The history of windmills

Growing up on a farm, the windmill was a familiar sight. The windmill was originally for pumping water, but by the time I was born, we used electricity to pump water. (I may be old, but I'm not that old!)

Years ago, it was a ubiquitous, easily recognizable image on the farmland, towering above the trees. No they are almost gone. If you do see windmills, they are more like the ones used to generate electricity that are popping up around the state.

Windmills: An Old-New Energy Source (+ 621.45 MCD) by Lucile McDonald tracks the history. The first wind machines were in the Middle East. They are mentioned as far back as the seventh century A.D. Some of the early ones were quite different from what we're used to seeing. Many had a vertical shaft that resembled a revolving door and they were close to the ground.

This thin book is full of illustrations, demonstrating the diversity of this architecture. Unfortunately, because of the age of the book, current windmills that are being installed across the U.S. are not included.

If you want to look at a book with even more photographs, but they concentrate mainly on ones found in Great Britain, look up Windmills by Suzanne Beedell (621.45 BEE).

c Waterloo Public Library 2007