A straight-line wind on July 31, 2019, left the antique windmill at the Barton County Historical Society Village and Museum severely damaged. On Wednesday, members of the Buildings and Grounds committee met at the museum and proceeded to take down the scaffolding and remove the damaged blade unit so the needed repairs could be completed. 

A jackhammer was employed to break the scaffolding from its base by the little post office building. Guide ropes were secured and the entire unit was dragged into the village driveway. Then it was carefully lowered to the ground. The blade unit was separated from the scaffolding, which was dragged to the side of the depot building, and then the unit was carefully placed on a trailer for transport. 

BCHS member Larry Gale has volunteered to repair the antique. Gale is a retired woodworking teacher who now puts his extensive skills to work on various woodworking projects. His offer was quickly and gratefully accepted by the Historical Society, as finding someone with the skills and qualifications to take on the project was proving to be a difficult one, as well as an expensive one, said Karen Neuforth, a codirector at the museum. 

According to information from the BCHS Village and Museum, the windmill is called a “Waupun” windmill. Leon McKinney restored it originally and donated it to the village, where it was erected in 1975. Since then, it has weathered many storms before it was severely damaged during a straight-line wind event on July 31, 2019. Waupun windmills were manufactured by the Aulthouse-Wheeler manufacturing Co. of Waupun, Wisconsin. They were sold by the Great Bend Implement Company owned by Fred Zutavern in the early 1900s. 

While the BCHS Village and Museum are now closed to the public, volunteers and employees will continue to work on projects like this one in the coming weeks in preparation of reopening to the public as soon as the pandemic response has concluded, codirector Leslie Helsel said.