Contact
About Me
I am originally from Elk Grove Village, IL and currently reside in
Woodridge, IL with my wife.
I have been fascinated by windmills since the age of two, when our
family would make trips to Mount Emblem Cemetery to visit the grave of
my aunt. In those days, visitors were allowed to freely roam about
the
Fischer Windmill, which I remember well.
Years later on a trip to Geneva, I discovered the
Fabyan
Windmill. Until then, I was unaware that there were other
windmills of this kind in Illinois. An investigation on the
Internet unveiled two more windmills—those in
Peotone and
Golden.
By complete chance, I stumbled upon Philip E. Vierling’s The Fischer
Windmill at the Richard J. Daley Library at UIC. Using the
university’s resources, I began thoroughly investigating the histories
of the windmills in Illinois, gradually discovering more mills that were
previously lost in time.
When the website was launched as a Yahoo! Geocities site in May 2005, I
was aware of just seven custom windmills. Through public speaking,
visiting historical societies’ archives, and Internet searches, my
database has grown to include over FIFTY
custom windmills and the list keeps growing.
Recently, the website has also grown to include a thorough history of wind power, an improved and expanded glossary, more information about wind engines and wind turbines, and a list of all surviving custom windmills in the United States.
