Kregel Windmill Factory Museum

The Kregel Windmill Factory Museum is unique in that it is the only remaining windmill factory museum in the United States. At one time there were over a thousand windmill manufactures in the USA but only the Kregel Windmill Factory was preserved as a museum. Thousands of visitors attend the museum each year to see what a factory from the industrial revolution looked like. In fact the museum looks practically the same as the day Art Kregel left in 1991. As you enter you can almost sense the heat of the forge, feel the rumbling from vibrations of the huge overhead machines and hear hammer meeting metal in the fabrication area.The museum has been described as a time capsule of early 20th Century shop-type manufacturing. Everyday things such as ledger books on shelves, telephone, pencils and pens on the desk, even an overcoat on a hook remain where they were last used. The building appears much as it did in the 1930’s when invoices were written by hand, correspondence was typed on a manual typewriter machine and even local phone calls were be placed through an operator. From 1903 to 1991 the factory workers used the same central line shaft system to operate 18 different pieces of equipment that are powered by the line shaft. Inside the factory you will see one of thirteen remaining original operational factory line shaft systems left in the Unites States. Approximately 1,000 all steel “ELI” windmills were produced in the factory several of which are still standing today.