ILLINOIS WINDMILLS
Dedicated to the history, preservation, and continuing story of windmills in Illinois.

Holstein Windmill
Status
Destroyed.
Constructed
(1872 - ?)
Millwright
Henry Holstein
Owners
Henry Holstein (1872 - 1882)
Steinbeck (1882 - 1899)
(unknown) (1899 - ?)
Sources
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1874 Combination Atlas of DuPage County.
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“Windward ho!” Addison Press. 26 June 1998.
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Holstein file at the Bloomingdale Public Library.
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Personal records / observations

Historic Photographs
The Holstein Windmill.
Photo from the Bloomingdale Public Library
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History of the Mill
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.