Mid-America Windmill Museum

 Special Attractions
    Baker Hall Recption Center     Power Mill Building     Robertson Post Windmill     Samson (O'Connor) Windmill

 Newsletter
    Windmill Clipper

 

Museum Open
April – November

 

Hours

 Tues. – Fri. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
 Sat. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
 Sun. 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

 

Admission

 Adults $4.00
 Seniors 55+ $3.50
 Student/Child $1.50
 Children under 6 Free


Address

 732 S. Allen Chapel Road
 Kendallville, IN 46755
 260-347-2334


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Samson/O’Connor Windmill


Most of the windmills on display at the Mid-America Windmill Museum have 8’ or 10’ wind wheels and there is even a mill with a 12’ wind wheel, but in 2003 the museum was able to acquire a really BIG windmill. This “BIG” mill was a restored “Samson” Oil-Rite Model “S” Ranch Type windmill with an 18’ wind wheel. Compared to an 8’ windmill that has a gear box that weighs 270 pounds, the Samson’s gear box weighs about 2,700 pounds.

The Samson was manufactured by the Stover Manufacturing and Engine Company of Freeport, Illinois. This particular model was introduced in 1927 and was manufactured until the company went out of business in 1942. The Stover Company specialized in manufacturing and marketing the large ranch type windmills that served the ranches of the Great Plains and the semi-arid southwest.

In research about the Samson windmill, the museum found that this particular mill came from the Mitchell Ranch in semi-arid Terrell County, Texas. About 260 miles northwest on the border of New Mexico and Arizona in another semi-arid area was the 160,000 acre “Lazy B” ranch. That was the childhood home of the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, Associate Supreme Court Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In her book, the “Lazy B”, she describes the rugged ranch life and her appreciation of the water brought up from deep in the earth by the 35 wells and the Samson windmills on the ranch. The museum’s Samson is identical to the windmills on her ranch in Arizona.

Since windmills on wooden towers were common on the ranges of the Great Plains, the museum decided to build a wooden tower for the Samson. Generally there is a tower within the tower so that the top tower is almost straight in order to provide clearance for the wheel. The lower tower is spread to maintain rigidity for the force of strong winds. Museum volunteers spent considerable time constructing the 42-foot wooden tower. Unfortunately, in November 2005 during a storm, unusually high winds heavily damaged the Samson windmill’s wind wheel and snapped it off the wood tower. The tower was also damaged. Once the windmill was repaired, the museum decided to dismantle the wooden tower and replace it with a new 42-foot steel tower.

The Mid-America Windmill Museum was privileged to have received permission to dedicate the Samson Model “S” windmill to the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor and her brother, H. Alan Day for their appreciation of the role the windmill played in the development of the Heartland and the Great Plains. The dedication took place during the June 2004 Windmill Festival. The Samson was the 48th windmill erected on the museum grounds. A bronze dedication plaque was installed at the base of the windmill. During her dedication remarks, Justice O’Connor commented, “When I was contacted about coming here, I just couldn’t say no. I couldn’t.” In a letter received after her visit, Sandra Day O’Connor said, “The Mid-America Windmill Museum is a treasure.”