
Destroyed by owner (unknown date)
Constructed
(1872 - ?)
Millwright
Henry Holstein
Owners
Henry Holstein (1872 - 1882)
Steinbeck (1882 - 1899)
(unknown) (1899 - ?)
Henry Holstein's residence and windmill.
Photo from the Bloomingdale Public Library
History
South of Schick Road on the west side of Bloomingdale Road was the
farm and residence of Henry Holstein, who built a windmill in 1872.
The mill was one of the largest in the area and designed for large-scale
production, built with a wing building, presumably used for shipping or
receiving. It was constructed with a foundation of stone, a wide
base, and a self-governing tail fan to turn the cap.
Holstein hired experienced German miller Henry Raap to operate and
maintain the mill. As experienced as Raap was, he narrowly escaped
death when a tornado heavily damaged the Holstein Windmill in 1879.
Holstein did not reopen his mill for business until 1882 after
painstakingly reconstructing it with improvements, including a third run
of stone to increase the mill’s capacity.
Soon after reopening, however, Holstein sold the mill to a man named
Steinbeck. Steinbeck hired Herman Schmoldt to operate the mill
with Raap. When a steam engine was installed, Raap left to work
for the railroad. The mill was destroyed by another tornado in
1899; this time, however, the mill was not rebuilt, but rather “capped”
and served the rest of its life as a grain storage space.
The grinding stones now sit in a small park between two benches next to
the Bloomingdale Historical Society, north of Schick Road west of
Bloomingdale Road.
Sources
-1874 Combination Atlas of DuPage County
-“Windward ho!” Addison Press. 26 June 1998.
-Holstein file at the Bloomingdale Public Library
-personal records / observation
Images
Etching of Henry Holstein’s
residence from the 1874 Atlas of DuPage County.
Photo of the Holstein windmill from
Bloomingdale Public Library.
Photo of the capped windmill after
the 1899 tornado from Bloomingdale Public Library.
Photo of the windmill’s ruins: one
set of crumbling stones (2008) by Tom Haskell.
Photo of the millstones sitting
next to the Bloomingdale Historical Society building (2008) by Tom
Haskell.
